Gender labeling, gender stereotyping, and parenting behaviors.

Are gender labeling and gender stereotyping in 24-, 30-, and 36-mo-old children related to each other and to mothers' sex-role attitudes and responses to sex-typed behavior in a free-play situation with their children? The gender stereotyping measure indicated that gender schemata include information that is metaphorically rather than literally associated with each sex. Children who understood labels for boys and girls displayed more knowledge of gender stereotypes than children who did not. Mothers whose children had mastered labels for boys and girls endorsed more traditional attitudes toward women and toward sex roles within the family. The same mothers also initiated and reinforced more sex-typed toy play with their children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)