ERIC Number: EJ1367020
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-Nov
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0012-1649
EISSN: EISSN-1939-0599
Available Date: N/A
Consistency of Gender Identity and Preferences across Time: An Exploration among Cisgender and Transgender Children
Hässler, Tabea; Glazier, Jessica J.; Olson, Kristina R.
Developmental Psychology, v58 n11 p2184-2196 Nov 2022
While considerable research has examined gender development in middle childhood, little longitudinal work has been conducted at this time to indicate whether, for example, youth who show more or less gender conformity at one point continue to do so later. The present study investigated the consistency of gender identity and preferences for gender-stereotypical toys, clothing, and same-gender peer preferences among groups of transgender youth (n = 158), their siblings (n = 79), and an unrelated group of cisgender youth (n = 128) from a mean age of 7.0 (range 3.0-10.9) to a mean age of 9.6 (range 5.1-12.0). Furthermore, 65.5% of the youth were girls, 69.7% were White, 72.8% grew up in households with an annual household income of $75,000 or more, and 89.9% of parents had a bachelor's degree or higher. Overall, we found a small-to-medium correlation over this 2.6-year span within each group, both across the composite of measures and most measures individually. Despite the moderate stability over time, we found a decrease in the composite and individual scores over this time span for girls and for transgender participants. Together these results suggested some stability in children's gender identity and preferences in middle childhood and that this was true regardless of whether the child's gender did or did not align with their sex assignment at birth.
Descriptors: Child Development, Sexual Identity, Sex Stereotypes, LGBTQ People, Preferences, Correlation, Gender Differences, Racial Differences, Socioeconomic Status, Parent Background, Educational Attainment, Toys, Peer Relationship, Clothing
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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