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Adults’ Attitudes About Gender Nonconformity in Childhood

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Abstract

This study examined attitudes about outcomes associated with childhood gender nonconformity. Participants were 518 undergraduate students (337 female; 181 male) at a midwestern university in the U.S. Participants were presented with 1 of 10 vignettes describing a target child (male or female) who varied in gendered traits, interests, and behaviors (strongly masculine, moderately masculine, neutral, moderately feminine or strongly feminine). They completed a 50-item questionnaire including demographics, predicted outcomes for the target (e.g., masculinity and femininity in adulthood, pressure to change, psychological adjustment in childhood and adulthood, and sexual orientation), and the Attitudes toward Women Scale (Spence et al., 1973). Participants thought masculine and feminine targets would be masculine and feminine in adulthood, respectively: thus, stability was expected for both sexes. Feminine targets, boys or girls, were thought to be more likely to display internalizing (e.g., anxiety, depression) behaviors and masculine targets more likely to display externalizing (e.g., aggression, conduct disorders) behaviors in both childhood and adulthood. Gender-nonconforming children were expected to experience more pressure to change their behavior and less likely to be exclusively heterosexual adults, the latter particularly so for strongly feminine boys. There were few significant effects of participant sex and no effects of attitudes about gender on any of these measures. These findings add to the literature by demonstrating that degrees of masculinity and femininity as well as of gender nonconformity are expected to be associated with predictable outcomes in a linear fashion in both sexes, with only a few differences between expectations for boys and girls.

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Acknowledgments

The present study was completed in fulfillment of the requirements for an honors thesis in psychology by Rachel Thomas at Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne under the direction of Judith Blakemore. The authors thank Carol A. Lawton and Craig A. Hill who served as members of Ms. Thomas’ honors thesis committee and who provided assistance throughout all stages of the project.

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Correspondence to Judith E. Owen Blakemore.

Appendices

Appendix A

Vignettes

Male, Strongly Masculine

Michael is a 6-year-old first grader. Michael is very brave, but sometimes he can be aggressive. He has many friends, all of whom are other boys. He enjoys many activities with his friends, especially building with tools and building forts. Michael’s favorite toys are his G.I. Joes and his tool kit. When he grows up, he would like to be a firefighter.

Male, Moderately Masculine

Michael is a 6-year-old first grader. Michael is very independent, but sometimes he can be loud. He has many friends, most of whom are other boys, but some of whom are girls. He enjoys many activities with his friends, especially playing dodge ball and watching sports on television. Michael’s favorite toys are his Lincoln Logs and his dinosaurs. When he grows up, he would like to work with computers.

Male, Neutral

Michael is a 6-year-old first grader. Michael is very curious, but sometimes he can be secretive. He has many friends, about half of whom are boys, and about half of whom are girls. He enjoys many activities with his friends, especially practicing his guitar and singing. Michael’s favorite toys are his Karaoke Machine and his Legos. When he grows up, he would like to be a writer.

Male, Moderately Feminine

Michael is a 6-year-old first grader. Michael follows directions well, but sometimes he can be shy. He has many friends, most of whom are girls, but some of whom are boys. He enjoys many activities with his friends, especially jump rope and doing gymnastics. Michael’s favorite toys are his toy store and his toy kitchen. When he grows up, he would like to be an elementary school teacher.

Male, Strongly Feminine

Michael is a 6-year-old first grader. Michael is very affectionate, but he tends to be emotional. He has many friends, all of whom are girls. He enjoys many activities with his friends, especially practicing cheerleading and playing hop scotch. Michael’s favorite toys are his baby doll and his dollhouse. When he grows up, he would like to be a nurse.

Female, Strongly Masculine

Emily is a 6-year-old first grader. Emily is very brave, but sometimes she can be aggressive. She has many friends, all of whom are boys. She enjoys many activities with her friends, especially building with tools and building forts. Emily’s favorite toys are her G.I. Joes and her tool kit. When she grows up, she would like to be a firefighter.

Female, Moderately Masculine

Emily is a 6-year-old first grader. Emily is very independent, but sometimes she can be loud. She has many friends, most of whom are boys, but some of whom are girls. She enjoys many activities with her friends, especially playing dodge ball and watching sports on television. Emily’s favorite toys are her Lincoln Logs and her dinosaurs. When she grows up, she would like to work with computers.

Female, Neutral

Emily is a 6-year-old first grader. Emily is very curious, but sometimes she can be secretive. She has many friends, about half of whom are boys, and about half of whom are girls. She enjoys many activities with her friends, especially practicing her guitar and singing. Emily’s favorite toys are her Karaoke Machine and her Legos. When she grows up, she would like to be a writer.

Female, Moderately Feminine

Emily is a 6-year-old first grader. Emily follows directions well, but sometimes she can be shy. She has many friends, most of whom are other girls, but some of whom are boys. She enjoys many activities with her friends, especially jump rope and doing gymnastics. Emily’s favorite toys are her toy store and her toy kitchen. When she grows up, she would like to be an elementary school teacher.

Female, Strongly Feminine

Emily is a 6-year-old first grader. Emily is very affectionate, but she tends to be emotional. She has many friends, all of whom are other girls. She enjoys many activities with her friends, especially practicing cheerleading and playing hop scotch. Emily’s favorite toys are her baby doll and her dollhouse. When she grows up, she would like to be a nurse.

Appendix B

Questions Asked of Participants Developed for this Study

  1. 1.

    What is your gender? (male, female, transgender)

  2. 2.

    What is your age?

  3. 3.

    What is your current relationship status? (single, married, divorced/separated, life partnership).

  4. 4.

    How many children do you have?

  5. 5.

    What is your sexual orientation? (heterosexual, bisexual, gay/lesbian)

General Instructions

We are developing a measure to assess the long-term development of children. In this part of the study, we are using children’s current activities and interests as predictors of their current and long-term expected outcomes. In order to help us do that, we would like you to evaluate a particular child on a variety of measures.

You will be provided with a description of a particular child’s interests, traits, activities, and occupational goals. After reading the description, we ask that you evaluate the child on several different outcome measures. We realize you cannot possibly know the ultimate outcome—we are simply asking for your judgments. There are no right or wrong answers, only opinions.

Section I: Instructions

The next few questions will ask you to predict how Emily/Michael currently behaves. Please use the scale below to answer the questions. We realize you cannot possibly know the ultimate outcomes—we are simply asking for your judgments. There are no right or wrong answers, only opinions. (These items were rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1: not at all likely, to 5: extremely likely. The midpoint of the scale, 3, was labeled moderately likely. Note that E refers to items which measured externalizing, and I refers to items which measured internalizing; the relevant single items were combined into separate scales measuring internalizing and externalizing. Except for demographics, these items were presented in random order, controlled by the software. Participants saw only one target child name—Emily or Michael—and the relevant pronouns in rating their particular vignette.)

  1. 6.

    How likely is it that Emily/Michael behaves aggressively toward other children? (E)

  2. 7.

    How likely is it that Emily/Michael starts physical fights? (E)

  3. 8.

    How likely is it that Emily/Michael threatens other children? (E)

  4. 9.

    How likely is it that Emily/Michael misbehaves? (E)

  5. 10.

    How likely is it that Emily/Michael deliberately annoys other people? (E)

  6. 11.

    How likely is it that Emily/Michael argues with others? (E)

  7. 12.

    How likely is it that Emily/Michael has thoughts of suicide? (I)

  8. 13.

    How likely is it that Emily/Michael feels guilty? (I)

  9. 14.

    How likely is it that Emily/Michael has concerns about the way others see her/him? (I)

  10. 15.

    How likely is it that Emily/Michael has feelings of low self-esteem or inferiority? (I)

  11. 16.

    How likely is it that Emily/Michael worries? (I)

  12. 17.

    How likely is it that Emily/Michael feels sad for extended periods of time? (I)

  13. 18.

    How likely is it that Emily/Michael will feel pressured to change her/his behavior?

Section II

No additional instructions preceded this section. The items were rated on 6-point scales ranging from strongly masculine (1) to strongly feminine (6), with the midpoints labeled moderately masculine (2), slightly masculine (3), slightly feminine (4), and moderately feminine (5).

  1. 19.

    To what extent do you think that Emily/Michael’s personality, interests, and behaviors are masculine or feminine?

  2. 20.

    To what extent do you think that Emily/Michael’s adult personality, interests, occupations, and behaviors will be masculine or feminine?

Section III: Instructions

The next few questions will ask you to predict how Emily/Michael behaves as an adult. Please use the scale below to answer the questions. We realize you cannot possibly know the ultimate outcomes—we are simply asking for your judgments. There are no right or wrong answers, only opinions. (These items were rated on 5-point scales ranging from “not at all likely” to “extremely likely” as described in Section I, above.)

  1. 21.

    As an adult, how likely is it that Emily/Michael behaves aggressively toward other adults? (E)

  2. 22.

    As an adult, how likely is it that Emily/Michael starts physical fights? (E)

  3. 23.

    As an adult, how likely is it that Emily/Michael threatens other adults? (E)

  4. 24.

    As an adult, how likely is it that Emily/Michael breaks the law? (E)

  5. 25.

    As an adult, how likely is it that Emily/Michael deliberately annoys other people? (E)

  6. 26.

    As an adult, how likely is it that Emily/Michael argues with others? (E)

  7. 27.

    As an adult, how likely is it that Emily/Michael has thoughts of suicide? (I)

  8. 28.

    As an adult, how likely is it that Emily/Michael feels guilty? (I)

  9. 29.

    As an adult, how likely is it that Emily/Michael has concerns about the way others see her/him? (I)

  10. 30.

    As an adult, how likely is it that Emily/Michael has feelings of low self-esteem or inferiority? (I)

  11. 31.

    As an adult, how likely is it that Emily/Michael worries? (I)

  12. 32.

    As an adult, how likely is it that Emily/Michael feels sad for extended periods of time? (I)

Section IV

No additional instructions preceded this section. The first two items were 5-point scales ranging from “only males” (1) to “only females” (5) with the midpoints rated as “mostly males” (2), “both males and females (3), and “mostly females” (4). The last item was rated on a 3-point scale, with points labeled as follows: 1 (heterosexual), 2 (bisexual), and 3 (gay/lesbian).

  1. 33.

    When Emily/Michael is old enough to begin to have sexual attractions and feelings, to whom do you predict she/he will be attracted?

  2. 34.

    When Emily/Michael is old enough to begin to have sexual relationships, who do you predict her/his sexual partners will be?

  3. 35.

    Please predict Emily/Michael’s sexual orientation:

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Thomas, R.N., Blakemore, J.E.O. Adults’ Attitudes About Gender Nonconformity in Childhood. Arch Sex Behav 42, 399–412 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-012-0023-7

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