Poster #59 - The Stability of Perceived Gender Similarity From Middle Childhood to Early Adolescence

• In Event: Poster Session 11

Abstract

Researchers have argued that a dual approach to the assessment of gender identity – in which individuals may feel like they share similarities to both gender groups to varying degrees – is more inclusive of the range of gender identity variability in children (Martin et al., 2017). However, studies assessing the stability of perceived own-gender and other-gender similarity across development are sparse. The extant literature is limited to cross-sectional designs with school-aged children (Martin et al., 2017), thereby providing no information on the stability of gender similarity into the teenage years. Current speculations align with the gender intensification hypothesis (Hill & Lynch, 1983), which proposes that youth, as they grow older, may identify more strongly with their own-gender group and less with the other-gender group due to changing intergroup dynamics brought forth by romantic interests and sexuality. Cross-sectional research suggests only boys follow this pattern (Martin et al., 2017). To our knowledge, this hypothesis has yet to be examined with longitudinal designs. The current study examined how perceived own-gender and other-gender similarity evolve from middle childhood to early adolescence.

A total of 66 children (38 females) completed the Perceived Similarity to Gender Groups measure (PSGG; Martin et al., 2017) in 5th grade (T1: Mage = 10.96 years, SD = 0.26) and in 8th grade (T2: Mage = 14.03 years, SD = 0.38). The PSGG graphically assesses the degree to which participants feel similar to, act like, and enjoy doing the same things as other boys and girls. It yields two scores: children’s perceptions of how similar they are to their own gender and to the other gender (range: 1–5). Analyses were run separately for males and females. Rank-order stability was moderate among both males and females for own-gender similarity (males: r(26) = .50, p = .007; females: r(36) = .36, p = .028). However, for other-gender similarity, only females maintained their relative ranks over 3 years (males: r(26) = -.01, p = .984; females: r(36) = .46, p = .004), hinting at greater developmental variability among males. To assess mean-level stability, paired sample t-tests were used. There were no significant changes in own-gender similarity between T1 and T2 for either sex (boys: t(27) = -0.65, p = .523; girls: t(37) = 0.26, p = .797; Figure 1). These findings suggest that contrary to current hypotheses, own-gender similarity may not increase from middle childhood to early adolescence. Analyses also showed significant decreases for both sexes between T1 and T2 on other-gender similarity (boys: t(27) = 2.83, p = .009; girls: t(37) = 2.08, p = .044; Figure 2), suggesting that males and females appear to identify less with the other-gender group upon entering adolescence.

This study provides preliminary but novel information on the stability of gender identity during the transition from childhood to adolescence and highlights the importance of distinguishing between own-gender and other-gender similarity, as well as between males and females, as developmental tendencies may vary. Further research is necessary to investigate whether the developmental trends observed here persist throughout adolescence.

Authors

• Gabrielle Leclerc, Université de Montréal (UdeM)
  Presenting Author

• Annie Bernier, University of Montreal

• Carol Lynn Martin, Arizona State University