Children's and adolescents' evaluations of peers who challenge their group: The role of gender norms and identity

In-group members who challenge group norms (hereon "challenger peers") often are evaluated less positively by their peers compared to those who adhere to group norms. In the present study children (n = 118, M-age = 10.01) and adolescents (n = 132, M-age = 13.32; total n = 269) were inducted into a gender-based group who endorsed an activity norm. Participants evaluated a challenger peer who was either cisgender or transgender. Adolescent girls, compared to girls in childhood, individually evaluated a challenger peer more positively while perceiving their group would be less positive than they themselves would be. In contrast, boys in both childhood and adolescence individually evaluated a challenger peer less positively and believed their group also would. These effects were independent of the challenger peer's gender identity, suggesting that in the context of evaluating a challenger to a stereotypical gender norm, adherence to the norm can take primacy over gender identity.