Self-socialization of gender in African American, Dominican immigrant, and Mexican immigrant toddlers

A Dynamic Systems Framework for Gender/Sex Development: From Sensory Input in Infancy to Subjective Certainty in Toddlerhood

From birth to 15 months infants and caregivers form a fundamentally intersubjective, dyadic unit within which the infant's ability to recognize gender/sex in the world develops. Between about 18 and 36 months the infant accumulates an increasingly clear and subjective sense of self as female or male. We know little about how the precursors to gender/sex identity form during the intersubjective period, nor how they transform into an independent sense of self by 3 years of age. In this Theory and Hypothesis article I offer a general framework for thinking about this problem. I propose that through repetition and patterning, the dyadic interactions in which infants and caregivers engage imbue the infant with an embodied, i.e., sensori-motor understanding of gender/sex. During this developmental period (which I label Phase 1) gender/sex is primarily an intersubjective project. From 15 to 18 months (which I label Phase 2) there are few reports of newly appearing gender/sex behavioral differences, and I hypothesize that this absence reflects a period of developmental instability during which there is a transition from gender/sex as primarily inter-subjective to gender/sex as primarily subjective. Beginning at 18 months (i.e., the start of Phase 3), a toddler's subjective sense of self as having a gender/sex emerges, and it solidifies by 3 years of age. I propose a dynamic systems perspective to track how infants first assimilate gender/sex information during the intersubjective period (birth to 15 months); then explore what changes might occur during a hypothesized phase transition (15 to 18 months), and finally, review the emergence and initial stabilization of individual subjectivity-the period from 18 to 36 months. The critical questions explored focus on how to model and translate data from very different experimental disciplines, especially neuroscience, physiology, developmental psychology and cognitive development. I close by proposing the formation of a research consortium on gender/sex development during the first 3 years after birth.

Construct validity of the Child-Initiated Pretend Play Assessment-For 3-year-old Brazilian children

INTRODUCTION

Play is an indication of children's development and how they function. In occupational therapy it is regarded as an important occupation of childhood. Assessment of a child's play should be included in the test batteries of occupational therapists, who understand the construct validity of the assessment they have chosen. Our aim was to provide evidence of reliability, internal consistency and hypotheses testing of the construct validity of the cross-culturally adapted version of the Child-Initiated Pretend Play Assessment.

METHODS

Two hundred typically developing Brazilian children aged 3 years were evaluated individually using the Child-Initiated Pretend Play Assessment.

RESULTS

The internal consistency showed a Cronbach's alpha coefficient to Percentage of Pretend Play Actions (PEPA) of 0.86 and NOS of 0.81. There were significant differences between the younger children (aged 36-41 months) and the older children (aged 42-47 months) for elaborate play across both conventional-imaginative play (p = .002), symbolic play (p = .012), and the combined score (p = .005). There were significant differences between younger and older girls for elaborate play with symbolic play materials (p = .009) and elaborate play overall (p = .039). There were significant differences between young and older boys for elaborate play with conventional toys (p = .006) and elaborate play overall (p = .025). There were no significant differences for object substitution or imitated actions.

CONCLUSION

The measurement properties of the cross-culturally adapted version of the Child-Initiated Pretend Play Assessment for 3-year-old Brazilian children identified evidence for response processes, internal structure, with discussion of consequences of testing for 3-year-old Brazilian children.

Similarity in transgender and cisgender children's gender development

Gender is one of the central categories organizing children's social world. Clear patterns of gender development have been well-documented among cisgender children (i.e., children who identify as a gender that is typically associated with their sex assigned at birth). We present a comprehensive study of gender development (e.g., gender identity and gender expression) in a cohort of 3- to 12-y-old transgender children (n = 317) who, in early childhood, are identifying and living as a gender different from their assigned sex. Four primary findings emerged. First, transgender children strongly identify as members of their current gender group and show gender-typed preferences and behaviors that are strongly associated with their current gender, not the gender typically associated with their sex assigned at birth. Second, transgender children's gender identity (i.e., the gender they feel they are) and gender-typed preferences generally did not differ from 2 comparison groups: cisgender siblings (n = 189) and cisgender controls (n = 316). Third, transgender and cisgender children's patterns of gender development showed coherence across measures. Finally, we observed minimal or no differences in gender identity or preferences as a function of how long transgender children had lived as their current gender. Our findings suggest that early sex assignment and parental rearing based on that sex assignment do not always define how a child identifies or expresses gender later.

Cultural Underpinnings of Gender Development: Studying Gender Among Children of Immigrants

This article addresses the historical divide between gender development researchers and developmental researchers working with immigrant populations, advocating for the benefits gained by bridging research approaches and interests. For gender researchers, the immigrant context allows for the examination of how children embedded in multiple cultures navigate the potentially conflicting information about appropriate gendered behaviors and attitudes. Furthermore, research focusing on immigrant development can move beyond examining gender differences and benefit from understanding the ways in which gender differences develop. This bridging seems particularly relevant in middle childhood, given (a) the exposure to multiple contexts which increase the salience of cultural differences between home and outside-of-home environments and (b) greater awareness and internalization of collective identities (i.e., gender, ethnicity).

Gender Assignment, Reassignment and Outcome in Disorders of Sex Development: Update of the 2005 Consensus Conference

BACKGROUND

Societal changes are increasingly moving the conceptualization of gender from a set of binary categories towards a bimodal continuum, which along with the cautious conclusions resulting from the 2005 Consensus Conference influences gender-related clinical work with patients with disorders of sex development.

OBJECTIVE

This article provides an update of these developments over the past decade along with an overview of pertinent new data.

CONCLUSION

Considerably more research is needed on larger sample sizes with systematic long-term follow-up to ground the emerging trends in clinical management of the highly diverse disorders of sex development syndromes in a solid empirical basis.

A Dual Identity Approach for Conceptualizing and Measuring Children's Gender Identity

The goal was to test a new dual identity perspective on gender identity by asking children (n = 467) in three grades (M_age  = 5.7, 7.6, 9.5) to consider the relation of the self to both boys and girls. This change shifted the conceptualization of gender identity from one to two dimensions, provided insights into the meaning and measurement of gender identity, and allowed for revisiting ideas about the roles of gender identity in adjustment. Using a graphical measure to allow assessment of identity in young children and cluster analyses to determine types of identity, it was found that individual and developmental differences in how similar children feel to both genders, and these variations matter for many important personal and social outcomes.