A second focus of the proposed research will be
concerned with how gender mediates, moderates, or intersects the
pathways from economic opportunity and neighborhood characteristics
through families to male and female children. Gender is a central
organizing feature of society, and affects the life chances,
experiences, and destinations of people in the society.
What is Gender?
There are a variety of “lenses” through which
similarities and differences between the sexes can be viewed (Bem
1993). Among the most common theories regarding gender are: biological;
evolutionary; sociobiological; psychoanalytic/identification; social
learning; cognitive developmental; social interaction; social
structural; and cultural theories (Lips 1998). Bem (1993) categorizes
theories of gender as biological essentialism, androcentrism, gender
polarization, and the social construction of gender identity. None of
these theories has emerged as adequate to explain all aspects of gender,
although some have been found to fit the evidence better than others.
All are useful in generating research questions.
In the 19th century, the central question
that emerged and occupied American discussions of gender for over a
century was how biological differences between men and women structured
their natures. In the latter half of the twentieth century, the
dominant question shifted to a consideration of how androcentric social
institutions transform male-female difference into female disadvantage.
In language this shift in attention and perspective was reflected in
changes in terminology, emphasizing less the notion of “sex” as the
immutable nature of males and females, to the notion of “gender” as a
socially constructed status defining appropriate behavior for males and
females. An example of the latter perspective is Lorber’s (1994:5)
definition of gender as “a process of social construction, a system of
social stratification, and an institution that structures every aspect
of our lives because of its embeddedness in the family, the workplace,
and the state, as well as in sexuality, language, and culture.” This
definition of gender would suggest that the social construction of
gender, the system of gender stratification, and the basic institutions
of society organize human social life in culturally patterned ways,
creating and maintaining socially significant differences between women
and men (Hess 1990).
In our proposed research, members of the
interdisciplinary team will bring an interest in and awareness of both
the biological foundations of the development of male and female
children and the effects of environment such as community context,
social institutions, and adult role patterning on that development.
How Do We Look for Gender Phenomena in our Study?
Searching for Gender Similarities and Differences
Prior research has indicated that in most ways, boys
and girls are similar (Maccoby and Jacklin 1974; Eagly and Wood 1985;
Eagly and Carli 1981). But they differ in other ways, and these ways
have been under-researched. For example, they differ in
aggression,
depression, and academic performance – three dependent variables in
our study.
In addition to comparisons we can make of male-female
differences in the child outcomes, we also can examine how the pathways
from economic opportunity and neighborhood characteristics through
family characteristics and processes to child development may differ for
male and female children. For example, we can examine if the presence
of neighborhood violence plays a similar role in the emergence or growth
of aggressive behavior and juvenile delinquency of boys and girls, or if
parental distress over finances is followed by differing treatment of
and reactions by boys and girls.
This focus becomes even more meaningful when the
pathways into adulthood can be examined. As children mature and enter
the worlds of work and family formation, for example, their lives may
bifurcate even further. Lips (1988) argues for the value of
longitudinal research for this very reason. Following the same research
participants over an extended number of years allows the researcher to
find out the age at which particular gender differences first appear,
and to assess their stability over time. Apparent gender differences
may arise because one sex is developmentally ahead of the other during a
particular age range, or because one sex runs into a unique set of
cultural constraints at a certain age. Longitudinal research can also
uncover variations within each gender group, differences which may turn
out to be much better predictors of later behavior than gender itself.
One of the most famous examples of the insights that
can come from longitudinal research was Terman's (1925) early "gifted
children" research, in which over 1000 preschool and elementary school
children with high IQs of 140 or more were followed for more than half a
century. It was found that high IQ was a much better predictor of
achievement for males, who became very accomplished in the arts,
science, literature, business, or public affairs, than for females, who
in the first half of the 20th century tended to become housewives or
office workers, or devoted their lives to supporting their husbands'
careers and rearing children (Tomlinson-Keasey 1990). These gifted
women in later life reflected a sense of failure or lack of confidence
in their abilities. The pathways through the major institutions of work
and family were different for the adult males and females. That finding
would not have been produced by a single cross-sectional comparison of
the boys and girls when they were in elementary school.
