Using the article below, what are the research questions and what is the rationale for the study?

That's a Boy's Toy: Gender-Typed Knowledge in Toddlers as a Function of Mother's Marital Status

ABSTRACT

A child who is highly gender schematic readily uses gender when processing new information. In the current study, we examined whether and how family structure predicts a child's level of gender-typed knowledge (as assessed by a gender-stereotype sorting task) once the category of gender is in place (as assessed by a gender-labeling task). It was predicted that children from more "traditional" family structures (married mothers) would have more gender-typed knowledge compared to children from less traditional families (unmarried mothers). Moreover, we explored if this relationship would be related to, at least in part, the greater frequency of androgynous behaviors (i.e., both masculine and feminine household activities) an unmarried mother performs. Twenty-eight children (age 2 to 3) were tested at local childcare centers. The mother of each child reported her marital status as well as how often she engaged in stereotypically masculine and feminine behaviors. As expected, mothers' marital status was associated with children's level of gender-typed knowledge, such that children with unmarried mothers had less gendertyped knowledge, in part due to the unmarried mother's greater frequency of androgynous behaviors. Implications for children's acquisition of gender-related stereotypes and the possible benefit of having mothers model both masculine and feminine behaviors are discussed.

Keywords: androgyny, children, gender, gender-typed knowledge, schema, stereotypes

Gender is an important variable for navigating the social environment. Infants as young as 10 months form gender-related categories (Levy & Haaf, 1994), and 75% of 2-year-olds are able to identify gender using photographs (Thompson, 1975). Initial conceptual knowledge of gender categories and stereotyped activities is evident by 24 months (Hill & Flom, 2007; Zosuls et al., 2009). Around age 2, most children have an established gender identity, and environmental influences (e.g., familial role models) may have a substantial impact on children's developing understanding of gender (Fagot & Leinbach, 1995; Ruble, Martin, & Berenbaum, 2006). Once gender becomes a meaningful category, children acquire knowledge and information that guide their cognitions related to gender (Brannon, 2002; Carter & Levy, 1991; Martin & Halverson, 1981). According to Bem's (1981) gender schema theory, the process of gender-related thinking and behaving depends in large part on a child's sociocultural experience in which information about gender is acquired (Brannon, 2002; Signorella, 1987). This process depends on personal and situational variables that combine to create a level of gendertyped knowledge (Levy, 1999; Martin & Halverson, 1981; Martin & Little, 1990). Our goal in the present study was to examine family situations that give rise to toddlers' high level of gender-typed knowledge and tendency to make use of that knowledge. A child with a high level of gender role knowledge has an understanding of gender roles and socially appropriate gender-related behaviors. Gender typing allows an individual to sort information, attributes, and behaviors into relatively rigid male and female categories. For children, gender typing may be exhibited through an ability to identify the sexes (Martin & Little, 1990), display preferences toward gender appropriate activities (Arthur, Bigler, & Ruble, 2009), and sort objects, such as toys, as male and female appropriate (Blakemore, Larue, & Olejnik, 1979; Perry, White, & Perry, 1984). Gender typing can be useful because it provides meaning and structure to novel information. However, it is also often associated with memory distortions that reflect gender stereotypes (Martin & Halverson, 1983), and at later stages of development may lead to gender stereotyping and prejudice (Martin & Halverson, 1981) and preferences for careers that are consistent with gender role expectations (Ji, Lapan, & Tate, 2004). Children's gender-typed knowledge, influenced by their experiences in the home (e.g., by watching activities and roles of parents), serves as the foundation for children's gender role construction (Harris & Satter, 1981; McHale, Crouter, & Whiteman, 2003). Parents' behavior, rather than the specific gender of the Hupp et al. 391 adults in the household, appears to be influential. However, there are very small effects of paternal absence on gender development (Ruble et al., 2006). Therefore, the characteristics of mothers (not fathers) seem to be particularly important in predicting childhood gender role development (McHale, Shanahan, Updegraff, Crouter, & Booth, 2004). Various situational factors in the home may influence a child's development of gender role knowledge and tendency to gender type. Some research suggests that children's gender typing and gender role knowledge is associated with growing up in a family with a stay-at-home mother (Fagot & Leinbach, 1995; Fagot, Leinbach, & O'Boyle, 1992; Levy, 1989; Tenenbaum & Leaper, 2002; Weisner & Wilson-Mitchell, 1990). Yet, other researchers have failed to find an association between maternal employment outside the home and children's gender typing (Signorella, Bigler, & Liben, 1993; see also Ruble et al., 2006). Thus, the relationship between mothers' roles and responsibilities within the household and children's gender typing is not clear cut, suggesting the possibility of additional contributing variables. We examine one such possibility: the role of androgyny. Androgyny is the appearance of both masculine and feminine traits and behaviors (Bem, 1974). Although psychological androgyny may not provide an ideal against which individuals should be judged or compared (Bem, 1993), an environment of androgyny (e.g., in the form of caregiver traits or displays of behavior that are both masculine and feminine) supports lower levels of children's gender typing (Bem, 1984). Fagot and Leinbach (1995) showed that parents who established egalitarian child care routines had children with lower levels of gender typing (see also McHale et al., 2003; Serbin, Powlishta, & Gulko, 1993). In addition to childcare routines, other household activities performed by the parents (e.g., chores) affect a child's gender role development. Household activities are important because not only are parents demonstrating actual gendered behavior, but they are also indicating a notion of differential responsibility based on gender (McHale et al.). Turner and Gervai (1995) and Serbin et al. found similar effects in that parental household activities were related to children's gender typing at the age of 4 or 5; however, it is likely that such activities play a role in gender-typed knowledge formation even earlier. In addition, Serbin et al. found that gendertyped knowledge increased during middle childhood, with social environmental factors playing a role in this. Their research is informative, but only tests children once there is already a large amount of gender-typed knowledge in place. In the present study, we investigated how social environmental influences play a role in toddlerhood during the initial formation of gender-typed knowledge when children may be especially susceptible to parental models of gender. Given the constant evolution of men's and women's roles and responsibilities in American society, more research is needed to better understand children's gender development. In the present study, we aimed to examine whether and how parents' household duties, particularly the responsibilities of mothers, predict a child's level of gender typing as an initial component of gender development. 392 The Journal of Genetic Psychology Mother's marital status is a common indicator of family structure in investigations of childhood outcomes (Carlson & Corcoran, 2001), and is the primary focus in the present study; however, some other possible indicators are evaluated as well (e.g., maternal employment). Given that in married households much of the family activities and chores are divided according to gender-stereotyped roles (Blair & Lichter, 1991; Thompson & Walker, 1989), and given that single parents (or even mothers with a live-in partner) tend to have fewer gendered roles (Ruble et al., 2006), we predicted that children of unmarried mothers would be less likely to engage in gender typing than would married mothers' children. We expected that this difference in children's level of gender typing would also be related to the degree to which the mother's completion of household activities is considered androgynous.