The Effects of Gendered Parenting on Child Development Outcomes: A Systematic Review
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The Effects of Gendered Parenting on Child Development Outcomes: A Systematic Review Alina Morawska1
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Gender role development occurs in the earliest months and years of a child’s life. Parental attitudes, behaviours and modelling are likely to play a significant role in this process; however, to date no review has been conducted to consolidate knowledge of the effects of differential parenting on child development. This systematic review aimed to investigate the evidence for differential parenting behaviours based on child gender that affect child development, across six areas (vocalisation, socialisation, play, toys, dress and décor). Searches were conducted for English article using four databases: psycINFO, CINAHL, Sociological Abstract, and SCOPUS. The inclusion criteria were biological or adoptive parents, of a typically developing child aged below five, using any parenting behaviour or strategies that differed by child gender. 45 studies were included in this systematic review (14 vocalisation, 21 socialisation, 7 play, 3 toys). A variety of gender-differentiated parenting behaviours and child outcomes were examined. The review found evidence that parents do respond differently to their children. Parents vocalised differently, used different socialising strategies, played differently and provided different toys to their sons and daughters. This differential parenting was associated with some differences in child development across child gender, including differences in child vocalisation, displays of affect, pain responses, compliance, toy play and aggression. However, the overall quality of the evidence, the lack of longitudinal studies and the heterogeneous nature of the outcomes examined suggest the need for a systematic approach to examining the nature and effects of differential parenting on children’s development. Keywords Parenting · Gender role stereotypes · Child development Over the past two decades, many studies have reinforced the importance of gender role development in shaping children’s identity (Bian et al. 2017; Cox et al. 2010; Fausto-Sterling et al. 2012). While adult gender roles may have changed over the last few decades, most children are exposed to a range of stereotyped gender roles from birth: from parents, the media, and peers, and these stereotypes have not changed significantly over time (Haines et al. 2016), including in more recent years (MacPhee and Prendergast 2019; Miller et al. 2018). A number of theoretical approaches, including sociological (Connell and Pearse 2015), evolutionary (Archer 1996), cognitive-developmental (Kohlberg 1966), gender * Alina Morawska [email protected] 1
Parenting and Family Support Centre, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, 13 Upland Rd, St Lucia 4072, Australia
schema (Bem 1981; Martin and Halverson 1981) and social constructionist (Fine 2015), have been used to describe the process of gender role development. While all of these have generated c
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