Preadolescents' social judgments: The relationship between self-endorsement of traits and gender-related judgments of female peers

The present study investigated the relationship between preadolescents' and early adolescents' Inferences and judgments of a target girl, their self-endorsement of traditionally feminine and masculine traits, the gender of the playmates and the gender-typedness of the game. Preadolescents and early Jewish Israeli adolescents males and females (n = 251) were shown a video film portraying a female target playing a feminine, masculine or neutral game with either boys or girls and then made a variety of inferences and judgments about the target. The gender of the playing partners and the gender-typedness of the game were found to influence preadolescents' inferences of female targets' traits, roles and occupations, but not their motivational-emotional judgments. Gender differences emerged such that the inferences of boys were more often in accordance with traditional gender stereotypes. Self-endorsement of traits did not seem to influence preadolescents' judgments, except in those of the cross-gender children. The results are discussed within the framework of gender schema theories.