Poster #186 - Relations between parental reports of child gender typing and children’s self-report

• In Event: 3-053 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Section - Sex, Gender

Integrative Statement

Typically, research on gender development focuses on children’s self-report of gender identity and gender-typed preferences. However, this makes studying gender development among young children who aren’t able to express their gender identity and preferences difficult. A small number of studies have shown that early parent reports of gender-typed behavior are predictive of children’s later gender identities and preferences (Golombok et al., 2008; Golombok et al., 2012). Despite the potential utility of parent reports, they are seldom utilized. One area in which parent reports of gender identity and typing are more commonly used is in clinical populations with gender-related diagnoses. Research with these populations suggests a relation between parent and child reports (Wallien, et al., 2009). However, little research has focused on the relation between parent and child reports of gender identity and gender typing in non-clinical populations, and what research that does exist does not examine this relation at a single timepoint, but instead assesses children and their parents years apart (Golombok et al., 2008; Golombok et al., 2012). The current study sought to build upon this research by examining coherence between parent and child reports of gender-typed preferences at a single timepoint in non-clinical populations of both cisgender and transgender children. Participants were 3-12 year-old transgender children (N=318), siblings of transgender children (N=199), unrelated cisgender controls (N=318), and the parents of all child participants. Parent and child reports of the child’s gendered toy, clothing, and peer preferences were collected. Results showed that, for both transgender and unrelated control participants, all parent reports of gendered behavior and preferences were positively related to child reports (r’s > .185, p’s < .003). For cisgender siblings, parents and child reports of clothing preferences were positively related (r(167) = .297, p < .001), but reports of toy and peer preferences were not related (r(167) = .121, p = .119; r(167) = .112, p = .139). Overall, results show a clear relation between parent and child reports of gendered preferences. The lack of convergence for siblings may be because of the smaller sample size for this group specifically or due to parents responding to questions about their cisgender child as relative to their transgender child. In general, these results suggest that parent reports of gender typing may be a useful proxy for children’s own reports in non-clinical populations of both transgender and cisgender at a single timepoint, particularly if child reports are unavailable.

Authors

• Jessica Glazier, University of Washington
  Presenting Author

• Selin Gülgöz, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kristina Olson, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author