Children's appraisals and reasoning of gender nonconformity

Abstract

Gender-nonconforming children are often perceived less positively, which may harm their well-being. In the first part of the thesis, we examined the development of such perceptions and an intervention to modify them. Chinese children’s appraisals were assessed using multiple measures (verbal responses on friendship preference, perceived popularity, emotion perception, activity preferences and moral judgment; a behavioral measure on sharing; and ranking) after viewing vignettes of gender-conforming (GC) and gender-nonconforming (GN) hypothetical peers. In Study 1, children (N = 210; 4-, 5-, 8-, and 9-year-olds) were less positive towards 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. In the second part of the thesis, we further examined the reasoning styles children used to evaluate peers of different gender expression. Participants included age 4, 5, 8 and 9 year old children from Hong Kong (N = 320) and Canada (N = 358). Children were asked to reason about their appraisals in three respects: moral judgment, basis of allocation of stickers to peers, and basis of ranking of peers from most to least favorite. Differences in culture, age, gender of peers, and correctness of peers (i.e., perceiving the peers as right vs. not right) were found in children’s reasoning styles. When comparing the reasoning styles of different cultures, Hong Kong children were more likely to reason based on gender stereotypes than Canadian children. Also, when children were older, were appraising the GN boy, or made negative moral judgment (i.e., perceiving the behaviors of GN peers as not right), they were more likely to reason based on gender stereotypes. On the other hand, when children made positive moral judgment (i.e., perceiving the behaviors of GN peers as right), they were more likely to reason based on personal choice (appeal to individual preferences) and global standard (behaving in accordance with existing norms). Overall, the first part of the thesis provides insights into children’s appraisals and informs strategies aimed at reducing bias against gender nonconformity. The second part of the thesis extends the first part by further examining reasoning styles behind children’s lesser positivity towards gender nonconformity. Improvement in appraisals can potentially be achieved by facilitating reasoning styles that do not rely on gender stereotypes.