ASPECTS OF PRESCHOOLERS COMPREHENSION OF INDOOR AND OUTDOOR GENDER-TYPED TOYS

Forty-nine 44- to 81-month-old predominantly white children's classifi cation of and clustering in recall of gender-typed indoor and outdoor toys, and their gender schematicity, were assessed. Consistent with pr edictions, children high in gender schematicity demonstrated significa ntly greater clustering in their recall by gender type than children l ow in schematicity. As expected, all children demonstrated more accura te classification of same-sex than other-sex gender-typed toys in gene ral. However, boys and girls showed distinctively different patterns i n their abilities to accurately classify same-sex and other-sex indoor and outdoor gender-typed toys. Results are discussed in terms of the different social and play contexts inhabited by preschool boys and gir ls.