Effects of Paternal Absence on Sex Role Development
Brittney Hodges
Psychology 1101
Mr. Marks
March 14, 2011
Effects of Paternal Absence on Sex Role Development Approximately twenty-six percent of children in America are being raised by a single parent. That accounts for 21.8 million kids under the age of 21 (Wolf, 2010). Eighty-four percent of these single parents are mothers. How does not having a father figure in the house all the time affect a child? Research has shown that being raised by a single parent can severely affect a child’s sex role on many different levels - sex role orientation (the self-evaluation of maleness or femaleness), sex role preference (the individual’s preferential set towards symbols of a sex role that is already socially defined), and sex role adoption (how masculine or feminine an individual seems to others). (Biller, 1969) How do you tell if a young child is a boy or a girl? If the baby is dressed in pink, it is usually a girl. If the baby is dressed in blue you can confidently assume the child is a boy. Boys and girls will always be treated differently. What toy do you give a little girl? The most common answer would usually be a Barbie doll. What would you give a little boy? Most people would probably say an action figure, or a matchbox car. These are classic example of sex typing. A mother will treat her child differently than a father would. A mother thinks of her children as just that, her children. She doesn’t treat her son differently than she would her daughter. A father definitely treats his son completely differently than he would his daughter. His son, aka “my boy” is treated in an aggressive manor, where his “princess” is encouraged to be a feminine sweetheart. In a two parent household children learn different things from each parent, and learn from how their parents interrelate. What happens when there aren’t two parents to look at? How can a boy grow up to be a man and a father if there is no father figure to learn from? Research shows that
Psychology 1101
Mr. Marks
March 14, 2011
Effects of Paternal Absence on Sex Role Development Approximately twenty-six percent of children in America are being raised by a single parent. That accounts for 21.8 million kids under the age of 21 (Wolf, 2010). Eighty-four percent of these single parents are mothers. How does not having a father figure in the house all the time affect a child? Research has shown that being raised by a single parent can severely affect a child’s sex role on many different levels - sex role orientation (the self-evaluation of maleness or femaleness), sex role preference (the individual’s preferential set towards symbols of a sex role that is already socially defined), and sex role adoption (how masculine or feminine an individual seems to others). (Biller, 1969) How do you tell if a young child is a boy or a girl? If the baby is dressed in pink, it is usually a girl. If the baby is dressed in blue you can confidently assume the child is a boy. Boys and girls will always be treated differently. What toy do you give a little girl? The most common answer would usually be a Barbie doll. What would you give a little boy? Most people would probably say an action figure, or a matchbox car. These are classic example of sex typing. A mother will treat her child differently than a father would. A mother thinks of her children as just that, her children. She doesn’t treat her son differently than she would her daughter. A father definitely treats his son completely differently than he would his daughter. His son, aka “my boy” is treated in an aggressive manor, where his “princess” is encouraged to be a feminine sweetheart. In a two parent household children learn different things from each parent, and learn from how their parents interrelate. What happens when there aren’t two parents to look at? How can a boy grow up to be a man and a father if there is no father figure to learn from? Research shows that
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