The Early Development of Gender Differences

    Authors

    M. H. McIntyre;C. P. Edwards

    Comments

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    Abstract

    This article reviews findings from anthropology, psychology, and other disciplines about the role of biological factors in the development of sex differences in human behavior, including biological theories, the developmental course of sex differences, and the interaction of biological and cultural gendering processes at different ages. Current evidence suggests that major biological influences on individual differences in human gender, to the extent that they exist, operate primarily in early development, during and especially prior to puberty. Biological effects are likely to be mediated by relatively simple processes, like temperament, which are then elaborated through social interactions (as with mother and peers) into more complex gendered features of adult personality. Biological anthropologists and psychologists interested in gender should direct more attention to understanding how social processes influence the development and function of the reproductive endocrine system.

    Journal Title

    Annual Review of Anthropology

    Volume

    38

    Publication Date

    1-1-2009

    Document Type

    Article

    First Page

    83

    Last Page

    97

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000271095800007

    ISSN

    0084-6570; 978-0-8243-1938-0

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