Associations between quality of parent-child relationships and children's gender typicality: A 4-year longitudinal study

Little is known about influences on gender typicality. To address this issue, the present study examined developmental antecedents of preadolescents' gender typicality. Using a longitudinal multi-method design, we investigated the prospective associations between the quality of parent-child relationships in childhood and preadolescents' subsequent gender typicality. It was hypothesized that feelings of gender typicality would be positively related to quality of relationship with the corresponding-gender parent. Sixty-eight families (40 girls) participated in two home visits. The quality of mother-child and father-child relationships was assessed by observation at age 7 and youths reported on their gender typicality at 11 years. Results indicated that girls who had higher-quality relationships with their mother at age 7 felt more similar to other girls 4 years later. This finding suggests that mother-child relationships might be a contributing factor in the development of girls' gender typicality. Highlights This paper examines the role that parents play in their children's gender typicality development. The results revealed that parent-child relationships were associated with subsequent gender typicality in girls but not in boys. Girls who had higher-quality relationships with their mother at age 7 felt more similar to other girls 4 years later.