Parental Influence on Children's Socialization to Gender Roles

A child's earliest exposure to what it means to be male or female comes from parents (Lauer & Lauer, 1994; Santrock, 1994; Kaplan, 1991). From the time their children are babies, parents treat sons and daughters differently, dressing infants in gender specific colors, giving gender differentiated toys, and expecting different behavior from boys and girls (Thorne, 1993). One study indicates that parents have differential expectations of sons and daughters as early as 24 hours after birth (Rubin, Provenzano, & Luria, 1974).
Children internalize parental messages regarding gender at an early age, with awareness of adult sex role differences being found in two-year-old children (Weinraub, Clemens, Sachloff, Ethridge, Gracely, & Myers, 1984). One study found that children at two and a half years of age use gender stereotypes in negotiating their world and are likely to generalize gender stereotypes to a variety of activities, objects, and occupations (Fagot, Leinbach, & O'Boyle, 1992; Cowan & Hoffman, 1986). Children even deny the reality of what they are seeing when it doesn't conform to their gender expectations (i.e., a child whose mother is a doctor stating that only men are doctors) (Sheldon, 1990).
Sons have a definite edge as far as parental preference for children is concerned. Most parents prefer male children to female children throughout the world (Steinbacher & Holmes in Basow, 1992, p. 129). Also, people who prefer sons are more likely to use technology for selecting the sex of their child (Steinbacher & Gilroy, 1990). This preference for male children is further emphasized by the finding that parents are more likely to continue having children if they have only girls than if they have only boys (Hoffman, 1977).
Reasons given by women for their preference for sons are to please their husbands, to carry on the family name, and to be a companion to the husband. Reasons for wanting daughters include having a companion for themselves and to have fun dressing a girl and doing her hair (Hoffman, 1977).
Parents encourage their sons and daughters to participate in sex-typed activities, including doll playing and engaging in housekeeping activities for girls and playing with trucks and engaging in sports activities for boys (Eccles, Jacobs, & Harold, 1990). Children's toy preferences have been found to be significantly related to parental sex-typing (Etaugh & Liss, 1992; Henshaw, Kelly, & Gratton, 1992; Paretti & Sydney, 1984), with parents providing gender-differentiated toys and rewarding play behavior that is gender stereotyped (Carter, 1987). While both mothers and fathers contribute to the gender stereotyping of their children, fathers have been found to reinforce gender stereotypes more often than mothers (Ruble, 1988).
A study of children's rooms has shown that girls' rooms have more pink, dolls, and manipulative toys; boys' rooms have more blue, sports equipment, tools and vehicles (Pomerleau, Bolduc, Malcuit, & Cossette, 1990). Boys are more likely than girls to have maintenance chores around the house, such as painting and mowing the lawn, while girls are likely to have domestic chores such as cooking and doing the laundry (Basow, 1992). This assignment of household tasks by gender leads children to link certain types of work with gender.

Some studies have suggested that parent shaping as a socializing factor has little impact on a child's sex role development (Lytton & Romney, 1991; Maccoby & Jacklin, 1980). Other research, however, suggests that parents are the primary influence on gender role development during the early years of life (Santrock, 1994; Miller & Lane in Berryman-Fink, Ballard-Reisch, & Newman, 1993; Kaplan, 1991). Because socialization is a two-way interaction, each person in the interaction influences the other (Lewis & Rosenblum, 1974); thus, parents and children engage in reciprocal interaction, with children both responding to behaviors and eliciting behaviors (Kaplan, 1991). Also, development is influenced by many social factors and children may best be understood in terms of their environment (Bronfenbrenner, Alvarez, & Henderson, 1984).
Many studies have shown that parents treat sons and daughters differently (Jacklin, DiPietro, & Maccoby; Woolett, White, & Lyon; and Parke & O'Leary, in Hargreaves & Colley, 1986; Snow, Jacklin, & Maccoby, 1983; Power, 1981). The parent-child relationship has effects on development that last well into adulthood. Because of these long-lasting effects, the parent-child relationship is one of the most important developmental factors for the child (Miller & Lane in Berryman-Fink, et al., 1993).
Parental attitudes towards their children have a strong impact on the child's developing sense of self and self-esteem, with parental warmth and support being key factors for the child (Richards, Gitelson, Petersen, & Hartig, 1991). Often, parents give subtle messages regarding gender and what is acceptable for each gender - messages that are internalized by the developing child (Arliss, 1991). Sex role stereotypes are well established in early childhood. Messages about what is appropriate based on gender are so strong that even when children are exposed to different attitudes and experiences, they will revert to stereotyped choices (Haslett, Geis, & Carter, 1992).

Why Are Girls Taller Than Me?

You might have noticed that some of the girls you know are taller than the boys. But you've probably noticed that out of the adults you know, most of the men are taller than the women. What's going on?
Well, girls get a head start on puberty — and growing taller — because they usually start these changes between the ages of 8 and 13. Most boys, on the other hand, don't begin until between the ages of 9 and 14. So that's why girls are often taller than boys during that time.
Most boys may catch up — and even grow taller than girls. But it's also important to remember that your genetics play a role in height. So if your mom and dad are tall, you're more likely to be tall. And if your mom and dad are kind of short, you may be short, too. But nothing is definite.
You have to wait and see how it turns out, but you can also talk to a doctor if you're concerned. Remember — not every adult male is tall. Many men who are considered "short" have gone on to have careers in the movies, the military, and even professional basketball!
There aren't any exercises or magic pills to make you grow tall. But by being active and eating nutritious foods, you're helping your body grow up healthy, just the way it should.

Identifying One’s Concerns.

Once the facts of the situation have been detailed, then one should clearly define just what it is that is of concern. What is it that is causing that uneasy state of blended interests, uncertainty, and apprehension? What is it that disturbs or creates angst? Here the trained strategist is disciplined to avoid simply restating the facts, for example, country X has invaded country Y, but rather why should we care? Why should we be concerned? He or she also avoids exaggerating the dangers. Exaggeration of the potential dangers, more often than not, impedes rather than advances the prospects for the emergence of effective strategies, as fear conquers rationality.
Furthermore, the trained strategist will consider not just immediate concerns that emanate directly from the existing problem, but also broader, short-, medium-, and long-term concerns that might be the product of the nonresolution of the current problem. Thus the mind must be trained to wander beyond the confines of the existing issue and the immediate parties to the broader arena of issues among a wider range of parties and interests that might be affected. For example, the testing by North Korea of missiles capable of putting a satellite in orbit, when coupled with their continued development and acquisition of nuclear weapons, not only raises concerns about stability on the Korean peninsula, but also a wide variety of concerns ranging from the future of stability, arms races, and the proliferation of nuclear weapons in Asia to the future dangers such developments might pose for America’s security.

ELEMENTS OF THINKING STRATEGICALLY

One might infer from such a statement that strat-egists are born, not made. Not so, Ohmae responded, “There are ways in which the mind of the strategist can be reproduced or simulated, by people who may lack a natural talent for strategy . . . there are some specific concepts and approaches that help anyone develop the kind of mentality that comes up with superior strategic ideas.”34
If Ohmae is correct, what then are these concepts and approaches that, if taught, can help develop good strategists? What then are those universal elements that constitute sound approach to dealing with a problem? What are the concepts that, through practice, will train the mind to think rationally and methodically, yet serve to stimulate the creative processes and thus lead to the development of well-framed game plans, elements that can be applied at all levels of human interaction, whether one is dealing with a crisis, an immediate confrontation, or engaged in long-term planning?

STRATEGY—AN ACTIVITY OF THE MIND

The word strategy comes from Greek words stratëgia (generalship) and stratëgos (general or leader).7 Historically, the term strategy has been associated with military activity. The father of modern strategic studies, German Major-General Carl von Clausewitz, defined strategy as “the use of the engagement for the purpose of the war.”8 Field Marshall Helmut Carl Bernhard Graf von Moltke contended that strategy was “the practical adaptation of the means placed at a general’s disposal to the attainment of the object in view.”9 Placing less emphasis on the battles, Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart criticized Clausewitz, contending that Clausewitz’ emphasis on battles suggests that battles were the only means of achieving strategic ends.10 Thus, Liddell Hart defined strategy as “the art of distributing and applying military means to fulfill the ends of policy.”11 Liddell Hart’s definition suggests a somewhat wider variety of military means, and clearly emphasizes that the political objectives are the ends to be pursued by military means. Of course, Clausewitz made the latter point early in his seminal On War by his famous dictum “war is not a mere act of policy, but a true political instrument, a continuation of political activity by other means.

THE ELEMENTS OF STRATEGIC THINKING: A PRACTICAL GUIDE

With 58,000 American lives lost, 350,000 casualties, and untold national treasure forfeited, on April 30, 1975, the last Americans in South Vietnam were airlifted out of the country as Saigon fell to communist forces at the height of the Cold War. A few days earlier, with the end in clear view, a Four Party Joint Military Team, established under provisions of the January 1973 Paris peace accords, met in Hanoi, North Vietnam. At that meeting, Colonel Harry Summers, Chief, Negotiations Division of the U.S. Delegation, in a conversation with Colonel Tu, Chief of the North Vietnamese Delegation remarked: “You know you never defeated us on the battlefield.” Colonel Tu responded: “That may be so, but it is also irrelevant.”1 So was told the story of failed strategy.
It might be facile to contend that the need for systematic thinking about U.S. foreign and security policies and defense issues peaked during the Cold War. After all, during the Cold War the Soviet Union came to pose a military threat to the United States that was unique in American history—the threat of instant annihilation. It also posed a direct military threat to our allies in Europe and Asia whom we were pledged to defend, as well as the danger of ever increasing Soviet influence around the world through proxy wars and other forms of political violence that seemed to some to represent a more subtle, more likely, and perhaps graver long-term threat to the overall security and well-being of the United States. Thus the objectives were clear. First, counterbalance Soviet strategic power and its military might on the continent of Europe with countervailing theater and strategic forces that could deliver responses to any aggression by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) so devastating that no Soviet leader would dare take such a step. Second, contain the growth of Soviet influence through policies designed to thwart attempts by the USSR to subvert governments friendly to the United States and its allies. Though the objectives were clear, the methods to accomplish these twin tasks were not. Here systematic thinking was at a premium, albeit not always wisely undertaken.

Microsoft News Update

Microsoft's Next IE: Ninth Time's the Charm?

Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Internet Explorer has had a lead in the Web browser battle for years, and that lead is still alive, but it's not well. IE has been losing some serious market share over the last few years, mostly because of young Turks like Firefox and Chrome. Not helping matters is the fact that the ancient IE6 browser is still tottering around like a sick old dog that won't die on its own, and it seems nobody has the heart to put it to sleep.
So Microsoft's pressing on with a public beta release of its next-generation browser, IE9. The goal is lighter and faster. Faster because that's just what every browser is after these days - life is short, gotta shave those nanoseconds off rendering time. Lighter because this time around, Microsoft has emphasized that the webpage is the star of the show. The browser should give you as much window space as possible, sorta like Chrome, and then fade into the background once you're there.
IE9 has support for HTML 5, as well as a download manager and a panel for overseeing add-ons, which can sometimes be a drain on system resources if they're not managed properly. The new browser can also be tightly integrated with Windows 7 functions. You can pin sites to the taskbar and move tabs around with that Aero Snap split-screen feature you get in Windows 7.
Keep in mind, though, that it's still a work in progress. Nobody's committed to a date on the final version, but you have my personal permission to start getting impatient in about a year.