Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Gender Role Flexibility in Early Adolescence: Developmental Change in Attitudes, Self-perceptions, and Behaviors

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Sex Roles Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Gender role flexibility has been conceptualized as a multi-dimensional construct that consists of attitudes, self-perceptions, and behaviors. The present study was designed to examine the developmental trajectory of gender role attitude flexibility, self-perception flexibility, and gender-typed behavioral flexibility during early adolescence. One hundred and thirty six male and female sixth grade students completed the Children’s Occupations, Activities, and Traits Scale (Liben & Bigler, 2002) during the fall and spring of their first 2 years of middle school and they kept monthly after-school activity diaries, which were coded for gender stereotypicality. Each component of flexibility exhibited a different pattern of developmental change consistent with the multi-dimensional view of gender role flexibility.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alfieri, T., Ruble, D. N., & Higgins, E. T. (1996). Gender stereotypes during adolescence: Developmental changes and the transition to junior high school. Developmental Psychology, 32, 1129–1137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balk, D. E. (1995). Adolescent development: Early through late adolescence. New York: Brooks-Cole.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biernat, M. (1991a). Gender stereotypes and the relationship between masculinity and femininity: A developmental analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 351–365.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Biernat, M. (1991b). A multicomponent, developmental analysis of sex typing. Sex Roles, 24, 567–586.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bigler, R. S. (1997). Conceptual and methodological issues in the measurement of children’s sex typing. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 53–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boldizar, J. P. (1991). Assessing sex typing and androgyny in children: The Children’s Sex Role Inventory. Developmental Psychology, 27, 505–515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Larson, R. W. (1984). Being adolescent: Conflict and growth in the teenage years. New York: Basic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eccles, J. S. (1987). Adolescence: Gateway to gender role transcendence. In D. B. Carter (Ed.), Current conceptions of sex roles and sex typing (pp. 225–241). New York: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edelbrock, C., & Sugawara, A. I. (1978). Acquisition of sex-typed preferences in preschool-aged children. Developmental Psychology, 14, 614–623.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emmerich, W., & Shepard, K. (1982). Development of sex-differentiated preferences during late childhood and adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 18, 406–417.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feiring, C. (1999). Gender identity and the development of romantic relationships in adolescence. In W. Furman, B. B. Brown, & C. Feiring (Eds.), The development of romantic relationships in adolescence (pp. 211–232). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galambos, N. L., Almeida, D. M., & Petersen, A. C. (1990). Masculinity, femininity, and sex role attitudes in early adolescence: Exploring gender intensification. Child Development, 61, 1905–1914.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, J. P., & Lynch, M. E. (1983). The intensification of gender-related role expectations during early adolescence. In J. Brooks-Gunn & A. C. Petersen (Eds.), Girls at puberty (pp. 201–228). New York: Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huston, A. C. (1983). Sex-typing. In P. H. Mussen & E. M. Hetherington, (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Socialization, personality, and social behavior, vol. 4 (4th ed., pp. 387–468). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huston, A. C. (1985). The development of sex typing: Themes from recent research. Developmental Review, 5, 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hyde, J. S., Rosenberg, B. G., & Behrman, J. (1977). Tomboyism. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 2, 73–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katz, P. A. (1979). The development of female identity. Sex Roles, 5, 155–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katz, P. A. (1996). Raising feminists. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 20, 323–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katz, P. A., & Boswell, S. (1986). Flexibility and traditionality in children’s gender roles. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 112, 105–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, P. A., & Ksansnak, K. R. (1994). Developmental aspects of gender role flexibility and traditionality in middle childhood and adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 30, 272–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katz, P. A., & Walsh, P. V. (1991). Modification of children’s gender-stereotyped behavior. Child Development, 62, 338–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L. A. (1966). A cognitive-developmental analysis of children’s sex role concepts and attitudes. In E. E. Maccoby (Ed.), The development of sex differences (pp. 82–173). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liben, L. S., & Bigler, R. S. (2002). The developmental course of gender differentiation. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 67, 1–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, C. L. (1989). Children’s use of gender-related information in making social judgments. Developmental Psychology, 25, 80–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, C. L. (1990). Attitudes and expectations about children with nontraditional and traditional gender roles. Sex Roles, 22, 151–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moller, L. C., & Serbin, L. A. (1996). Antecedents of toddler gender segregation: Cognitive consonance, gender-typed toy preferences and behavioral compatibility. Sex Roles, 35, 445–460.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, C., & Keith, J. (1990). Comparisons of female and male early adolescent sex role attitude and behavior development. Adolescence, 25, 183–204.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Plumb, P., & Cowan, G. (1984). A developmental study of destereotyping and androgynous activity preferences of tomboys, nontomboys and males. Sex Roles, 10(9/10), 703–712.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rebecca, M., Hefner, R., & Oleshansky, B. (1976). A model of sex-role transcendence. Journal of Social Issues, 32(3), 197–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, M. H., & Larson, R. (1989). The life space and socialization of the self: Sex differences in the young adolescent. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 18, 617–626.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruble, D. N., & Martin, C. L. (1998). Gender development. In W. Damon (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Social, emotional and personality development, vol. 3 (5th ed., pp. 933–1016). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Serbin, L. A., Powlishta, K. K., & Gulko, J. (1993). The development of sex typing in middle childhood. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 58, 1–74.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sigelman, C. K., Carr, M. B., & Begley, N. L. (1986). Developmental changes in the influence of sex-role stereotypes on person perception. Child Study Journal, 16(3), 191–205.

    Google Scholar 

  • Signorella, M. L., Bigler, R. S., & Liben, L. S. (1993). Developmental differences in children’s gender schemata about others: A meta-analytic review. Developmental Review, 13, 147–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Signorella, M. L., Frieze, I. H., & Hershey, S. W. (1996). Single-sex versus mixed-sex classes and gender schemata in children and adolescents. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 20, 599–607.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smetana, J. G. (1986). Preschool children’s conceptions of sex-role transgressions. Child Development, 57, 862–871.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snedecor, G. W., & Cochran, W. G. (1967). Statistical methods. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spence, J. T. (1993). Gender-related traits and gender ideology: Evidence for a multifactorial theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 624–635.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spence, J. T., & Buckner, C. E. (2000). Instrumental and expressive traits, trait stereotypes, and sexist attitudes. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 24, 44–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spence, J. T., & Hall, S. K. (1996). Children’s gender-related self-perceptions, activity preferences, and occupational stereotypes: A test of three models of gender constructs. Sex Roles, 35, 659–691.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoddart, T., & Turiel, E. (1985). Children’s concepts of cross-gender activities. Child Development, 56, 1241–1252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Streitmatter, J. L. (1985). Cross-sectional investigation of adolescent perceptions of gender roles. Journal of Adolescence, 8, 183–193.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. E., Peplau, L. A., & Sears, D. O. (1994). Social Psychology (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, P. J., & Gervai, J. (1995). A multidimensional study of gender typing in preschool children and their parents: Personality, attitudes, preferences, behavior, and cultural differences. Developmental Psychology, 31, 759–772.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Twenge, J. M. (1999). Mapping gender: A multifactorial approach and the organization of gender-related attributes. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 23, 485–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zuckerman, D. M., & Sayre, D. H. (1982). Cultural sex-role expectations and children’s sex-role concepts. Sex Roles, 8, 853–862.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant to A. D. Pellegrini by the W. T. Grant Foundation. Thanks are expressed to C. Halverson, A. D. Pellegrini, D. Shaffer, P. Schwanenflugel, L. Walters, P. Brooks, and T. Jay for their comments on earlier versions of this manuscript and to E. Neary, A. Phillips, D. McFall, M. Tolbert, and C. Baugh for data collection and coding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, 375 Church St., North Adams, MA, 01247, USA

    Maria Bartini

Authors
  1. Maria Bartini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria Bartini.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bartini, M. Gender Role Flexibility in Early Adolescence: Developmental Change in Attitudes, Self-perceptions, and Behaviors. Sex Roles 55, 233–245 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-006-9076-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-006-9076-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation