Are sex differences genetic?
Anita Sethi wrote an article for Parenting.com about the differences between boys and girls. The following post contains my questions and information from that article.
Boys play with trucks and girls with dolls right? Is this genetic or environmental? Do we push boys towards "masculine" things and girls towards "feminine" things and worry about our kids' sexuality if they tend to like things that the opposite sex gravitate towards? Even if you try hard not to point your children to gender specific toys, it seems that they gravitate that way anyway. One study of 18 month olds found that when presented with a picture of a doll or a vehicle, the boys gravitated towards the vehicle and the girls the doll. Could we have already programmed our children by 18 months? Experts who study this issue believe these preferences are set at birth and are hardwired into us.
Gender research tells us the following:
BOYS:
Like motion: One study of 12 month old baby boys gave them a choice between watching mechanical motion and human motion making them pick between windshield wipers moving back and forth and faces of people talking, the boy babies picked the windshield wipers. Research shows that boys are about two month ahead of girls in figuring out the laws of motion.
Have the moves: boys squirm, kick, and wiggle more than girls and also wind up in the ER more because of it. They do not however walk before girls. Both walk around the same time.
Are more emotional: boys are more easily agitated than girls and have a harder time self-soothing.
Love a crowd: boys prefer to look at a group of faces rather than just one. Newborn boys would rather look at a mobile than a single face.
Are fearless: Boys express fear later and less often. Parents of boys ages 3-12 months report that their children startle less to loud noises or stimuli than girls of the same age. Another study had moms show a face of fear to their 12 month old when approaching a toy. The boys disregarded the moms' fearful face and went for the toy anyway. The girls hesitated and slowed their approach.
GIRLS:
Made to mimic: As early as three hours of age, girls excel at imitation, a precursor to back-and-forth interaction. Newborn girls did better than boys in trying to copy finger movements. As toddlers, girls zoom ahead of boys on imitative behaviors such as pretending to take care of a baby but, interestingly, are no different from little guys when it comes to pretending to drive a car or water the plants, actions that are much less about human interaction.
Good with their hands: Infant girls exceed boys when it comes to fine motor tasks, a head start that will stick with them until preschool. They're faster to manipulate toys; they use eating utensils sooner; and they write sooner (and more neatly), too.
Are better listeners: Girls are more attuned to the sound of human voices and seem to actually prefer the sound to other sounds. Shake a rattle and you'll see no difference between newborn girls and boys, but when you talk, the girls will be more likely to become engaged.
Like face time: Girls are more likely to establish and maintain eye contact, and are attracted to individual faces -- especially women's. They're also more skilled at reading emotional expressions; if shown a frightening face, for example, they'll look at Mom or get distressed, but they'll be fine if they see a happy one. Boys take longer to notice the difference.
Talk sooner: All that watching and listening pays off: Girls start using gestures like pointing or waving bye-bye earlier than their brothers, and they play games like patty-cake and So Big sooner, according to a study of children ages 8 to 30 months. Girls understand what you're saying before boys do, start speaking earlier (at around 12 months versus 13 to 14 months for boys), and will continue to talk more through the toddler years. At 16 months, they produce as many as 100 words, while the average boy utters closer to 30. Although girls remain somewhat ahead through toddlerhood, the gap does begin to narrow, and at 2 ½, both boys and girls have 500 words, more or less.
Boys play with trucks and girls with dolls right? Is this genetic or environmental? Do we push boys towards "masculine" things and girls towards "feminine" things and worry about our kids' sexuality if they tend to like things that the opposite sex gravitate towards? Even if you try hard not to point your children to gender specific toys, it seems that they gravitate that way anyway. One study of 18 month olds found that when presented with a picture of a doll or a vehicle, the boys gravitated towards the vehicle and the girls the doll. Could we have already programmed our children by 18 months? Experts who study this issue believe these preferences are set at birth and are hardwired into us.
Gender research tells us the following:
BOYS:
Like motion: One study of 12 month old baby boys gave them a choice between watching mechanical motion and human motion making them pick between windshield wipers moving back and forth and faces of people talking, the boy babies picked the windshield wipers. Research shows that boys are about two month ahead of girls in figuring out the laws of motion.
Have the moves: boys squirm, kick, and wiggle more than girls and also wind up in the ER more because of it. They do not however walk before girls. Both walk around the same time.
Are more emotional: boys are more easily agitated than girls and have a harder time self-soothing.
Love a crowd: boys prefer to look at a group of faces rather than just one. Newborn boys would rather look at a mobile than a single face.
Are fearless: Boys express fear later and less often. Parents of boys ages 3-12 months report that their children startle less to loud noises or stimuli than girls of the same age. Another study had moms show a face of fear to their 12 month old when approaching a toy. The boys disregarded the moms' fearful face and went for the toy anyway. The girls hesitated and slowed their approach.
GIRLS:
Made to mimic: As early as three hours of age, girls excel at imitation, a precursor to back-and-forth interaction. Newborn girls did better than boys in trying to copy finger movements. As toddlers, girls zoom ahead of boys on imitative behaviors such as pretending to take care of a baby but, interestingly, are no different from little guys when it comes to pretending to drive a car or water the plants, actions that are much less about human interaction.
Good with their hands: Infant girls exceed boys when it comes to fine motor tasks, a head start that will stick with them until preschool. They're faster to manipulate toys; they use eating utensils sooner; and they write sooner (and more neatly), too.
Are better listeners: Girls are more attuned to the sound of human voices and seem to actually prefer the sound to other sounds. Shake a rattle and you'll see no difference between newborn girls and boys, but when you talk, the girls will be more likely to become engaged.
Like face time: Girls are more likely to establish and maintain eye contact, and are attracted to individual faces -- especially women's. They're also more skilled at reading emotional expressions; if shown a frightening face, for example, they'll look at Mom or get distressed, but they'll be fine if they see a happy one. Boys take longer to notice the difference.
Talk sooner: All that watching and listening pays off: Girls start using gestures like pointing or waving bye-bye earlier than their brothers, and they play games like patty-cake and So Big sooner, according to a study of children ages 8 to 30 months. Girls understand what you're saying before boys do, start speaking earlier (at around 12 months versus 13 to 14 months for boys), and will continue to talk more through the toddler years. At 16 months, they produce as many as 100 words, while the average boy utters closer to 30. Although girls remain somewhat ahead through toddlerhood, the gap does begin to narrow, and at 2 ½, both boys and girls have 500 words, more or less.
Labels: Girls and boys are genetically predisposed to different things
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