Individual Differences in Gender Development: Associations with Parental Sexual Orientation, Attitudes, and Division of Labor

• DOI: 10.1007/s11199-007-9348-4
• Publication Date: 2007-11-24T00:32:30Z
• Authors: Megan Fulcher; Erin L. Sutfin; Charlotte J. Patt...
• Keywords: 5. Gender equality; 05 social sciences; 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences; 16. Peace & justice

Research on children of lesbian parents has sug- gested that such children are developing well, but questions have been raised about their gender development. In this study, we explored associations among parental sexual orientation, parental gender-related attitudes, parental divi- sion of labor, and children's gender development. Partic- ipants were 66 preschool children and their 132 parents from the East Coast of the United States. Thirty-three families were headed by lesbian and 33 by heterosexual couples. Parents who divided paid and unpaid labor more unequally had children whose occupational aspirations were also more traditional. Measures of children's gender development were generally unrelated to parental sexual orientation. Parents' attitudes and behaviors were more strongly associated with children's gender development than was parental sexual orientation.