Keenan and Shaw (1997) suggested that gender differences in child and adolescent psychopathology might be related to the socializing of internalizing behaviors in girls. Some studies have suggested that parents respond differentially to some child behaviors depending on the sex of the child. Additionally, other studies support the notion that parents consider male-stereotypic behaviors more problematic in girls. However, past studies have not directly examined parental beliefs about symptoms in girls versus boys or examined how these beliefs relate to actual child symptoms in preschool children. The present study extends existing research by examining whether parents have different beliefs about internalizing and externalizing symptomatology depending on the sex of the child in which the symptom occurs and if these parental beliefs are related to parent and teacher report of child symptoms. The present study found gender differences in parental concern about hypothetical symptoms in girls versus boys in a sample of higher income, European American parents, but found no significant gender differences in a sample of lower income parents from racial and ethnic minority groups. The present study did not obtain significant findings with regard to the relation of these beliefs with parent and teacher report of child symptoms. The importance of conducting such research with diverse participants is discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-3288 |
| Date | 01 January 1999 |
| Creators | Stowe, Rebecca M |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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