Gender Identity Development in School-Age Children: A Cross-Cultural Examination of Identity, Emotional Well-being, and Academic Self-Concept
Bibliographic record
Abstract
This research includes three studies that contribute to developmental psychology and gender studies by exploring gender identity development in diverse cultural contexts during middle childhood. By examining gender identity through a multidimensional lens and considering cultural and social factors, this work seeks to move beyond traditional binary views of gender. A cross-national approach, comparing samples from Montréal and Barranquilla, offers insights into both individualized and culturally specific features of gender identity development. A nuanced understanding of these relations can inform culturally sensitive and gender inclusive practices that support gender development in childhood. Study 1 investigated the replicability and generalizability of a dual-identity model of gender among children aged 10-12 years. Using cross-national samples, four gender identity clusters were identified through K-Cluster means analyses. Longitudinal data revealed changes in children's identification with gender traits over the school year, particularly those associated with the opposite gender. These changes varied across socioeconomic and demographic contexts. Study 2 examined the relations between gender identity, peer victimization, gender pressure, and anxiety among fifth and sixth-grade students. Using comparative and regression analyses, it assessed mean differences in these variables across gender clusters and how the interaction of gender identity, anxiety, and gender pressure predicted peer victimization across sociodemographic groups. The study reveals that children who identify with both gender features report the highest levels of peer victimization, anxiety, and gender pressure. A statistically significant interaction shows that these dynamics are more pronounced in Barranquilla than in Montréal, underscoring the role of sociocultural contexts in shaping these relations. Study 3 explored the relation between peer-assessed school performance and self-perceived cognitive competence, considering gender-related traits and contextual variables. Key findings using structural equation modelling reveal that peer-assessed competence is more strongly associated with self-perceived competence for upper-middle-class counterparts. This association is weaker for girls than boys, potentially due to SES influences on boys' academic trajectories in STEM fields. Additionally, communal traits such as being affectionate, sympathetic, understanding, and sensitive to the needs of others are more strongly associated with self-perceived competence for girls. In sum, these findings highlight the importance of recognizing diverse cultural messages that shape children's gender identities. This work can better inform educators and clinicians to support fluidity in gender expression as a normative part of development, fostering inclusive environments that promote positive identity development while also respecting diverse expressions across cultural contexts.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".