The Influence of Siblings on Ethnically Diverse Children’s Gender Typing Across Early Development

• In Event: Gender socialization, stereotyping and gender development across childhood and adolescence

Abstract

Most U.S. children grow up around and spend significant amount of time with siblings (Dunifon, Fomby, & Musick, 2017). Siblings are important, and understudied sources of gender socialization. Although theories suggest that young children acquire gender-typed information through higher status role models, such as older siblings (Rust et al., 2000), empirical findings on sibling effects have been mixed. Many studies find that older siblings influence younger siblings in the direction of their own gender, yet other studies note the opposite, while others suggest variability depends on the younger sibling’s gender (Farkas & Leaper, 2013). Mixed findings may be explained by lack of longitudinal work on sibling gender socialization patterns and, additionally, a focus on older children who may already be part of same-aged peer contexts outside the home. Here, we address limitations of prior work by examining the influence of siblings on gender-typing through the early childhood years (ages 2-6). We ask the following questions: 1) Does the presence of older siblings relate to children's gender-typed behaviors; 2) Does the gender of older siblings relate to children’s gender-typed behaviors; and 3) Do sibling relations vary across age throughout early childhood?
Participants were ethnically diverse mothers and their children from low-income communities in NYC (33% African-American, 36% Dominican-American, 31% Mexican-American) (N = 232). At the birth of the focal child, mothers were asked to list any additional children they had, as well as their age and gender. Mothers’ responses were coded into 2 predictor variables: sibling presence (siblings; no siblings); and sibling gender composition (same-gender; other-gender; mixed-gender; no siblings). Children’s gender-typed behaviors (gender-typed play; toy preferences; proportion of same-gender friends; gender-typed appearance) were measured via direct assessment and mother report across at 5 time points in development (ages 2-6).
Results yielded most significant findings at ages 2-3, when children are likely to spend a large amount of time in the home. A main effect of sibling gender composition on children’s mother-reported other-gender-typed play (F(3, 478.8)=5.01, p=.002) suggested that children with same-gender siblings engaged less frequently in play with counter-stereotypical toys between ages 3-5 compared to the other sibling categories (Figure 1). At age 3, only children were observed to play longer with counter-stereotypical toys (M=43.21, SD=41.70) compared to children with siblings (M=29.85, SD=34.10), t(139)=2.05, p<.05, and children with siblings were more likely to choose a gender-typed toy (M=.63, SD=.49) than only children (M=.44, SD=.50), t(155)=2.37, p<.05. Effects of sibling presence and composition were also noted on children’s proportions of same-gender friends, F(1, 682.9)=5.74, p=.017, and gender-typed appearance, F(1, 705.0)=5.04, p=.025.
This study advances prior research by focusing on sibling relations across 5 years of children’s development in a sample of ethnic-racial minority families, communities that are rarely studied in developmental science. Results suggest that older siblings may influence early trajectories of important gender domains at different time points in development (e.g., toy play), which can have various long-term implications for developing skills and interests. This talk will discuss implications of these findings for research, education, and policy.

Authors

• Yana Kuchirko, Brooklyn College CUNY
  Presenting Author

• Anna Bennet, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• May Ling Halim, California State University - Long Beach
  Non-Presenting Author

• Philip Costanzo, Duke University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Diane N Ruble, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author