Elementary School Children's Gender Identity Development, With The Opposite Sex

Gender identity, on which communications without sex-motion is based, is one of the most important part in children's socialization. In Egan and Perry's theory of multi-dimension gender identity, there are about the development and the relationship between the five aspects (gender contentment, gender typicality, gender advantages, ideal for professions and peer membership) and the three means (conflicts, cooperations and competition) in opposite sex communications.After some interviews and pre-test, two questionnaires were designed for boys and girls respectively. The survey was conducted in both Miduqiao and the Second Experimental Primary School in Changzhou, in which three classes from Grade 3, Grade 4 and Grade 5,altogether 326 children were asked to fill in the questionnaires. The results are as follows. (1)Gender identity varies in different grades. Boys and girls have different trends and difference in gender typicality, gender advantages, idea for profession and in selecting gender of companions. (2)The reasons and methods of conflicts vary between different gender and grades. The children in Grade 4 have different characteristics in the attitude and expectations towards cooperations. It shows the girls have much stronger confidence in studying competition while the boys have much stronger confidence in working competition. (3)There is certain relationship between gender identity and opposite-sex communications. (4)Children's opposite-sex communications and gender identity are influence by different teaching styles.