Interrelations of gender schemas in children and adolescents: Attitudes, preferences, and self-perceptions

To test developmental aspects of gender schema theories, girls in grades 2 to 12 were given measures of gender role attitudes, self-perceptions on gender related traits, reported participation in gender related activities, preferred occupation, and adult family preferences. Both children’s and adolescents’ results showed a multifactor structure. Children’s results differed from adolescents’ in that children had more measures showing significant age trends, with a general pattern of decreasing stereotyping with age. Children also had stronger associations among diverse measures than did adolescents. Results were consistent with both multifactorial and cognitive-developmental approaches to the development of gender schemas, and provided limited support for adolescent gender intensification hypotheses.