A new study from scholars at the University of Richmond and New York University has examined how children conform to gender norms. The study reveals that the roots of gender conformity appear in children as young as five years old.
For their study, the authors recruited a large sample of children between the ages of 5 and 10 and randomly assigned the participants to receive feedback suggesting they were either gender-atypical or gender-typical. Regardless of gender, children as young as five who were told they were gender-atypical had lower self-esteem and expressed concerns about what their peers would think of them.
However, there were distinct differences in children’s behavioral responses based on gender and age. Older boys made more of an effort to appear masculine, while boys of all ages went out of their way to avoid appearing feminine. For girls, younger participants actively tried to appear feminine, but as girls’ age increased, they became less concerned with proving their femininity.
“Gender norms shape children’s lives in profound ways — influencing everything from the clothes they wear to the careers they’ll eventually pursue,” said lead author Adam Stanaland, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Richmond. “Even children of a very young age can experience gender pressure in their daily lives from a variety of sources, including peers, parents, teachers, and coaches.”
He continued, “Our findings offer causal evidence rather than speculation or correlation: When certain children feel judged for being gender-atypical, they don’t simply shrug it off. They double down, and this seems to happen much earlier than most people assume.”