Title

The Early Development of Gender Differences

Authors

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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