Content area
Full Text
Sex Roles (2008) 58:501513 DOI 10.1007/s11199-007-9368-0
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
How Lesbian and Heterosexual Parents Convey Attitudes about Gender to their Children: The Role of Gendered Environments
Erin L. Sutfin & Megan Fulcher & Ryan P. Bowles &
Charlotte J. Patterson
Published online: 15 December 2007 # Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2007
Abstract We studied associations among parents gender role attitudes, gender stereotyping in childrens environments, and childrens gender role attitudes and whether these associations were similar for families with lesbian and heterosexual parents. Fifty-seven 4- to 6-year-olds and 114 parents from the US participated. Parents completed self-report questionnaires and responded to interview questions. Researchers collected data regarding the childs environment and attitudes about gender. Results revealed that children with lesbian mothers had less stereotyped environments and less traditional attitudes. Parental attitudes were associated with stereotyping in childrens environments and with childrens attitudes about gender. Both for lesbian and heterosexual parents, the impact of parents attitudes on childrens attitudes was partially mediated by the nature of childrens environments.
Keywords Childrens gender development .
Lesbian parenting . Gender stereotypes
Introduction
Research has consistently found differences in the behavior of boys and girls, even from early in life (for reviews, see Beal 1994; Liben and Bigler 2002; Martin et al. 2002; Ruble et al. 2006). When investigating these early differences, researchers have focused on differential treatment of sons and daughters by parents (Leaper et al. 1998; Lytton and Romney 1991). This research has concentrated on areas such as parents verbal interactions, stimulus of motor behavior, nurturance, discipline, and joint play. However, very little research has considered the physical environments that surround children as possible contributors to differences in boys and girls gender role development. These physical environments, which are at least in part provided by parents, may be informative indicators of parents own attitudes, as well as real influences on childrens gender role development. However, little is known about whether the physical environments in which children spend a considerable amount of time are: (1) reflections of parents attitudes about gender, and (2) influences on childrens own attitudes about gender. The extent to which the associations between parental attitudes, childrens physical environments, and childrens own attitudes differ as a function of parental sexual orientation has yet to be...