Gender Development in African American Youth

Biological/Categorical Sex

Research on concepts and beliefs related to biological/categorical sex has been conducted almost exclusively during early childhood and includes findings on children’s awareness of gender; labeling of others as girls, boys, men, and women; and gender constancy (i.e., recognition that a person’s gender typically does not change across time and contexts or with superficial transformations). Studies conducted with primarily middle-class, European American samples show that young infants can differentiate between men and women using visual cues, and that children can use gender labels correctly in designating the gender of self and others before the age of 2 years (Ruble et al., 2006). Although children’s ability to correctly self-label as a boy or girl emerges early, complete gender constancy emerges much later, showing increases between the ages of 5 and 7 years (Ruble et al., 2006). We did not locate similar research with African American children; however, because of the impact of American culture and cognitive processes that govern early development, it is likely that developmental patterns found in research on biological/categorical sex concepts apply to children of all racial/ethnic groups in the United States.

Within the content area of biological/categorical sex, identity and self-perceptions encompass one’s personal sense of self as male or female, as well as beliefs and attitudes about one’s biological sex. Unlike research on other constructs within this content area, research on gender identity and self-perceptions has been conducted primarily with adolescent samples. Some of the earliest research in this area suggested that, compared with girls, Black and White boys have more positive feelings about their gender group membership and are less likely to admit to acting in a way considered typical of the other gender (Simmons, Black, & Zhou, 1991). In more recent work, researchers have investigated gender identity and self-perceptions using Egan and Perry’s (2001) multidimensional model of gender identity, which includes three dimensions: (a) gender typicality (i.e., feeling that one is a typical member of his or her biological sex category or that one’s skills or interests are similar to those of same-sex others), (b) felt pressure for gender conformity (i.e., perceived pressure from parents, peers, and self to behave consistently with traditional gender norms), and (c) gender contentedness. Using this model, Corby, Hodges, and Perry (2007) found that Black, White, and Hispanic elementary school–aged boys reported stronger self-perceptions of gender typicality, felt pressure for gender conformity, and gender contentedness than girls. In the same study, Black youth reported moderate levels of felt pressure—higher levels than their White American peers but similar levels to their Hispanic peers. Although gender typicality, felt pressure for gender conformity, and gender contentedness were related to adjustment among White children, only gender contentedness was consistently related to African American children’s adjustment (Corby et al., 2007). There is some indication that gender typicality is positively related to Black adolescents’ self-esteem, but its importance for self-perceptions is weaker among youth who view being Black as central to their identity (Skinner et al., 2014). Skinner et al. (2014) also found in their Black adolescent sample that felt pressure was negatively related to self-esteem, regardless of the centrality of race.

Behavioral enactment of biological/categorical sex is shown through individuals’ tendency to display their sex through clothing, hair, and other outwardly visible means (Ruble et al., 2006). African American preschool children, similar to children from other racial and ethnic groups, show high levels of gender appearance rigidity exemplified by stereotypic dress (e.g., girls wearing pink frilly dresses, boys wearing sports jerseys; Halim et al., 2014). Recent research shows that African American and Dominican preschool children’s gender-typed appearance increases from ages 3 to 4 years, but by age 5 years, there is greater flexibility (Halim, Ruble, Tamis-LeMonda, & Shrout, 2013).

In summary, many constructs related to preschool children’s knowledge of and identification of biological/categorical sex, including gender constancy, gender labeling, and behavioral enactment, appear to follow similar trends across racial groups within the United States. Studies focused on biological gender identity and self-perceptions include older children and adolescents. Results from these studies suggest that, like boys from other ethnic groups, African American boys endorse higher levels of gender typicality, felt pressure for gender conformity, and gender contentedness than their female counterparts. Finally, research suggests that relationships between adolescents’ gender identity and their developmental outcomes may vary as a function of racial identity; in particular, limited evidence suggests that the influence of gender identity may be less powerful for youth who identify strongly with their racial group. Additional research is needed to better understand how racial and gender identities coalesce to shape developmental outcomes.

Activities and Interests

In past reviews of the gender development literature (Galambos et al., 2009; Ruble et al., 2006), the content domain of activities and interests encompassed many diverse topics, including gender differences in toy preferences, household tasks, types of play, school extracurricular activities, media use, and preferences for future occupations. The literature on African Americans is much narrower in scope, with limited research focusing on children’s gender-typed play, beliefs about occupations, media use, and participation in extracurricular activities.

Concepts and beliefs about activities focus on stereotypes about what activities are appropriate for each gender. We know little about gender differences in African American children’s beliefs about the appropriateness of specific activities and occupations based on gender. However, some early studies showed that African American preschoolers and elementary school children held less traditional views about the occupational roles of men and women than European Americans (Albert & Porter, 1988; Kleinke & Nicholson, 1979).

Most research in the area of preferences for activities and interests with African American youth focuses on occupational preferences. Gender-typed occupational preferences are found among African American children as early as first grade (Bobo, Hildreth, & Durodoye, 1998; Miller & Stanford, 1986). Boys show strong preferences for careers in sports, law enforcement, and science in the early school years and during high school (Bobo et al., 1998; Parmer, 1993). African American girls in early elementary school tend to show a preference for traditionally feminine occupations, such as teaching and nursing, whereas older girls report a wider variety of occupational preferences (Bobo et al., 1998). Results from two recent studies (one with an all–African American sample and the other with a sample that was 50% African American) showed that more adolescent girls expected a professional career than boys, and that girls aspired to occupations that were more “professional” (e.g., business owner, professor) than occupations preferred by their male peers (Mello, Anton-Stang, Monaghan, Roberts, & Worrell, 2012; Perry, Przybysz, & Al-Sheikh, 2009). African American girls may be socialized during adolescence to aspire to professional careers because they are likely to be the head of their households or to marry partners who have lower educational attainment.

Research in behavioral enactment of activities and interests focuses primarily on preschool children’s gender-typed play and older children’s media use and involvement in extracurricular activities. In a recent longitudinal study with Dominican, Mexican, and African American children aged 3 to 5 years, researchers found that within all three ethnic groups, at all three ages, girls engaged in dress-up play more often than boys. Both boys and girls showed high levels of same-gender-typed play and low levels of cross-gender-typed play with toys at age 3 years; cross-gender-typed play decreased over time for both boys and girls (Halim et al., 2014). Gender differences in levels of cross-gender-typed play were not found.

Studies on video game use among African American children reveal age and gender differences similar to those found for other racial groups. Black boys play video games more than their female counterparts, a gender difference that increases with age (Bickham et al., 2003; Jackson, von Eye, Fitzgerald, Zhao, & Witt, 2010). Internet use also varies by gender. Using a large sample of middle school students, who were matched across racial groups on income and parent education level, Jackson et al. (2010) found that African American girls spent more time using the Internet and were more likely to use the Internet for communication than African American boys. In a nationally representative, racially diverse sample of adolescents, no gender differences were found in the amount of time youth used the Internet, but Black girls were more likely to visit websites that teach about Internet safety and were more vulnerable to sexual solicitation and receiving sexual content online than Black boys (Tynes & Mitchell, 2014). In addition, boys were more likely than girls to intentionally download pornography. A study of television viewing in middle school youth offers an interesting contrast to these results. No gender differences were found in total time spent watching TV, and African American youth of both genders preferred television shows featuring Black characters (Brown & Pardun, 2004).

Student involvement in extracurricular activities shows consistency in the gendered nature of athletic participation across race (K. E. Miller, Melnick, Barnes, Farrell, & Sabo, 2005; Trost et al., 1996). Although these gender differences are robust across racial/ethnic groups, Black boys are more likely than children in all other groups to be active in sports (Fredricks & Eccles, 2006; Linver, Roth, & Brooks-Gunn, 2009).

In summary, the research suggests that during early childhood, African American children engage in high levels of gender-typed play, and cross-gender-typed toy play decreases. Boys’ and girls’ occupational preferences during early childhood are consistent with traditional gender roles. However, by adolescence, Black girls may be more likely than boys to aspire to professional occupations. African American boys spend more time than girls playing video games. Although research is unclear about whether there is a gender difference in the amount of time that youth spend using the Internet, evidence suggests that boys and girls may have different experiences online. In contrast, African American boys and girls report approximately equivalent time watching television. More research is needed to better understand the gendered nature of African American youth’s activities and interests, and to examine how gendered activities and interests affect other developmental outcomes. For example, the high rates of involvement in school athletics among African American boys may not only lead to positive developmental outcomes but also pose some risks (Linver et al., 2009). Furthermore, additional research on nonathletic types of extracurricular activities is needed to better understand factors that promote school attachment and success in Black youth.

Personal-Social Attributes

Personal-social attributes are the traditionally sex-typed abilities, traits, and behaviors that children ascribe to themselves and/or to members of their gender group. Thus, concepts and beliefs about personal/social attributes include children’s beliefs about gender differences and their awareness and endorsement of gender stereotypes about personal attributes. According to traditional gender stereotypes about academic abilities, girls are superior to boys in verbal domains, whereas boys excel in math and science. Findings from research assessing these gender stereotypes in Black youth are mixed, with some studies showing endorsement of these beliefs and others showing a tendency for youth to display in-group bias toward their own gender group. In a study of the stereotypes of fourth-, sixth-, and eighth-grade students, Black girls reported on average that girls are more competent than boys in music and verbal domains, whereas Black boys reported no gender differences in those domains (Rowley, Kurtz-Costes, Mistry, & Feagans, 2007). In that same study, boys and girls reported that their own gender is more talented in math and science, but that boys are more capable than girls in sports. In a study of African American seventh and eighth graders, youth of both genders tended to endorse the belief that girls are better than boys in verbal domains but also viewed girls as better than boys in math and science (Evans, Copping, Rowley, & Kurtz-Costes, 2011).

Research within the personal-social attributes content area that addresses personal/social identity has focused on self-perceptions of academic abilities and gender-typed traits, as well as on self-perceptions of romantic appeal and peer acceptance. Although Mantzicopoulos (2006) found no gender difference in self-perceptions of cognitive competence among African American kindergartners, other research suggests that by adolescence, African American boys have more positive beliefs about their own abilities and greater expectancy for future success in math and science than girls (McClendon & Wigfield, 1998). Like McClendon and Wigfield (1998), Evans et al. (2011) reported that adolescent boys had higher math self-concept than African Americans girls, but found no gender difference in verbal self-concept. The positive self-perceptions of boys in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics domains is also evident among older adolescents: In a study of first-year undergraduates, African American men had higher levels of information technology self-efficacy than women (Johnson, Stone, & Phillips, 2008).

Thomson and Zand (2007; Zand & Thomson, 2005) reported that African American boys’ ratings of their own athletic competence, romantic appeal, leadership, and independence were higher than the self-ratings of girls. Other research, however, suggests that African American adolescent boys and girls display equivalent levels of identification with many stereotypically masculine traits. For example, using the Children’s Sex Role Inventory (Boldizar, 1991), Palapattu, Kingery, and Ginsburg (2006) found that high school youth of both genders were equally likely to identify with stereotypically masculine traits (e.g., assertive, dominant), although boys were less likely than girls to identify with stereotypically feminine traits (e.g., gentle, sympathetic). There is some evidence that boys’ and girls’ identification with masculine sex roles varies as a function of household structure. In particular, Mandara, Murray, and Joyner (2005) found that boys whose fathers were present in the home tended to identify more strongly with masculine personality traits than boys whose fathers were absent; in contrast, girls whose fathers were absent tended to identify more strongly with masculine personality traits than girls whose fathers were present.

Research with European American and ethnically diverse samples generally shows that girls fare worse than boys on indicators of subjective well-being (e.g., depression) and overall self-evaluation (e.g., global self-esteem; Galambos et al., 2009). Gender comparisons of the self-esteem of African American youth have shown mixed results, with some research showing advantages in early adolescence for boys (Thomson & Zand, 2007; Zand & Thomson, 2005), and other studies showing no gender difference (Mandara, Gaylord-Harden, Richards, & Ragsdale, 2009; Martinez & Dukes, 1997; Street, Harris-Britt, & Walker-Barnes, 2009). In addition, research designed to examine self-esteem across school transitions has found equivalent decrements in self-esteem for African American boys and girls across the transition from elementary to middle school (Seidman, Allen, Aber, Mitchell, & Feinman, 1994), and no changes in self-esteem for either gender group across the transition from middle school to high school (Seidman, Aber, Allen, & French, 1996).

Results regarding gender differences in African American children and adolescents’ depressive symptoms vary across studies, with some evidence showing disadvantages for boys in elementary school (Kistner, David, & White, 2003; Kistner, David-Ferdon, Lopez, & Dunkel, 2007) and disadvantages for girls during adolescence (Hammack, Robinson, Crawford, & Li, 2004; Seaton, 2010). Other researchers have found no gender difference in depressive symptoms among African American children (McLoyd, Kaplan, Hardaway, & Wood, 2007; Shaffer, Forehand, & Kotchick, 2002) or adolescents (Mandara et al., 2009; Street et al., 2009).

Reid and Trotter’s (1993) research on children’s interactions with infants is often cited as evidence that African American children are less likely than White children to conform to stereotypes about appropriate gender roles. In that study, African American 8- to 10-year-old boys were just as likely as White and African American girls to seek proximity to, and display attraction toward, an infant. African American preschool-aged boys have also been found to be more likely than White and African American girls to display helping behaviors and verbal/physical comforting behaviors toward a confederate peer (Richman, Berry, Bittle, & Himan, 1988). Despite these relatively high levels of prosocial behaviors, research suggests that African American boys are more aggressive than their female counterparts. For example, African American elementary-aged boys perceive themselves, and are perceived by others, as displaying higher levels of physical and verbal aggression as compared with African American girls (Osterman et al., 1994), and are more likely than girls to display dominance during social interactions (Leaper, Tenenbaum, & Shaffer, 1999; Putallaz et al., 2007). Consistent with their higher levels of aggression during childhood, African American boys are more likely than girls to engage in other externalizing behaviors during adolescence, including delinquency and substance use (Mack & Leiber, 2005; Weden & Zabin, 2005).

The limited existing research on gender differences in emotional expression among African American children has focused primarily on expression of anxiety and anger, and provides no clear answer regarding whether such expression is consistent with traditional gender stereotypes. Parallel to results regarding well-being, research is suggestive of developmental change in emotional expression. Lambert, Cooley, Campbell, Benoit, and Stansbury (2004) found no gender differences in African American fourth and fifth graders’ reports of sensitivity to anxiety-provoking situations. In contrast, in a study of adolescents, African American girls were more likely than boys to report clinically significant levels of anxiety, as well as higher levels of somatic symptoms (e.g., feeling tense or uptight, sick to stomach; Kingery, Ginsburg, & Alfano, 2007). Findings for gender differences in anger expression vary across childhood and adolescence. For example, in research by Hubbard (2001), African American second-grade boys displayed angry facial expressions more frequently than girls and were more likely to speak with an angry intonation. However, self-reported data from early adolescents revealed no gender differences in state-trait anger expression scores or in styles of anger expression (Armstead & Clark, 2002). Few researchers have examined the expression of sadness, but in one study, researchers found that Black and White adolescent girls were more open about displaying sadness than boys, even though both genders experienced similar levels of sadness (Perry-Parrish & Zeman, 2011).

As in other populations, African American children’s school-related behavioral enactment of personal and social attributes follows gendered patterns. In a study of preschool children (Early et al., 2010), boys spent less time in literacy, art, and activities requiring fine motor skills than girls, and girls spent less time than boys in science, social studies, and gross motor skill activities.

In summary, African American youth endorse traditional gender stereotypes in the strongly stereotyped domains of verbal skills (favoring girls) and athletic ability (favoring boys). Results are mixed—and vary across age—in the domains of math and science. As is the case among White youth, girls are more likely to report competence in traditionally masculine domains than boys are to report competence in feminine domains, and each gender tends to favor their own gender in perceptions of group competence. Research involving subjective well-being and emotional expression, although not always consistent across studies, indicates possible developmental differences. For example, no gender differences in anxiety have been found in childhood, but adolescent girls report higher levels of anxiety than adolescent boys. Several studies show that African American boys display high rates of prosocial behaviors, aggression, and externalizing behaviors in comparison with other groups. Finally, preschool children’s behaviors at school follow gendered patterns, with boys and girls spending more time in activities stereotyped for their own gender group.

Gender-Based Social Relationships

Studies examining gender-based social relationships among African American youth have generally focused on the constructs of preferences and behavioral enactment. Preferences include preference for social interaction based on sex or gender and is often measured through peer nominations. Behavioral enactment refers to choosing friends on the basis of their sex or gender and is typically measured either with nominations or through direct observation. Because most studies on behavioral enactment encompass aspects of preferences, these two constructs are discussed together.

Like children from other racial and ethnic backgrounds, preschool-aged African American children show a preference for same-sex playmates (Snyder, West, Stockemer, Gibbons, & Almquist-Parks, 1996). In comparison with White middle-class children, gender segregation appears to emerge later in African American and Latino children, showing increases between the ages of 4 and 5 years (Halim et al., 2014; Ruble et al., 2006). Young children prefer friends of the same sex regardless of the friend’s race (Fishbein & Imai, 1993); however, in mixed-race settings, African American children are more likely than European American children to have cross-sex friendships, especially with other African Americans (J. A. Graham & Cohen, 1997; Kovacs, Parker, & Hoffman, 1996). Research also suggests that African American girls tend to interact more with same-sex, same-race peers, whereas boys tend to interact with other boys regardless of race (Fishbein & Imai, 1993; J. A. Graham, Cohen, Zbikowski, & Secrist, 1998; McGuffey & Rich, 1999). This gender difference in cross-race friendship patterns has been found in preschool (Fishbein & Imai, 1993), middle childhood (J. A. Graham, Cohen, et al., 1998; McGuffey & Rich, 1999), and adolescence (Way & Chen, 2000).

Using a mixed-race sample of children attending a week-long summer camp, McGuffey and Rich (1999) found that race and social class were salient in girls’ friendships but not in boys’; specifically, socioeconomically disadvantaged African American boys (but not disadvantaged African American girls) were just as likely to hold a high-status position as their European American or higher socioeconomic status peers. African American girls tended to gravitate together across age in middle childhood, with friendships more likely to be defined by gender and social class than by age.

Cross-gender friendships increase among both boys and girls in adolescence (Galambos et al., 2009). Compared with African American girls and White youth of both genders, African American boys experience earlier expectations from friends and parents that they will begin dating (Daddis & Smetana, 2005; Simmons et al., 1991). In addition, the quality of friendships appears to be gendered for African American adolescents, with girls reporting higher scores than boys on affection, reliability, intimacy, and satisfaction within friendships and lower scores on antagonism and conflict. Boys, in contrast, are more likely than girls to have disengaged friendships (Way & Chen, 2000; Way, Cowal, Gingold, Pahl, & Bissessar, 2001).

In summary, for African American boys, gender tends to be more salient than race in preferences for and choices of peers in early and middle childhood; African American girls, in contrast, tend to prefer same-sex, same-race peers. Moreover, African American boys are more likely than girls to have friendships that cross socioeconomic lines. By adolescence, the quality of relationships is similarly gendered across races, with girls having better quality same-gender friendships than boys.

Styles and Symbols

Stylistic and symbolic aspects of gender include children’s beliefs about the gendered nature of communication styles, voices, and physical appearance (e.g., body type, hairstyles, clothing). We found studies that addressed self-perceptions (specifically, self-perceptions of body image), preferences (specifically, preferences regarding body type and skin tone), and behavioral enactment (specifically, patterns of communication) within this content area. An additional topic related to behavioral enactment that has received much attention from scholars is cool pose. Cool pose describes the unique behaviors, such as patterns of speech, walking style, and overall demeanor that African Americans (primarily males) are theorized to adopt in response to their marginalized position in society (Majors & Billson, 1993). Most of the limited empirical research about cool pose focuses on its negative consequences for African American males, with little or no research focused on its role in normative gender development.

Early adolescent African American girls, on average, are less satisfied with their bodily appearance than boys (Wang, Liang, & Chen, 2009). Compared with boys, African American girls, much like their European American peers, tend to select thinner female figures as ideal (Jones, Fries, & Danish, 2007). Grant et al. (1999) reported that poor body image among girls explained gender differences in African American youth’s depressive symptoms. Although boys report higher levels of body satisfaction than girls, self-perceptions of being overweight are associated with lower levels of self-esteem for African American youth of both sexes (Vogt Yuan, 2010).

Skin tone has influenced the educational, economic, and romantic opportunities of African Americans for centuries (Adams, Kurtz-Costes, & Hoffman, 2015). Results of studies conducted with children and adolescents show that, in general, lighter skin is preferred and is viewed as more attractive than darker skin (Adams et al., 2015; Stephens & Few, 2007); however, gender appears to moderate the relationship between skin tone and perceived attractiveness. For example, Stephens and Few (2007) found that girls viewed dark-skinned women as beautiful, but boys did not express similar views. A recent study using two national data sets showed that the odds of being suspended from school increased about three times for African American youth with the darkest skin tone in comparison with those with the lightest skin tone, and this effect was stronger for girls than for boys (Hannon, DeFina, & Bruch, 2013). Clearly, skin tone influences the experiences of African American youth, which, in turn, may have consequences for their gender-typed self-perceptions, preferences, and behaviors.

Paralleling research with European Americans, some gender differences have been found in the communication styles of African American children. For example, Leaper et al. (1999) examined communication strategies among same- and mixed-gender pairs of African American elementary-aged children and found that boys were more likely than girls to use controlling communication and domineering exchanges. In contrast, girls were more likely than boys to display affiliative acts. These gender differences were more apparent in same-gender pairs than in boy-girl pairs. In a study with preschool-aged children, boys exhibited more assertive behaviors than girls in interactions with their mothers (Wall & Holden, 1994). In contrast to these results, a study with early adolescents showed that, although there were gender differences among White participants, African American boys and girls did not differ in their communication patterns (Filardo, 1996). This similarity reflected the more active and assertive behaviors of girls rather than more traditionally feminine behaviors among boys. Although Filardo’s (1996) results were limited by a small sample size and a specific focus on mixed-gender interactions, other researchers have also found that African American early adolescent girls tend to exhibit assertive behaviors (e.g., McGuffey & Rich, 1999).

In summary, research on styles and symbols has focused mostly on self-perceptions and preferences in the area of body image and on behavioral enactment in the form of communication patterns. African Americans boys have greater body satisfaction than girls and are less likely than girls to select thinner figures as ideal. The existing research on skin tone shows that youth tend to prefer lighter skin, but the relationship between skin tone and perceived attractiveness may vary according to gender. Research on communication styles suggests that during early childhood, African American girls are more affiliative than boys, and boys are more assertive than girls. However, by adolescence, African American girls and boys tend to exhibit similar levels of assertive behaviors.

Values About Gender

The very limited research on African American youth’s values about gender corresponds with two constructs within this content area: concepts and beliefs and preferences. Concepts and beliefs about gender values are represented by youth’s knowledge of greater value attached to members of one sex or gender over the other. Research shows that children in late childhood and early adolescence are aware of and are able to identify instances of gender bias. Using a diverse sample of children in Grades 4, 6, and 8, C. S. Brown, Alabi, Huynh, and Masten (2011) found that, across grades, African American girls were more likely than African American boys to report witnessing and being the target of gender bias. This finding is consistent with research showing that African American mothers have more gender discrimination concerns for daughters than for sons (Varner & Mandara, 2014). Although members of both gender groups experience gender discrimination during late childhood and adolescence, the source of gender discrimination varies. For example, African American adolescent boys have reported more gender discrimination than girls from teachers (Cogburn, Chavous, & Griffin, 2011). In C. S. Brown et al.’s (2011) study, across race/ethnic groups, girls most often reported instances of gender bias in sports, whereas boys most often reported instances of gender bias from classroom teachers. Among African American youth, experiences of gender discrimination from teachers are associated with lower academic achievement and greater depressive symptoms for boys and with negative achievement-related attitudes for girls (Cogburn et al., 2011). Surprisingly, in these studies both African American boys and girls reported experiencing more gender discrimination than racial discrimination (C. S. Brown et al., 2011; Cogburn et al., 2011).

Preferences concerning gender-related values include attitudes about egalitarian gender roles and in-group/out-group biases. Most of the research in this area has focused on attitudes toward egalitarian gender roles in the home (e.g., whether the male or female partner should be the primary income earner). Similar to findings with non-Black samples, African American adolescent girls have more egalitarian gender attitudes than their male counterparts (Davis, 2007; Ward, Hansborough, & Walker, 2005). African American youth also display in-group bias toward members of their own gender group. For example, in a peer-nomination task, both boys and girls selected members of their own gender as people they most admired (Graham, Taylor, & Hudley, 1998).

Research on gender values conducted with African American samples shows some consistency with research conducted with majority White samples. For both racial groups, girls are more likely than boys to report perceiving and experiencing gender bias. Girls also report more egalitarian gender attitudes than their male counterparts regarding the family and work responsibilities of men and women. Additional research is warranted in all four constructs (i.e., concepts and beliefs, identity or self-perceptions, preferences, behavioral enactment) of gender values to better understand how the dual identities of race and gender interact in shaping the development of Black youth.

Gender Socialization

We now turn to the literature on gender socialization, focusing on parents and the media as socializing agents. Most research in this area focuses on differential treatment by parents and observational learning as mechanisms by which youth develop gender-typed attributes, self-perceptions, and behaviors.

Conclusions

In this review, we have summarized much of what is known about gender development in African American youth. The literature on gender development in African Americans is sparse and, in many cases, somewhat dated. Because gender cultural norms continue to change in the United States and in other parts of the world, results of some early studies with African American youth might not accurately reflect youth in the 21st century. Nonetheless, based on our reading of the literature, we have drawn four broad conclusions that we hope will shape future research in this area.

Whereas gender is the most salient social identity for many White Americans, some of the reviewed literature points to ways in which racial identity is as important, or possibly more important, than gender identity among Black youth. The centrality of race to the personal identity of Black American youth is reflected in media use and friendship choices. Black youth are more likely to watch television programming with Black characters (in contrast to Whites, whose TV watching is gendered according to program content). In mixed-race settings, Black youth are more likely than Whites to socialize with same-race, other-gender peers. In general, research on the role of race in development does not give equal attention to the role of gender in racial/ethnic minority youth. Given the importance of both identities in the lives of Black youth, we hope that future researchers will consider how racial and gender identities interact to shape outcomes. The concept of intersectionality may be a useful tool for accomplishing this goal (Cole, 2009).

Black children, compared with White American children, are more likely to have gender-neutral beliefs about adults’ occupations, to have cross-gender friendships, and to show fewer gender differences in assertiveness during adolescence. On the other hand, many aspects of gender development are similar across racial groups. Children’s early preferences for same-gender friendships, endorsement of academic stereotypes, gender differences in the quality of friendships, and lower body satisfaction in girls compared with boys are all examples of ways that gender development in Black youth shows similar patterns to what is found with other racial/ethnic groups.

There are gender differences between African American boys and girls in play preferences, friendship choices, communication patterns, and self-perceptions in academic and nonacademic domains. Aspirations for future careers, body satisfaction, and sports activities are other areas in which boys differ, on average, from girls. As found in research with other racial groups, many of these differences are driven in part by socialization differences: Media content reinforces traditional gender norms, and African American parents report different parenting behaviors with sons than with daughters, perhaps in part because of factors within the broader society.

In 2012, 33% of African American children resided in a home with two parents who were married to each other—one-half the proportion found in the population as a whole (ChildStats, 2014). It might be concluded that egalitarian attitudes and behaviors among Black youth result at least in part because many of them reside with an unmarried mother who is the primary breadwinner for her household. However, a majority of African American fathers report active involvement in their children’s lives, regardless of whether or not they have married or shared a residence with the child’s mother (Cooper, 2009, 2014). As reviewed in the section on social relationships, gendered friendship patterns differ markedly in mixed-race versus all-Black environments (McGuffey & Rich, 1999). As noted in the section on personal-social attributes, Mandara et al. (2005) found that boys’ and girls’ identification with masculine roles varied as a function of household structure. These are but a few examples of the ways in which contextual factors are likely to shape gender development in African American youth. In studying gender, many researchers attempt to match subsamples or statistically control for family characteristics such as household income and parent education level. Such procedures limit the investigation of potentially important differences in context that may be critical to targeted prevention and intervention programs aimed at positive youth development. In order to fully understand gender development in Black youth, the interplay between the individual and the environments in which he or she resides is critical.

Whereas race is an important social identity that is the focus of much psychological research with African Americans, gender is understudied. Literature is limited on most topics and is particularly sparse in the areas of styles and symbols, personal-social relationships, and the ways in which peers and family members like siblings shape gender development. Additional research is needed to better understand how normative experiences such as puberty as well as typical, but nonnormative, experiences such as racial discrimination shape gender development and gender differentiation in African American youth. Longitudinal studies assessing multiple-content areas are needed to understand if gender differences and similarities are robust, whether and how changes occur with age, and possible coherence across gender content areas.

Although other frameworks have been developed for examining gender-related constructs (e.g., Tobin et al., 2010), we used the organizational framework of Ruble et al. (2006) because of its comprehensiveness and utility in organizing the literature on gender development in African American youth and in identifying areas in need of additional research. In order for future research to address all content areas and the constructs they subsume, it may be important to develop measures that more adequately capture the interplay of race and gender, as well as more culture-specific measures.