The role of brothers and sisters in the gender development of preschool children

The study examined whether the sex of older siblings influences the gender role development of younger brothers and sisters of age 3 years. Data on th e pre-School Activities Inventory, a measure of gender role behavior that d iscriminates within as well as between the sexes, were obtained in a genera l population study for 527 girls and 582 boys with an older sister. 500 gir ls and 561 boys with an older brother, and 1665 singleton girls and 1707 si ngleton boys. It was found that boys with older brothers and girls with old er sisters were more sex-typed than same-sex singletons who, in turn, were more sex-typed than children with other-sex siblings. Having an older broth er was associated with more masculine and less feminine behavior in both bo ys and girls, whereas boys with older sisters were more feminine but not le ss masculine and girls with older sisters were less masculine but not more feminine. (C) 2000 Academic Press.