GENDER AS AN ORGANIZING FEATURE IN PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS

This article reviews findings from a longitudinal study of single-earn er and dual-earner families with school-age children. We first summari ze similarities and differences in the experiences of boys and girls a nd their mothers and fathers in terms of three ongoing daily family pr ocesses: (1) parental monitoring of children's everyday experiences, w hereabouts, and companions; (2) parent-child involvement in joint acti vities; and (3) children's involvement in household chores. We then re view findings linking these family processes and family context (singl e vs. dual earner) to boys' and girls' psychosocial functioning. These findings generally reveal different patterns of psychological adjustm ent, school achievement, conduct problems, and evaluations of parents as a function of the intersection of gender, family process, and famil y context. These themes are discussed in terms of the ecological persp ective on human development.