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Poster #171 - Children’s and Parents’ Gender Stereotypes about Work and Family: Evidence from USA and Sweden

Fri, March 22, 7:45 to 9:15am, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

Most adults in USA hold the stereotype that the pursuit of professional careers is more suitable for males than for females (Nosek et al., 2007). This has been labeled a work–family gender stereotype (the stereotype is that males “go with” work and females with family). Studies are needed to investigate the developmental roots of this pervasive stereotype, as well as to compare the strength of the stereotypes held in the USA to that in countries with more liberal parental leave policies such as Sweden (Klinth, 2008). The current research focused on the work–family gender stereotypes in parents and the relation of these stereotypes to reports parental behaviors.

96 Children from the USA and Sweden (48 America and 48 Swedish children, half girls in each country; Mage = 8.53 years) completed an implicit measure of work–family gender stereotypes and a behavioral report of parental involvement in child’s caretaking.

For the implicit measure, the Child Implicit Association Test (Child IAT) was used. The Child IAT is a computerized categorization task that measures strengths of associations among concepts without requiring self-report. An IAT score (D) is calculated from the speed with which children categorize exemplars from four categories using only two response options (Baron & Banaji, 2006; Cvencek, Meltzoff, & Greenwald, 2011). Children’s mothers and fathers (N = 141; 68 mothers) also completed the adult version of the implicit test of work–family gender stereotypes.

Children also completed a standard self-report measure of parental responsibilities (Hwang & Lamb, 1997). For this measure, the child was asked who was responsible for performing 13 child-related activities. (e.g., “Who buys clothes for you?”, “Who tucks you in at night?” etc.). For each of the activities, the child indicated whether: (a) mother or father was more responsible (or both parents were equally responsible) and (b) whether the parent was “usually responsible” or “almost always responsible.”

Five new findings emerged. First, girls, mothers, and fathers in both countries exhibited a significant work–male stereotype on implicit measures (all three ps < .001). Second, both U.S. and Swedish girls exhibited a stronger work–male stereotype than boys from their respective countries (both ps < .005). Third, in both countries moms exhibited a stronger work–male stereotype than dads (both ps < .005). Fourth, girls and boys from both countries reported that their mothers were more involved in parenting than their fathers (all four ps < .00001). Across both countries, stronger male–work stereotype for boys was related to greater involvement of the mother on the Hwang & Lamb scale of parental child-rearing responsibilities (p < .05).

This is one of the first tests of the stereotypes of children and their parents (including fathers) in a cross-cultural study, using both self-report tests (explicit, conscious) and implicit cognition tests. The results will be discussed in terms of cultural similarities and variations in children’s developing understanding of gender-roles, with implications for several contemporary issues in child development including the mechanisms of intergenerational transfer of stereotypes.

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