Early gender development in children and links with mental and physical health

Abstract

Early childhood is an important time for gender identity development. During this developmental period, children learn that there are gender categories and assign meaning to these categories. This chapter focuses on two aspects of gender development—gender identification (e.g., evaluations of one’s gender) and gender typing (e.g., gender-stereotypical dress, play, and other behaviors). In early childhood, it is normative for most children to exhibit a positive and strong sense of gender identification, as well as elevated gender-typing. However, this is not true of all children as not all boys and girls adhere to a gender-normative path. This chapter aims to review literature encompassing both gender normative and gender-variant children. We discuss the developmental trajectories of gender identification and gender-typing for each group. Further, we put forward a model whereby feeling different from others based on gender or feeling devalued by others based on one’s gender can put children at risk for poorer mental and physical health. We discuss theory and evidence to support our model, identify future areas of inquiry, and suggest practical implications.