Examined family and religious variables that affect transmission of religious values from parents to early adolescent sons. Responses from 68 Protestant mother-father-son triads showed that mothers mostly influenced sons' practical application of religion, while fathers influenced sons' church attendance. Mothers and fathers functioned differently…

Reviews literature for strongest position with respect to sex differences in parent-child relationships, namely that both parents' sex and child's sex contribute to four distinct dyad relationships. Found many claims and assumptions about the distinctness of relationships but little empirical evidence. When dyadic distinctness was found, it often…

Differences were found between father/son and father/daughter dyads in such behaviors as father prohibitions, child mischievousness, mutual proximity, toy exchange, and child toy play. A total of 107 father/child dyads involving year-old children were observed. (Author/RH)

Examined whether mothers' and fathers' temperaments influence quality of relationships with sons and daughters and whether divergent relationships exist between adolescent temperament and adolescent-parent relationships for boys and girls. Survey results supported link between parent temperament, particularly maternal temperament, and quality of…

Studied directives which mothers and fathers addressed to their preschool children. Fathers produced more directives than mothers and tended to phrase them as imperatives. No differences were found in parental directives to girls and boys. Thus, children appear to learn to request action in sex-associated ways through parental modeling. (GC)

Examined data on 1,023 married women from 1987-88 National Survey of Families and Households. Found that mothers with at least one boy reported significantly lower propensity to divorce compared to mothers with only girls. Fathers in families with boys were more engaged with children, which was associated with mothers perceiving less disadvantage…

Examined selected problem-solving behaviors of school-age children and their parents in dyadic and triadic contexts. Parent-child interactions revealed sex-of-parent and sex-of-child differences as a function of problem-solving contexts. (Author/BB)

Examined free recall narratives of younger and older children and their parents independently interviewed about injuries requiring hospital emergency treatment. Found that mothers' narratives were more cohesive and coherent than fathers', and girls' narratives differed from boys' in parallel ways. Parent and child measures were correlated;…

Used data from National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine extent to which presence or absence of biological fathers from home was associated with gender difference in presence or absence of children and gender differences in home environment encountered by children. Results for black children were less systematic than those for white…

This study examined gender differences in early adolescents' adaptation to stepfamilies in which the mother had custody. Parent-child interaction was compared in mother-custody stepfamilies and intact families. Results indicated that girls had more difficulty interacting with stepfathers than sons did. (SH)

Reports a study of mathematically and verbally talented children which investigated hypotheses that (1) mathematically related fields are sex typed as male domains and (2) parents give differential encouragement to sons and daughters in math. Results indicated that neither hypothesis related to current sex differences in mathematical reasoning…

Examines mothers' and fathers' speech for similarities and differences as expressed in four categories of messages to their preschool daughters and sons: plans, strategies, symbolic play utterances, and extrasituational references. (MP)

The importance of a child's relationship with the same gender parent, which influences their interactions with mothers and fathers is discussed. Forty 2-year-old girls and boys were observed in interactions with mothers and fathers at home, and behavior ratings were based on the following criteria: availability, warmth, and power structure.…

This paper discusses the gendering of self of a young boy who has two males as parents, from the view point of his female psychotherapist. During the 2 years of psychotherapy, the young boy was preoccupied with the need to create a kind of mother. He referred to his female caretaker as "Real Mommy" whom he loved and to his…

The cognitive demand in questions directed to Mexican-descent children by their mothers and fathers were analyzed for videotaped play situations involving gender-neutral, masculine-, or feminine-stereotyped toys. Mothers asked proportionately more conceptual questions than did fathers. Mothers' question asking was influenced by child gender,…