Peer toy play as a gateway to children’s gender flexibility: The effect of (counter)stereotypic portrayals of peers in children’s magazines

This is research I conducted with Dr Lauren Spinner. In this study we wanted to find if we could use peer models to disrupt children’s (4-7 year olds) gender stereotypes, and create more acceptance of children who don’t conform to societal gender norms in terms of play.

We know that children use their peers as a guide for their own behaviour and toy preferences, which increases conformity to gender stereotypes as children look to peers for guidance on how to behave, what to play with and who to play with. Since peers are so influential, we wondered if we could use peers to model behaviours, but rather than strengthening gender stereotypic behaviour, we could use them to model counter-stereotypic behaviours and break down stereotypes. We used mocked up magazine pages to present children with the peer models. This also gave us insight into the potential impact of children’s print media (magazines, books) on their gender stereotypic beliefs and behaviours.

Children in this age group (4-7 year old) are very rigid in how they think about gender: they tend to choose gender stereotypical toys, play with other children of the same gender, and actively ‘police’ other children to promote gender stereotypical  behaviour. This limits children’s experiences: traditionally feminine toys encourage communication and social skills, while traditionally masculine toys encourage visual and spatial skills. ‘Gender segregation’ where children tend to play with others from their own gender, strengthens gender stereotypical beliefs and behaviours in children. This re-creates gender stereotypes in another generation of children. It is important to challenge gender stereotypes in young children, and find a way for them to play with a variety of toys that promote well-rounded development.

We mocked up ‘reader pages’ from children’s magazines. These included a boy and a girl, engaging in stereotypic play (e.g. boy playing with a truck) or counter-stereotypic play (e.g. boy playing with a pony). Children (82 children, aged 4-7 years) looked at either the stereotypical or counter-stereotypical pages for one minute. Children were then asked about their own toy preference, how much other children should play with different toys, and who they would choose to play with (the boy or girl). We were interested in whether children were more flexible about gender after they saw the counter-stereotypical examples. Would they be less stereotypical in their own toy preferences? Would they be more relaxed about what other children should play with? And would they be more likely to choose to play with a child of the opposite gender?

We found that when children looked at the peer models engaged in counter stereotypical play, they were less stereotypical in their ideas about what toys children should play with. They were also more likely to choose a child from the opposite gender to play with. However, there was no impact of the magazine pages on children’s OWN toy preferences – they were still highly stereotypical in toys they would choose for themselves.

Peer models, in this case presented in magazines, have an important role to play in promoting gender flexibility in children aged 4-7 years. Through mediums such as magazines, the power of peers can be harnessed to promote more flexible attitudes to toys and friendship groups. However, children’s toy preferences for themselves are harder to shift. Future research should examine the impact of extended exposure to counter-stereotypic peers, but these findings highlight the role of peers and magazines in disrupting children’s gender stereotypes.