Fagot

• What was the aim of the study?

  To study the enculturation of gender stereotypes, primarily from parents.
• Who were the participants of the study?

  24 families with parents aged 20-30 and children who were a few years old.
• What was the methodology of the study?

  Five naturalistic observations (each lasting an hour) conducted over five weeks, time sampling recorded the child's behaviour every minute and the parent's response, two observers were used to ensure inter-rate reliability.
• What reliability scores were achieved by the observers?

  Child behaviour: 0.93 agreement rate.

  Parent reaction: 0.83 agreement rate.
• What tools were used in the observation?

  An observation checklist of 46 child behaviours and 19 parent reactions. Post observation: Parents rated the 46 behaviours based on gender stereotypes.
• What were the key results of the study?

  Parents responded more positively to same-sex preferred behaviour and activities.

  Child engaging in cross-sex behaviours were more likely to receive negative responses.

  Parents were more positive when girls asked for help (despite not seeing it as a gender preferred behaviour).

  Parents may not be fully aware of the methods they use to reinforce gender stereotypes.
• What are the strengths of the study?

  High ecological validty due to naturalistic observations. Very high inter-rater reliability.
• What are the limitations of the study?

  Sampling bias (all white American families linked to the university), small sample size, demand characteristics.