Poster #74 - How do children’s presence and gender affect their parents' reciprocal behavior?

• In Event: Poster Session 17

Abstract

Adults’ behavior is a salient social input for children’s socialization (Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1961). Adults who constantly interact with children, such as parents and teachers, model a variety of norms, and among those would be gender-specific patterns that may encourage gender-specific outcomes (Chaplin & Aldao, 2013; Rose & Rudolph, 2006). One research domain in which gender differences are found is prosociality (e.g., Benenson et al., 2019). The current study integrates the two domains by addressing parents’ reciprocal behavior towards unfamiliar partners – The core question is to what extent parents’ reciprocal behavior will be affected by the presence and gender of their child.

First, a one-factorial between participants design included 56 4.5-year-olds (Mage=4.64, SD=1.03; 44% girls) who underwent a reciprocal interaction with an unfamiliar, age and gender-matched peer. Peers were presented via pre-edited videos and decided to distribute resources equally (i.e., three stickers for the peer and 3 for the participant) OR selfishly (i.e., 5 for the peer and 1 for the participant) with the participant. Then, participants were allowed to choose one of two distributive options in response (i.e., ‘3-3’ / ‘5-1’), and the procedure was over. Two fisher exact tests were made per gender to assess boys’ and girls’ responses to the peers’ prior behavior. For boys, there were no differences in their responses towards fair or unfair peers (p=.094), as most of them chose a selfish response regardless of the peer’s prior behavior. However, a significant result was found for girls (p=.01) who have acted differently towards prior egalitarian or selfish peers (Fig 1.A.).

Second, 2X3 between-participants design included 179 parent-participants (Mage=38, SD=5.6; 52% mothers) who underwent an adult version of the procedure above, namely, with an unfamiliar adult peer and money as the endowment (i.e., three 5$ bills for each OR five 5$ bills for the peer and one for the participant). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two Peer Behavior conditions (egalitarian/selfish) and one of three Child Presence conditions (i.e., played in the presence of their son, daughter, or no child presence). Two glm models were made per Peer Behavior, including parent age as a covariate and Child Presence as independent variables. Towards egalitarian peers, the model was insignificant compared to a null hypothesis as most parents respond in kind, regardless of Child Presence (Fig 1.B.1). However, towards selfish peers, the model was significant (χ²(81) =109.8, p<.05), revealing differences between parents’ behavior in the presence of their sons vs. their daughters (estimate±SE=-1.33±0.56. z=-2.36, p=.018) (Fig 1.B.2). Three additional chi-square tests per Child Presence further demonstrate that only in the presence of their sons, parents’ choice preferences were significantly different from chance (χ²(1) =6.12, p=.013).

The findings exposed nuanced behaviors of parents (fathers and mothers alike), which depend on the gender of their child. While most parents were fair toward previously fair partners regardless of their child’s presence or gender – towards a selfish partner, parents acted more selfishly (or perhaps, spitefully) primarily in the presence of their sons.

Group Authors

Avi Benozio

Author

• Avi Benozio, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  Presenting Author