Description
UNIT 10
GENDER ROLES AND PARENTING STYLES
1. Define and give examples of instrumental and expressive traits. How do they fit with
gender stereotypes?
2. Jeannie is eight months pregnant with her first child. She has little use for traditional
gender roles and plans for her son or daughter not to view the world in gender-related
terms. What can you tell Jeannie about some things that she can do to help achieve her
goal and about the influence of other factors in the development of gender stereotypes?
3. Explain how (1) social-learning perspective, (2) Kohlberg’s cognitive theory, and (3)
gender-schema theory propose that children develop their gender identities.
4. Julie, who lives in North America, and Jiang, who lives in China, met while cruising the
Pacific and, as they got to know each other, they started comparing their cultures. When
they got to the topic of parenting behaviour, what differences between their two cultures
would you expect them to discover?
5. Name and describe the four prototypic parenting styles.
6. You and your spouse want to use a consistent style of parenting in raising your son. Your
spouse was raised in an authoritarian home where the children did as they were told
without questioning. You were raised in an authoritative home in which your parents had
firm rules but they could be flexible about these rules. Based on what you know about
the outcomes of children from authoritarian and authoritative homes, which style of
parenting would be the best for you and your spouse to choose? Explain your answer.
