Observations on Gender Variance in Chinese Community Children Measured by the Gender Identity Questionnaire for Children.

Few studies have examined how gender variance (GV), broadly defined as gender identity and behaviors (e.g., activities and preferences) that do not correspond with culturally defined gender norms, manifests in community samples, particularly in children and outside Western contexts. We present data based on the Gender Identity Questionnaire for Children (GIQC; Johnson et al., 2004) among 461 Chinese community children (4-12 years old) to gauge how well the GIQC serves as a measure of GV and the prevalence of GV. We examined the descriptive scores of GV, its relationship to a gender-typing measure that has been validated in Chinese children (the Child Play Behavior and Activity Questionnaire, CPBAQ), the scores on the GIQC of children whose gender is incongruent with birth-assigned sex, and the binned category distributions (from gender-variant to gender-conforming) in comparison to a Canadian community sample (van der Miesen et al., 2018). The Chinese children on average scored toward the gender-conforming end and children assigned female at birth showed more GV than children assigned male at birth. More importantly, the GIQC appears to be a reliable and sensitive measure of GV in the Chinese sample. GIQC scores correlated significantly with CPBAQ scores and showed a very similar reliability coefficient, gender difference effect size, and bin distribution pattern as the Canadian reference sample. Also, children reported as gender/sex incongruent had the most gender-variant GIQC scores. Although clinically gender-referred Chinese children are required to establish culturally specific cutoff points, these findings provide initial evidence for the characteristics of GV, the applicability of the GIQC as a measure of GV in Chinese community children, and the comparisons of GIQC categories between Chinese and Canadian community samples.

"He did girls' things!" Hong Kong and Canadian children's reasoning about moral judgments of peers' gendered behaviors.

Children show less positivity toward gender-nonconforming (GN) than gender-conforming (GC) peers. Yet, little is known about children's reasoning about peers of varying gender expressions, including age-, gender-, and culture-related influences. We investigated how children aged 4- to 5- and 8- to 9-years-old in Hong Kong and Canada (N = 678) reason about their moral judgments of GC and GN peers. After viewing vignettes describing GC and GN boys and girls, we asked children whether each target peer's behavior was right or wrong and why they thought so. We coded children's reasoning using a new coding scheme developed via inductive content analysis. Overall, children's most commonly used reasoning styles were global standard, personal choice, gender stereotypes, "don't know," and others' welfare. Children used more gender stereotype-related reasoning when they were older and from Hong Kong, appraising the GN boy, or when they perceived the target's behavior as wrong. In contrast, children reasoned based on personal choice more when they were from Canada or when they perceived the target's behavior as right. These findings inform how age-, gender-, and culture-related factors are associated with children's reasoning about the acceptability or appropriateness of varying kinds of childhood gendered behavior. They provide insights regarding children's appraisals of different gender expressions by illuminating not only how they view GC and GN peers but also, from their own perspectives, why they do so. These insights have implications for strategies aimed at decreasing gender-related biases and increasing children's acceptance of gender diversity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Gender diversity in a Chinese community sample and its associations with autism traits.

Emerging evidence suggests that gender dysphoria or gender diversity (GD) intersects frequently with autism spectrum disorder or autism traits. However, the magnitude and interpretation of this link continue to be debated. Most child studies on this topic were performed in clinical populations, and little is known about the generalizability of this co-occurrence to the broader community, especially to non-Western samples. Also, little is known about whether specific subdomains of autism are more strongly associated with GD. Therefore, we investigated GD and its association with autism traits in a Chinese community sample of 4-12-year-olds (N = 379; 51% birth-assigned girls). Parents provided information about GD characteristics using the standardized Gender Identity Questionnaire for Children and autism traits using the Chinese version of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient-Children. In addition, broader behavioral and emotional challenges were measured by the Behavior Problem Index (BPI) to account for psychological challenges other than autism traits. In this community sample of Chinese children, increased GD was associated with increased autism traits, even after accounting for the BPI. Of the four subscales, the Imagination and Patterns subscales in birth-assigned girls and the Imagination subscale in birth-assigned boys were especially associated with GD. These findings indicate that the association between GD and autism traits generalizes to a nonclinical, non-Western sample. Clinicians and researchers working with clinical as well as community children should thus pay attention to the co-occurrence of GD and autism traits, in and outside the West.

Children's implicit gender-toy association development varies across cultures.

Gender-stereotyped beliefs develop early in childhood and are thought to increase with age based on prior research that was primarily carried out in Western cultures. Little research, however, has examined cross-cultural (in)consistencies in the developmental trajectory of gender-stereotyped beliefs. The present study examined implicit gender-toy stereotypes among 4- to 9-year-olds (N = 1,013; 49.70% girls) in Canada, China, and Thailand. Children from all three cultures evidenced implicit gender-toy stereotypes over this developmental period, but cultural differences in the developmental pattern and strength of these stereotypes were apparent. Gender-toy stereotypes were relatively strong and stable across age groups among Thai children and relatively weak and stable across age groups among Chinese children. Canadian 4- to 5-year-old children displayed weaker stereotypes, whereas 6- to 9-year-olds displayed stronger stereotypes. These findings highlight the contribution of culture to children's gender stereotype development. Although gender-toy stereotypes were found among 4- to 9-year-olds in all three cultures examined here, the strength of these stereotypes varies by culture. Furthermore, the previously described increase in gender stereotyping over this developmental period appears to not apply across cultures, thus challenging the conventional view on development in this domain based on prior, mainly Western, research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Girls Are Better Students but Boys Will Be More Successful at Work: Discordance Between Academic and Career Gender Stereotypes in Middle Childhood.

Despite findings of female advantages at school, men still are higher achieving in the workplace. Only a small amount of research has simultaneously investigated stereotypes of these different domains. We investigated whether stereotypes about academic female superiority and paradoxical stereotypes about workplace male superiority coexist. Participants were 1144 Grades 1-6 students (Mage = 9.66) from Hong Kong. They completed measures of academic gender stereotypes and meta-stereotypes, career gender stereotypes, career-related motivation for school excellence, and school engagement. Teachers provided school exam scores. We examined (1) gender and age differences, (2) the relationship between the stereotypes, and (3) the moderating role of these stereotypes in gender differences in school engagement, exam scores, and career-related motivation. Both boys and girls perceived girls as better students but a belief in female superiority did not translate to the career domain. Although both boys and girls beginning primary school believed their gender was superior in both domains, those at the end of primary school believed that girls do better at school while men are more successful at work. Also, at the end of primary school, these two stereotypes were more discordant on the individual level, i.e., the tendency for children who believed that girls perform better at school to also believe that women perform better at work was weaker in older children. Academic gender stereotypes moderated gender differences in school engagement and exam scores. Understanding why children hold discordant beliefs about success in different arenas and combating both academic and career stereotypes early may help improve gender equality for both genders.

The Effects of Race, Gender, and Gender-Typed Behavior on Children's Friendship Appraisals.

From a young age, children's peer appraisals are influenced by the social categories to which peers belong based on factors such as race and gender. To date, research regarding the manner in which race- and gender-related factors might interact to influence these appraisals has been limited. The present study employed an experimental vignette paradigm to investigate the relative influences of target peers' race, gender, and gender-typed behavior toward 4- to 6-year-old Chinese children's (N = 119, 62 girls, 57 boys) peer appraisals. Appraisals were assessed via (1) a rating scale measuring children's interest in being friends with a range of hypothetical target peers varying in race, gender, and gender-typed behavior, and (2) a forced-choice rank-order task in which children indicated their preferences for four hypothetical target peers who varied from themselves on either race, gender, or gender-typed behavior, or were similar to themselves on all three traits. There was little evidence to suggest children's rank-ordered peer preferences in relation to race were influenced by whether the other-race presented was White (preferred relatively more) or Black (preferred relatively less). In contrast, gender-related factors (i.e., rater gender, target gender, target gender-typed behavior) had more robust influences on peer preferences for both outcome measures. Gender-conforming peers were preferred over gender-nonconforming peers, and target boys displaying feminine behavior were less preferred than target girls displaying masculine behavior. The results help characterize cross-cultural (in)consistencies in children's social preferences in relation to peers' race and gender.

Empathic accuracy of young boys and girls in ongoing parent-child interactions: Performance and (mis)perception.

Understanding others accurately is crucial in relationships and learning. Research shows that adults face challenges in empathic accuracy, that is, the ability to read the content of others' moment-to-moment mental states during interactions. Although young children possess some empathic understanding, the extent of their empathic accuracy is uncharted. Using a new SSP, 106 Chinese children aged 60 to 80 months (M = 70 months) were assessed on their ability to infer the mental states of adults in ongoing parent-child interactions. Replicating and extending extant findings on adults and adolescents, the children's inferences were found to be, at least computationally on a scale of .00 to 1.00, more often inaccurate than accurate regardless of the gender of the targets or participants (overall accuracy rate = .28). However, both the children and their primary caregivers overestimated the children's performance. In addition, although the primary caregivers expected girls to outperform boys, no gender difference in empathic accuracy was found when controlling for verbal fluency. Drawing on the findings of this first-ever application of the empathic accuracy paradigm in young children, the implications of empathic accuracy performance and misperceptions about such accuracy are discussed.

Children's bias in appraisals of gender-variant peers.

Past research suggests that children have biased negative appraisals of gender-variant (GV) peers (i.e., peers who display behaviors/interests that do not align with gender stereotypes). In the current study, Canadian cisgender 4- and 5-year-olds and 8- and 9-year-olds (N = 183; 48.6% girls), who were ethnically diverse (36% White European heritage) and from mostly middle- to upper-income families, viewed vignettes depicting boys and girls as either gender-conforming (GC) or GV. Multiple measures gauged children's appraisals in various domains (i.e., friendship/social preference, popularity, happiness, imitation, and moral judgment). Children's bias against GV peers was modest. Children preferred peers who presented as the same gender and/or with same-gender-typed behaviors/interests. Compared with GC peers, GV peers were rated as less happy, and older children rated a GV boy as less popular. When juxtaposed with a previous study of Hong Kong children that used the same study design, there were several parallels in the patterns observed, but Canadian children had a weaker and less consistent pattern of bias against GV peers than children from Hong Kong. In addition, children from these two cultures showed discrepant patterns for certain aspects of appraisals (e.g., happiness, moral judgment). Overall, these findings inform age-, gender-, and cultural-related influences on children's appraisals of GV peers.

Children's Appraisals of Gender Nonconformity: Developmental Pattern and Intervention.

Gender-nonconforming (GN) children are often perceived less positively, which may harm their well-being. We examined the development of such perceptions and an intervention to modify them. Chinese children's appraisals were assessed using multiple measures (verbal responses, sharing, and rank order task) after viewing vignettes of gender-conforming (GC) and GN hypothetical peers. In Study 1, children (N = 210; 4-, 5-, 8-, and 9-year-olds) were less positive toward GN than GC peers, especially if they were older or if the peers were boys. In Study 2 (N = 211, 8- and 9-year-olds), showing children exemplars of GN peers who displayed positive and GC characteristics subsequently reduced bias against gender nonconformity. These findings inform strategies aimed at reducing bias against gender nonconformity.

Early Gender Differences in Spatial and Social Skills and Their Relations to Play and Parental Socialization in Children from Hong Kong.

Children's play preferences are highly gender-typed. At the same time, much research revolves around spatial and social skills that sometimes show male and female advantages, respectively. There is evidence that play with masculine toys is associated with better spatial skills and emerging evidence suggests that play with feminine toys is associated with better social skills. However, several research gaps limit current knowledge on these aspects of gender development. First, the study of childhood gender development has been largely Eurocentric; second, the link between gender-typed play and social skills development is not well supported. We tested 644 5-year-old Hong Kong Chinese children on five gender-typed skills, play preferences, and parental gender socialization. The pattern of gender differences was remarkably similar to those in the West. Boys preferred masculine toys more than girls and were better at mental transformation and targeting accuracy, while girls preferred feminine (and neutral) toys more than boys and were better at empathy and were less aggressive, although there was no significant gender difference in comforting skill. There was little evidence that these gender differences varied with socioeconomic status (parental income and education). Play correlated with some outcomes in expected ways. This is in contrast to parents' gender socialization, which showed some expected differences by child gender but minimally correlated with children's skills. These findings shed light on the generalizability of current knowledge on early gender differences and may facilitate gender developmental research outside the West. Although the study did not test the direction of effects, they substantiate the growing discourse on gender-typed play as an important learning mechanism.

Students from single-sex schools are more gender-salient and more anxious in mixed-gender situations: Results from high school and college samples.

Gender segregation exists in all walks of life. One of the most common forms of institutionalized gender segregation is perhaps single-sex schooling. Because schooling experience has important influence on students' psychosocial development, interest in gender-segregated education has been reviving over the globe. Skeptics of single-sex schooling have suggested that such schooling may increase students' gender salience (awareness of gender in categorizations), reduce opportunities for mixed-gender interactions, and increase mixed-gender anxiety, but little evidence has been found. It is critical to explore how single-sex schooling is associated with these psychosocial outcomes in adolescents and young adults because they are in the developmental stage when the desire and need to establish mixed-gender relationships increase. We report two systematic studies on gender salience, mixed-gender friendships, and mixed-gender anxiety on 2059 high school students and 456 college students from single-sex or coeducational schools. Even with demographic background controlled, results suggested higher gender salience in single-sex school students in the high school sample, and greater mixed-gender anxiety and fewer mixed-gender friendships in these students in both samples. These differences were not moderated by student gender and were similar in first-year versus senior college students. Moreover, mixed-gender friendships, though not gender salience, appeared to engage in a possibly bi-directional mediation relationship with mixed-gender anxiety that is consistent with a vicious cycle of escalating anxiety and lack of mixed-gender interaction among single-sex school students. These findings help fill the knowledge gap about the correlates of gender-segregated schooling and shed light on the precursors of later social and achievement differences between single-sex and coeducational school students.

Single-Sex Schooling: Friendships, Dating, and Sexual Orientation.

Single-sex schooling has been controversial for decades. The current study investigated the differences in friendships, dating, and past, present, and ideal sexual orientation, between 207 college students who attended single-sex secondary schools and 249 college students who attended coeducational secondary schools in Hong Kong, controlling for personal characteristics such as socioeconomic status. We found that, compared to graduates of coeducational schools, graduates of single-sex schools reported a different gender composition in intimate friendships favoring the same sex, less romantic involvement with other-sex close friends, older age at first date, fewer boyfriends or girlfriends, and more past same-sex sexuality. In contrast, we found no significant differences in the interactions with same-sex versus other-sex friends, most aspects of past or present dating engagement, or self-reported present or ideal sexual orientation. These findings give insight into the interpersonal outcomes of single-sex schooling and fill a gap in previous research which has focused on academic achievement and gender role stereotypes.