Gender stereotyping of children's toys: a comparison of parents and nonparents

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research,  Jan, 1999  by C. Estelle Campenni

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(a) Ratings of "5" indicate gender neutrality and low ratings indicate greater gender stereotyping.

A significant three-way interaction emerged between the sex of the parent, sex of the child(ren), and toy category, F(4, 110) = 3.82, p [is less than] .05. The interaction indicated that mothers and fathers did not differ in their ratings of neutral toys regardless of the sex of their child(ten). However, ratings of feminine and masculine toys indicated that there were differences among parents based on their sex and the sex of their children. More specifically, ratings for feminine toys indicated that fathers who had girls only tended to rate feminine toys as more gender-stereotyped than mothers of girls only, t(15) = 2.40, p [is less than] .05. Among mothers, a nonsignificant trend (p = .07) indicated that mothers of gifts only were most gender neutral in their ratings of female toys. A similar nonsignificant trend (p = .07) was evident among fathers indicating that fathers with both boys and girls were most gender neutral in their ratings of female toys while those dads with gifts only were most gender stereotyping of these toys.

A similar trend emerged with respect to masculine toys. Fathers with daughters and sons were significantly more gender neutral in their ratings of masculine toys than mothers with children of both sexes, t(22) = -3.36, p [is less than] .05, although fathers, as a group, did not differ significantly in their ratings of male toys. Among mothers, however, mothers with girls only were most gender neutral in their ratings of male toys as compared to other mothers, F(2, 30) = 3.61, p [is less than] .05.

Finally, comparisons of gender-appropriateness ratings of toys for children (Section A) and infants and toddlers two years and younger (Section B) were conducted to determine if gender-stereotyping of toys is equally prevalent for younger and older children. The results of paired t tests performed on the ratings of child versus infant/toddler ratings are included in Table I. For the purposes of this analysis, child ratings represent only those who rated a toy as appropriate for infants and toddlers. The percentage of respondents who identified each toy as appropriate for this younger group is also indicated in Table I. Differences between ratings for children and infants/toddlers were found on 73 of the 206 toys using a .05 level of significance. In all instances, infant/toddler ratings were less gender stereotyped than ratings for children, regardless of age. Interestingly, 27 of the 30 most feminine toys were included among these 73 toys as well as 15 of the 30 most masculine toys.

DISCUSSION

The present study was unique in that it: (1) directly investigated the adult gender-stereotyping of toys for both parents and nonparents, (2) used an extensive list of toys to determine the range of toys that may be gender-stereotyped by adults, and (3) assessed the gender-appropriateness ratings for children as well as infants and toddlers in order to begin to determine if gender-stereotyping of toys is present when assessing the appropriateness of toys for both older and younger children. It is important to note that findings related to age differences are exploratory in nature.