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284  CHAPTER 7

Again, the gender divide of toy play continues today. When researchers asked parents of 5- and 12-month-old infants to report the toys they had at home, male children had more trucks than dolls at both ages, and girls had three times more pink toys than did boys at 5 months of age and five times more pink toys by the time they were 12 months old (Boe & Woods, 2018). In turn, the gendered nature of toys fed into infants’ toy play by 12 months of age. As reviewed previously, toddlers 1–2 years of age play in gendered ways, with girls spending more time playing with dolls and boys more time with trucks (Boe & Woods, 2018; Zosuls et al., 2014). Nonetheless, a caution is in order when interpreting the sources of girls’ and boys’ toy preferences. Although family context is a powerful force in toddler play, biology (including genetics) interacts with environmental experience to affect the course of development (see Chapter 1). In the same way, parent- ing behaviors may strengthen existing predilections in girl and boy infants. In subsequent chapters, we revisit the influences of biology and family context on identity formation across multiple areas, including gender, race, and ethnicity. CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING 7.24 1. What are some ways that parents socialize gendered behaviors in their infant boys and girls? Gender Socialization: Cultural Context LEARNING OBJECTIVE 7.25  Consider ways that cultural context might influence gender socialization. Although studies on gender socialization in infancy are rare, gender socializa- tion looks quite different across cultural communities. Still, based on existing evidence, differences in the roles of men and women in cultural life influence how boys and girls are raised. In turn, children develop gendered behaviors and attitudes that align with broader cultural messages. Anthropologist Margaret Mead was a pioneer in the study of gender roles across cultural communities ( FIGURE 7.27 ). Mead (1935) extensively observed the behaviors of the two sexes in three societies—the Arapesh, Mundugumor, and Tchambuli. She documented unique patterns of male and female behav- ✓

iors in each culture, patterns that differed from one another and from the gender role expectations in the United States at the time. In the Arapesh community, both men and women were gentle, responsive, and cooperative. In the Mundugu- mor community, both genders sought power and position and were violent and aggressive. In the Tchambuli commu- nity, women were dominant and managerial and men were emotionally dependent and less responsible than women. Although Mead did not examine the implications for the gender development of infants or young children, her work spotlights how gender roles are socially constructed. Two decades later, anthropologists Herbert Barry and col- leagues examined the socialization of boys and girls across 110 largely nonliterate, geographically distributed cultures (Barry, Bacon, & Child, 1957). They documented how adults trained boys and girls in areas of responsibility and duti- fulness, nurturance, obedience, self-reliance, and achieve- ment. In infancy, few gender differences were seen, but over the early childhood years girls were increasingly pressured toward nurturance, obedience, and responsibility and boys toward self-reliance and achievement. Cultural communities with the greatest differences in treatment of boys and girls Tomste1808/CC BY-SA 4.0 FIGURE 7.27  Margaret Mead.  Anthropologist Margaret Mead pioneered the study of gender roles by observing patterns of family life and behaviors in communities across the globe. Her work continues to influence theories about how different cultural contexts shape the formation of gender identities and roles. Here she is shown in Bali, Indonesia, in 1957. PROPERTY OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Tamis-LeMonda Child Development: Context, Culture, and Cascades 1E Sinauer Associates/OUP