Boys and girls on the playground: Sex differences in social development are not stable across early childhood

PLoS ONE

Volumn 6, Issue 1, 2011, Pages

  Barbu, Stéphanie ^a   Cabanes, Guénaël ^a   le Maner Idrissi, Gaïd ^b  

^a CNRS   (France)

^b UNIVERSITÉ RENNES 2   (France)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; CHILD; CHILD BEHAVIOR; CHILD DEVELOPMENT; CONTROLLED STUDY; COOPERATION; FEMALE; HUMAN; HUMAN RELATION; MALE; NURSERY SCHOOL; PEER GROUP; PLAY; PRESCHOOL CHILD; SEX DIFFERENCE; SOCIAL BEHAVIOR; SOCIAL INTERACTION; AGE; CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY; GENDER IDENTITY; INFANT; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; RECREATION; SCHOOL;

AGE FACTORS; CHILD; CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDIES; FEMALE; GENDER IDENTITY; HUMANS; INFANT; MALE; PLAY AND PLAYTHINGS; SCHOOLS; SOCIAL BEHAVIOR;

EID: 79551557173     PISSN: None     EISSN: 19326203     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016407     Document Type: Article

References (51)

1. Mehl MR, Vazire S, Ramirez-Esparza N, Slatcher RB, Pennebaker JW (2007) Are women really more talkative than men? Science 317: 82.
2. Wallentin M (2009) Putative sex differences in verbal abilities and language cortex: A critical review. Brain Lang 108: 175-183.
3. Lippa RA (2005) Gender, nature, and nurture. New York: Taylor & Francis Group. 335 p.
4. Maccoby EE, Jacklin CN (1974) The psychology of sex differences. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. 634 p.
5. Ruble DN, Martin CL, Berenbaum SA (2006) Gender development. In: Eisenberg N, ed. Social, emotional, and personality development. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. pp 858-932.
6. Blakemore JEO, Berenbaum SA, Liben LS (2009) Gender development. New York: Psychology Press. 519 p.
7. Connellan J, Baron-Cohen S, Wheelwright S, Batki A, Ahluwalia J (2000) Sex differences in human neonatal social perception. Infant Behav Dev 23: 113-118.
8. Lutchmaya S, Baron-Cohen S (2002) Human sex differences in social and nonsocial looking preferences, at 12 months of age. Infant Behav Dev 25: 319-325.
9. Hittelman JH, Dickes R (1979) Sex differences in neonatal eye contact time. Merrill Palmer Q 25: 171-184.
10. Leeb RT, Rejskind FG (2004) Here's looking at you, kid! A longitudinal study of perceived gender differences in mutual gaze behavior in young infants. Sex Roles 50: 1-5.
11. Lutchmaya S, Baron-Cohen S, Ragatt P (2002) Foetal testosterone and eye contact in 12-month-old human infants. Infant Behav Dev 25: 327-335.
12. Nagy E, Kompagne H, Orvos H, Pal A (2007) Gender-related differences in neonatal imitation. Inf Child Dev 16: 267-276.
13. Hall JA, Carter JD, Horgan TG (2000) Gender differences in nonverbal communication of emotion. In: Fischer AH, ed. Gender and emotion: Social psychological perspectives. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp 97-117.
14. McClure EB (2000) A meta-analytic review of sex differences in facial expression processing and their development in infants, children, and adolescents. Psychol Bull 126: 424-453.
15. Happé FGE (1995) The role of age and verbal ability in the theory of mind task performance of subjects with autism. Child Dev 66: 843-855.
16. Charman T, Ruffman T, Clements W (2002) Is there a gender difference in false belief development? Soc Dev 11: 1-10.
17. Walker S (2005) Gender differences in the relationship between young children's peer-related social competence and individual differences in theory of mind. J Genet Psychol 166: 297-312.
18. Eisenberg N, Fabes RA, Spinrad TL (2006) Prosocial development. In: Eisenberg N, ed. Social, emotional, and personality development. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. pp 646-718.
19. Walker S, Irving K, Berthelsen D (2002) Gender influences on preschool children's social problem-solving strategies. J Genet Psychol 163: 197-210.
20. Maccoby EE (1990) Gender and relationships. A developmental account. Am Psychol 45: 513-520.
21. Leaper C, Smith TE (2004) A meta-analytic review of gender variations in children's language use: Talkativeness, affiliative speech, and assertive speech. Dev Psychol 40: 993-1027.
22. Knickmeyer RC, Baron-Cohen S (2006) Fetal testosterone and sex differences in typical social development and in autism. J Child Neurol 21: 825-845.
23. Golombok S, Rust J, Zervoulis K, Croudace T, Golding J, et al. (2008) Developmental trajectories of sex-typed behavior in boys and girls: A longitudinal general population study of children aged 2.5-8 years. Child Dev 79: 1583-1593.
24. Göncü A, Gaskins S (2007) Play and development: Evolutionary, sociocultural, and functional perspectives. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. 328 p.
25. Fromberg DP, Bergen D (2006) Play from birth to twelve: Contexts, perspectives, and meanings. New York: Routledge. 455 p.
26. Rubin KH, Bukowski WM, Parker JG (2006) Peer interactions, relationships, and groups. In: Eisenberg N, ed. Social, emotional, and personality development. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. pp 571-645.
27. Coplan RJ, Rubin KH, Findley LC (2006) Social and nonsocial play. In: Fromberg DP, Bergen D, eds. Play from birth to twelve: Contexts, perspectives, and meanings. New York: Routledge. pp 75-86.
28. Coplan RJ, Arbeau K (2008) Peer interactions and play in early childhood. In: Rubin KH, Bukowski W, Laursen B, eds. Handbook of peer interactions, relationships, and groups. New York: Guilford Press. pp 143-161.
29. Howes C, Matheson CC (1992) Sequences in the development of competent play with peers: Social and social pretend play. Dev Psychol 28: 961-974.
30. Colwell MJ, Lindsey EW (2005) Preschool children's pretend and physical play and sex of play partner: Connections to peer competence. Sex Roles 52: 497-509.
31. Robinson CC, Anderson GT, Porter CL, Hart CH, Wouden-Miller M (2003) Sequential transition patterns of preschoolers' social interactions during childinitiated play: Is parallel-aware play a bidirectional bridge to other play states? Early Child Res Q 18: 3-21.
32. Parten MB (1932) Social participation among preschool children. J Abnorm Soc Psychol 27: 243-269.
33. Bornstein MH, Hahn CS, Haynes OM (2004) Specific and general language performance across early childhood: Stability and gender considerations. First Lang 24: 267-304.
34. Harris PL (2006) Social cognition. In: Kuhn D, Siegler R, eds. Cognition, perception, and language. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. pp 811-858.
35. Smith PK (2007) Evolutionary foundations and functions of play: An overview. In: Göncü A, Gaskins S, eds. Play and development: Evolutionary, sociocultural, and functional perspectives. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. pp 21-49.
36. Pellegrini AD, Smith PK (1998) The development of play during childhood: Forms and possible functions. Child Psycho Psychiatry Review 3: 51-57.
37. Berenbaum SA, Martin CL, Hanish LD, Briggs PT, Fabes RA (2008) Sex differences in children's play. In: Becker JB, Geary KJ, Hampson E, Herman JP, Young EA, eds. Sex differences in the brain: From genes to behavior. New York: Oxford University Press. pp 275-290.
38. Hines M (2004) Brain gender. New York: Oxford University Press. 307 p.
39. Jadva V, Hines M, Golombok S (2010) Infants' preferences for toys, colors, and shapes: Sex differences and similarities. Arch Sex Behav. DOI 10.1007/s10508-010-9618-z.
40. Brenner M, Omark DR (1979) The effects of sex, structure and social interaction on preschoolers' play behaviors in naturalistic setting. Instr Sci 8: 91-105.
41. Cherney ID, Kelly-Vance L, Glover KG, Ruane A, Ryalls BO (2003) The effects of stereotyped toys and gender on play assessment in children aged 18-47 months. Educational Psychology 23: 95-106.
42. Martin CL, Fabes RA (2001) The stability and consequences of young children's same-sex peer interactions. Dev Psychol 37: 431-446.
43. Murray L, Fiori-Cowley A, Hooper R, Cooper P (1996) The impact of postnatal depression and associated adversity on early mother-infant interactions and later infant outcome. Child Dev 67: 2512-2526.
44. Morisset CE, Barnard KE, Booth CL (1995) Toddlers' language development: Sex differences within social risk. Dev Psychol 31: 851-865.
45. Lutchmaya S, Baron-Cohen S, Ragatt P (2002) Foetal testosterone and vocabulary size in 18- and 24-month-old infants. Infant Behav Dev 24: 418-424.
46. Auyeung B, Baron-Cohen S, Ashwin E, Knickmeyer R, Taylor K, et al. (2009) Fetal testosterone predicts sexually differentiated childhood behavior in girls and in boys. Psychol Sci 20: 144-148.
47. Auyeung B, Baron-Cohen S, Ashwin E, Knickmeyer R, Taylor K, et al. (2009) Foetal testosterone and autistic traits. Br J Psychol 100: 1-22.
48. Huttenlocher J, Haight W, Bryk A, Seltzer M, Lyons T (1991) Early vocabulary growth: Relation to language input and gender. Dev Psychol 27: 236-248.
49. Galsworthy MJ, Dionne G, Dale PS, Plomin R (2000) Sex differences in early verbal and non-verbal cognitive development. Dev Sci 3: 206-215.
50. Iervolino AC, Hines M, Golombok SE, Rust J, Plomin R (2005) Genetic and environmental influences on sex-typed behavior during the preschool years. Child Dev 76: 826-840.
51. Altmann J (1974) Observational study of behavior: Sampling methods. Behaviour 49: 227-267.