Influences on Gender Development

Parents

They might praise girls and punish or discourage boys for the same thing. Children see what their parents do and learn when they try to imitate their parents. Parents may expect different things from their sons and daughters, and that supports gender roles and stereotypes. Parents may give different chores to sons and daughters based on their gender differences. Parents might tell their children that only males or females do/say certain things.

Siblings

And brothers and sisters often tell each other what to say or do. In fact, children with siblings tend to have more gender stereotypes than only children. For example: Sister tells brother, “That looks like a girl’s jacket.” Brother will probably resist wearing the jacket in the future. For example: When children are playing house, the older brother tells his younger brother what mommies and daddies do. In an observation study of the play behaviors of 4 to 9-year olds, the activities of same sex siblings were highly "gender appropriate." However, among mixed-sex siblings, choices of play were determined by the sex of the older child (Berk).

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