Sex role concepts of two- and three-year-olds

An instrument was developed to assess beliefs about males and females in very young children. Use of the instrument with 72 2- and 3-year-old subjects indicated that children as young as 2 years of age possess substantial knowledge of sex role stereotypes prevailing in the adult culture. Knowledge of sex role stereotypes was highly correlated (.85) with comprehension of gender identity as an irreversible characteristic. Subjects who indicated actual or ideal identity with the opposite sex, however, showed a level of stereotyping no greater than chance. While there were no differences in amount of stereotyping as a function of subjects' age or sex, an analysis of the content of subjects' stereotypes revealed that boys' and girls' beliefs were only partially overlapping. In particular, girls tended to ascribe positive characteristics to their own sex and negative characteristics to males, while boys did the reverse. Explanations for these findings in terms of self-valuation processes were suggested.