The Developmental Course of Gender Differentiation: Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Evaluating Constructs and Pathways: Conceptuality, Measuring and Evaluating Constructs and Pathways - Brossura

How is it that boys and girls, men and women end up with different interests, occupations, and traits? How can we distinguish real gender differences from beliefs about gender differences? How do gender-differentiated behaviors and stereotypes change from childhood to adulthood? This monograph reviews theories and methods that have been used to study gender differentiation in the past, and then offers a new suite of measures designed to assess children's and adults' gender-related attitudes towards others and gender-related characterizations of self. Two pathways for developmental change are presented, one in which children's gender attitudes are hypothesized to affect their later behaviors and the other in which children's own behaviors are hypothesized to influence their later attitudes. Closing chapters provide longitudinal data relevant to these developmental pathways and discuss implications for research and practice.