Modifying Children s Gender-Typed Musical Instrument Preferences: The Effects of Gender and Age 1

Transcription

1 Sex Roles, Vol. 45, Nos. 9/10, November 2001 ( C 2002) Modifying Children s Gender-Typed Musical Instrument Preferences: The Effects of Gender and Age 1 Samantha Pickering University of Sydney Betty Repacholi 2 Macquarie University Previous research has indicated that children display gender-typed musical instrument preferences. Two studies were conducted to determine (a) whether these preferences can be modified by presenting counter-examples (i.e., instruments played by gender-inappropriate musicians) and (b) whether child gender or age (kindergarten vs. 4th grade) influences the efficacy of such interventions. A videotape presentation format was employed in Study 1 and drawings in Study 2. Children exposed to counter-examples were less stereotyped than those who saw the instruments without musicians (Study 1) or with gender-appropriate musicians (Studies 1 & 2). Age did not influence children s responsiveness to the counter-examples, but boys were more resistant to the intervention than girls. There was some evidence that the counter-examples were effective not simply because children were attracted to same-sex musicians. Instead, children s instrument choices also appeared to be motivated by a desire to avoid behaving like musicians of the other-sex. Potential strategies for increasing children s responsiveness to instrument counter-examples (e.g., multiple exemplars; portrayal of positive consequences) were also discussed. KEY WORDS: gender; stereotypes; children; musical instruments. 1 Portions of this research were presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, April 1999, Albuquerque, USA. 2 To whom correspondence should be addressed at Center for Mind, Brain & Learning, University of Washington, Box , Seattle, Washington, USA, 98195; bettyr@ u.washington.edu /01/ /0 C 2002 Plenum Publishing Corporation

2 624 Pickering and Repacholi A variety of factors influence our musical instrument preferences such as the instrument s size, weight, shape, pitch, timbre, and loudness (Gordon, 1991; O Neill & Boulton, 1996). In addition to the physical properties of the instrument, various inter- and intrapersonal variables have been implicated, including peer group influences (Alpert, 1980), the media (Shehan, 1979), the biases of authority figures (Dorow, 1977), personality (Hyden, 1980, cited in Byo, 1991), and intelligence (Kuhn, 1980). One of the more consistent research findings has been the role of gender. A number of studies have demonstrated that adults categorize musical instruments as masculine or feminine and prefer those instruments that are consistent with their own gender (e.g., Abeles & Porter, 1978; Delzell & Leppla, 1992; Griswold & Chroback, 1981). These instrument stereotypes not only influence people s motivation to learn to play a particular instrument, but may also limit the availability and scope of their music education, effect their participation in musical ensembles, and, more importantly, restrict their career opportunities. There is also a growing body of research demonstrating that children s musical instrument preferences are gender-typed and congruent with adult stereotypes. For instance, in a study by Abeles and Porter (1978), kindergarten-fifth-grade children were shown pictures and heard the taped sounds of eight instruments. Children were then asked to indicate which instrument they would most like to play. Kindergarten boys and girls tended to select masculine instruments (drum, trombone, trumpet, saxophone). With increasing age, however, girls preferences moved towards femininetyped instruments (flute, violin, clarinet, cello) and stabilized at around Grades 3 and 4. Boys preferences, on the other hand, remained relatively stable over time. Delzell and Leppla (1992) likewise reported gender-typed preferences in fourth-grade children who were simply shown pictures of these instruments. In addition, boys selections were very limited, with the majority wanting to play either the drum or saxophone. Although the most popular choice for girls was the flute, they were much broader in their preferences than boys. Using drawings once again, O Neill and Boulton (1996) asked 9- and 11-year-old children to rank-order their preferences for learning to play six instruments. The piano, flute, and violin were ranked more highly by girls than by boys, whereas the guitar, drum, and trumpet were ranked more highly by boys. Gender-typed instrument preferences have also been reported in high school students. For example, Crowther and Durkin (1982) found that year-old girls ranked the recorder as their top choice, whereas for boys, the guitar was their most preferred instrument. In this agerange, however, there was a great deal of overlap, with both sexes ranking the piano second and the clarinet third. In summary, there is substantial evidence that children in Grade 3 and beyond are gender-typed in their musical instrument preferences. Younger children have received far less attention,

3 Gender-Typed Instrument Preferences 625 and it remains unclear whether they likewise associate gender with musical instruments. The fact that children are aware of, and influenced by, these instrument stereotypes is cause for concern, especially with regard to vocational interests and opportunities. To date, however, only a few studies have systematically attempted to modify children s gender-typed instrument preferences. Such efforts have typically involved the presentation of counter-examples, in which instruments are played by musicians who contradict the adult gender stereotype. Bruce and Kemp (1993), for instance, manipulated musician gender in a series of concerts given to 5 7-year-old children. At the conclusion of the concert, each child was allowed to approach one of the musicians and look at their instrument. Regardless of the instrument being played, children tended to approach same-sex musicians. For example, in one concert, 14.5% of the boys looked at the violin when it was played by a male compared to 3.5% of boys attending a concert in which this instrument was played by a female. Similarly, 23.5% of girls examined the trombone when the musician was female, but only 1.5% did so when it had been played by a male. Because each instrument was presented with a musician during the test phase, it is impossible to determine whether children were actively selecting a preferred instrument, a preferred musician, or some combination of the two. Moreover, because this testing was conducted in groups, children may have avoided certain instruments and/or musicians for fear of being ostracized by their peers. Finally, without a control group, it was impossible to determine whether such young children had already acquired the gender stereotypes for these instruments. Harrison and O Neill (2000) likewise manipulated the gender of live adult musicians in an attempt to change 7 8-year-old children s instrument preferences. Children initially rank-ordered their preferences for learning to play a set of six instruments. Two weeks later, they attended a concert with musicians playing either gender-consistent (e.g., a female playing a violin) or gender-inconsistent instruments (e.g., a female playing a trumpet). Instrument preferences were obtained in the classroom immediately after the concerts. A control group received no concert, and these children were simply asked to rank-order their preferences once again. The most relevant finding was that girls showed less preference for the piano after seeing it played by a male, and boys showed less preference for the guitar after seeing a female play this instrument. However, a closer inspection of the postconcert preferences reveals that the counter-examples had minimal impact on children s overall preferences. Boys in the gender-inconsistent group ranked all three masculine instruments above the feminine ones and ranked them in the same order as boys in the gender-consistent group. In addition, girls in the gender-inconsistent group still ranked the flute and violin more

4 626 Pickering and Repacholi highly than the masculine instruments, despite the former being played by a member of the other sex. The limited efficacy of the intervention may have been due, in part, to methodological problems. For instance, children were exposed to the musicians and made both sets of instrument rankings within a group context. Thus, they were vulnerable to peer influence. In addition, different pieces of music were played on different instruments (e.g., theme from Star Wars on the trumpet; an Irish jig on the flute). In some instances, then, the music itself may have influenced children s instrument preferences. Finally, as noted by the authors, the counter-examples might have been more effective had peer musicians been employed. It is well-documented that, at least in middle childhood, children are more likely to imitate a peer than an adult model (Schunk, 1987). Building on previous research, one aim of this study was to determine whether kindergarten children are gender-typed in their musical instrument preferences and similar to fourth-grade children. Because these younger children have only recently started formal schooling, it is likely that they have had less exposure to such stereotypes relative to the older group. However, child gender also needs to be taken into account. For example, boys tend to be more gender-typed in their toy and activity preferences than girls (Martin & Little, 1990; Turner, Gervai, & Hinde, 1993). Moreover, there is some evidence to suggest that boys preferences become increasingly masculine during middle childhood, whereas girls often become more flexible in their preferences (Archer, 1984; Etaugh & Liss, 1992; Katz & Boswell, 1986). Therefore, in this study, it was expected that fourth-grade boys would be more stereotyped in their instrument preferences than kindergarten boys, but older girls would be less stereotyped than their younger counterparts. A second aim was to determine whether children s instrument preferences can be influenced by exposure to counter-stereotyped musicians. Few researchers have directly addressed this question, and methodological concerns have limited their conclusions. Study 1 was specifically designed to address these issues. Firstly, children were individually tested, such that instrument exposure and selection occurred in the absence of peers. As a consequence, it was not feasible to have each child observe live musicians, and so videotapes were employed. Videotaped counter-examples have been used with other gender-typed stimuli (e.g., leisure or domestic activities), albeit with varying degrees of success (see Durkin, 1985, for a review). Secondly, unlike previous studies, the musicians were high-school students rather than adults. Participants age-mates could not be employed because they would not have been sufficiently proficient at playing the instruments. Although the musicians were not peers, it was still possible that children would be more responsive to adolescent than to adult models. For instance, they might believe that the behavior of a high-school student is more personally relevant than

5 Gender-Typed Instrument Preferences 627 that of an adult. Finally, the same piece of music was played on all instruments to minimize the influence of music style on children s preferences. With these modifications in place, it was expected that children exposed to counter-examples would be less likely to select a gender-consistent instrument than those who saw either stereotyped musicians or instruments without musicians (i.e., a control group). An additional aim was to explore whether child gender and/or age have an impact on the efficacy of counter-examples in the domain of musical instruments. It has been reported that kindergarten children and adolescents tend to be less tolerant of gender-role transgressions than children in middle childhood (Stoddart & Turiel, 1985). Consistent with this, studies presenting counter-examples for occupations, domestic chores, and various other activities (e.g., Durkin & Hutchins, 1984; Pingree, 1978) indicate that children are most receptive to such materials during middle childhood and less so during adolescence. The findings have been mixed with kindergarten children, and it remains unclear whether they are less responsive to counter-examples than older children (Jeffery & Durkin, 1989). In the present study, it was hypothesized that fourth graders would be more likely than kindergarten children to select a gender-inconsistent instrument when it had previously been played by a same-sex musician. There is also evidence that boys are more resistant to counter-examples than girls (e.g., Ashton, 1983; Durkin & Hutchins, 1984), presumably because of differential gender-role socialization pressures (Katz & Walsh, 1991). Thus, it was predicted that boys would be less likely than girls to select a gender-inconsistent instrument after seeing it played by a same-sex musician. STUDY 1 Method Participants A total of 314 children were recruited from public elementary schools in the Sydney metropolitan area. The mean age of the kindergarten sample (77 males, 79 females) was 5 years, 9 months (SD = 3.72, range = 5,1 6,5). The mean age of the fourth-grade sample (79 males, 79 females) was 9 years, 7 months (SD = 3.18, range = 9,1 10,8). Children with physical disabilities that might influence their instrument choice (e.g., a missing finger, hearing difficulties) were not included in the study. About 70% of the children were Caucasian, and the remainder were typically from Asian, Middle-Eastern, or Indian backgrounds. Participating schools were located in middle-class neighborhoods (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1998).

6 628 Pickering and Repacholi Materials Eight musical instruments were employed. In a pilot study, four of these instruments (flute, violin, clarinet, cello) were identified by Australian adults as being feminine and the remaining four (drum, saxophone, trumpet, trombone) were identified as masculine. This classification of instruments is consistent with previous research conducted in North America and England (e.g., Abeles & Porter, 1978; Delzell & Leppla, 1992; Griswold & Chroback, 1981). The musicians were eight male and eight female high-school students, ranging in age from 14 to 17 years. The males wore identical school uniforms and likewise the female students. Each student was videotaped as they individually played one of the eight instruments. The students had comparable musical ability, as assessed by both the school music teacher and the first author (a semiprofessional musician). All of the musicians played an adaptation of the same first four bars of J. S. Bach s Fugue in G Minor, which lasted about 15 s. Three videotapes were then created, each consisting of four feminine and four masculine instruments. These instruments were presented in the same random order in each videotape. Four male and four female musicians were individually presented in the stereotyped video. Each female played one of the feminine instruments whereas the males were shown playing a masculine instrument. The musician instrument pairings were reversed in the counter-stereotyped video. For example, a male played the violin and a female played the trumpet. The third videotape was employed as a control. The same eight instruments were sequentially presented and the same piece of music was heard from each. However, each instrument was displayed against the same yellow background, without a musician. Each videotape lasted about 3 min and began with a female voice stating, This is a tape of lots of musical instruments. Listen to the names of the instruments and the sounds they make. As each instrument was presented, it was named by the same voice ( This is a... ) and then played. The actual musical instruments were present in the testing room and lined up in the same order as they appeared on the videotape. During the videotape presentation, the participant s chair was placed so that, if desired, the child could match each videotaped instrument with its real counterpart. Procedure Children were individually tested by a female researcher, in a room separate from their regular classroom. Another adult (usually a male) was always present because of child protection requirements for conducting

7 Gender-Typed Instrument Preferences 629 research in public schools. At the start of the testing session, children were asked to name the musical instruments that they played. They were then told that they would be watching a videotape showing lots of musical instruments. Children in each gender- and age-group were randomly assigned in roughly equal numbers to one of the three videotape conditions. After watching their assigned videotape, children were asked to look closely at the set of instruments and to point to the one they would most like to play. Children were then briefly allowed to examine and attempt to play their selected instrument. Results Self-Report Data: Instruments Played by Children Not surprisingly, twice as many fourth-grade children (boys, 32%; girls, 44%) reported that they played a musical instrument in comparison to the younger age-group (boys, 15.5%; girls, 19%). Across the three videotape conditions, similar proportions of same-age, same-sex children played musical instruments. The instrument most frequently played by kindergarten girls was the piano. There was no one instrument favored by the kindergarten boys, instead, the recorder, piano, and drum were equally represented. A greater variety of instruments were played by children in the older agegroup, but, once again, girls tended to play the piano more than any other instrument. As in the younger age-group, a number of instruments (piano, trumpet, clarinet, guitar) were equally popular among the fourth-grade boys. Only a small proportion of the sample reported that they played any of the instruments employed in the study. However, children in the older agegroup (boys, 18%; girls, 18%) named these instruments more frequently than did those in the kindergarten group (boys, 8%; girls, 2.5%). Children rarely selected an instrument that they already played (control, 1%, n = 1; stereotype, 3%, n = 3; counter-stereotype, 3%, n = 3). Instrument Preferences in the Control Group Instrument choice in the control group was initially analyzed to determine whether children exhibited gender-typed instrument preferences. The proportion of children who selected a gender-consistent instrument is displayed in Table I. Overall, it was found that control group children were more likely to select a gender-consistent than gender-inconsistent instrument,.69 vs. 31, χ 2 (1, n = 105) = 14.49, p <.001. In this group, the most frequently selected instrument for boys was the drum (31%), whereas for

8 630 Pickering and Repacholi Table I. The Proportion (and Number) of Children Selecting Gender-Consistent Instruments as a Function of Videotape Group, Age, and Gender Kindergarten 4th grade Girls (N = 26) Boys (N = 26) Girls (N = 26) Boys (N = 26) Control no musician.73 (19).73 (19).52 (14) a.77 (20) Gender stereotype.54 (14).69 (18).62 (16).85 (23) a Counter-stereotype.44 (12) a.64 (16) b.31 (8).73 (19) a N = 27. N = 25. girls it was the violin (38%). As demonstrated in Table II, control group boys did not exhibit a narrower range of instrument choices than control group girls. Hierarchical log-linear analysis was used to determine whether, as predicted, gender and age influenced children s instrument preferences in the control group. A backward elimination procedure was initiated with the fully saturated model involving the three-way interaction between child gender, age, and instrument choice (i.e., gender-consistent vs. gender-inconsistent). The procedure then removed effects in the model that produced the leastsignificant chi-square changes until the best-fitting model for the control group data was found (see Tabachnick & Fidell, 1996, for an overview of this procedure). This analysis failed to reveal any age or gender main effects. Although the Predicted Age Gender interaction was not significant, Table II. The Proportion (and Number) of Children Selecting Specific Instruments as a Function of Videotape Group, Age, and Gender Flute Violin Clarinet Cello Sax Trumpet Trombone Drum Control K-boys.12 (3).15 (4).12 (3).19 (5).15 (4).27 (7) K-girls.19 (5).46 (12).08 (2).08 (2).19 (5) 4th-boys.19 (5).04 (1).19 (5).19 (5).04 (1).35 (9) 4th-girls a.15 (4).30 (8).07 (2).19 (5).11 (3).19 (5) Stereotype K-boys.12 (3).15 (4).12 (3).19 (5).08 (2).35 (9) K-girls.23 (6).31 (8).08 (2).12 (3).27 (7) 4th-boys a.04 (1).11 (3).22 (6).15 (4).48 (13) 4th-girls.08 (2).39 (10).15 (4).08 (2).08 (2).08 (2).15 (4) Counter-stereotype K-boys b.24 (6).04 (1).08 (2).16 (4).16 (4).12 (3).20 (5) K-girls a.07 (2).37 (10).07 (2).19 (5).30 (8) 4th-boys.12 (3).04 (1).08 (2).04 (1).04 (1).15 (4).04 (1).50 (13) 4th-girls.15 (4).12 (3).04 (1).46 (12).15 (4).04 (1).04 (1) a N = 27. b N = 25.

9 Gender-Typed Instrument Preferences 631 it is noteworthy that about half of the fourth-grade girls selected a genderinconsistent instrument, whereas only 25% of the kindergarten children and fourth-grade boys displayed such preferences. Instrument Preferences as a Function of Videotape Condition, Child Gender, and Age The complete dataset was subsequently analyzed to explore whether children s instrument choices were influenced by the videotape manipulation. Once again, hierarchical log-linear analysis was conducted with the fully saturated model involving the four-way interaction between instrument choice, type of videotape, child gender, and age. A backward elimination procedure revealed that the model best fitting the data included the Gender Instrument Choice and Videotape Instrument Choice interactions, χ 2 (16, n = 314) = 11.60, p =.77. These effects were further analyzed using a series of chi-squares, and the Bonferroni correction was applied to maintain α at the.05 level. All tests were two-tailed, except in those instances where the original hypothesis was directional. Collapsing across age and type of videotape, boys were more likely to select a gender-consistent instrument than were girls,.72 versus.54, χ 2 (1, n = 314) = 11.71, p <.001. As predicted, children exposed to counter-examples were less likely to choose gender-consistent instruments than those in the stereotyped group,.53 versus.68, χ 2 (1, n = 209) = 4.74, p =.015, one-tailed. In contrast, the proportion of children selecting gender-consistent instruments was virtually identical in the stereotyped (.68) and control groups (.69). A potential anomaly was evident, however, in the responses of kindergarten girls. Although the final model did not include a four-way interaction, these younger girls tended to be more gender-typed in the control than in the stereotyped condition. Log-linear analysis was also used to test specific predictions about how age and gender would influence the efficacy of the counter-examples. Consistent with the overall analysis, the best-fitting model for the counter-stereotyped condition included the Gender Instrument Choice interaction, but not the predicted age effects, χ 2 (4, n = 104) = 1.59, p =.81. Post hoc analysis revealed that it was not merely the case that boys were more gender-typed than girls in this condition. Despite their exposure to the counter-examples, a significant proportion (.69) of the boys preferred the masculine instruments, χ 2 (1, n = 51) = 7.01, p <.01. Moreover, as in the control and stereotyped conditions, the drum remained the most popular among the boys (35%) (see Table II).

10 632 Pickering and Repacholi Discussion When presented with a set of musical instruments and no musicians, Australian children as young as 5 years of age displayed gender-typed preferences. The most popular choice among boys was the drum, whereas for girls it was the violin. Adults rate the drum as most masculine and the violin as the second most feminine among this set of eight instruments (Abeles & Porter, 1978; Delzell & Leppla, 1992). Therefore, in this study, children were not only selecting gender-appropriate instruments, but they also tended to prefer those at the extreme end of the masculine feminine continuum. Gender-typing was less extreme when children were asked to name the instruments that they actually played. This is not surprising given that young children may learn to play a particular instrument not because they want to, but as a result of factors such as parental pressure, their music teacher s advice, or the instruments that are readily available at home/school. Although previous research has indicated that children in third grade and beyond display gender-typed musical instrument preferences, the findings have been less clear-cut with younger children. Moreover, there has been some suggestion that kindergarten children generally prefer masculinetyped instruments. This was not apparent in the current study, and methodological differences may account for these conflicting results. The current findings suggest that, at least for younger children, the procedures employed in Study 1 provide a more sensitive measure of gender-typed instrument preferences. Although not statistically significant, it is noteworthy that about half of the fourth-grade control girls selected a masculine instrument. This trend is consistent with previous research (e.g., Katz & Boswell, 1986) demonstrating that girls become increasingly flexible during middle childhood. While there is less social pressure for girls to engage in gender-appropriate activities, this flexibility may also be due to a growing awareness that males have greater status and power (Serbin, Powlishta, & Gulko, 1993). Replication of the study with a larger sample size is required to confirm the existence of this Age Gender interaction. The main analysis revealed that children in the counter-stereotyped condition were less likely to select a gender-typed instrument than those in the control and stereotyped conditions. Thus, a brief exposure to musicians playing gender-inconsistent instruments appears to be sufficient to modify, at least in the short term, children s instrument preferences. Kindergarten and fourth-grade children were equally receptive to the counter-examples, but more detailed analysis revealed that boys were less influenced by the manipulation than girls. This latter finding was not unexpected, given that boys experience stronger social pressure to engage in gender-stereotyped

11 Gender-Typed Instrument Preferences 633 activities than girls and receive more negative feedback when they perform cross-gender activities (Fagot & Hagan, 1991; Martin, 1990). One further issue to consider here is whether children s prior experience with playing the instruments had any impact on their responsiveness to the counter-examples and their instrument preferences in general. Only a small number of children reported that they played any of the instruments that were presented in the study. However, regardless of the videotape condition, these children rarely selected the instruments that they already played, instead, they appeared to be more interested in having an opportunity to play one of the other, more novel instruments. Despite having fewer instruments to choose from (i.e., 7 instead of 8), this subset of children still appeared to be influenced by the instrument stereotypes and/or musician gender. Thus, to minimize the effects of experience, it is important to provide a variety of musical instruments, rather than just one masculine- and one feminine-typed example. Interestingly, exposure to musicians playing gender-consistent instruments did not increase the rate of gender-typed responding. Instead, collapsing across age and gender, the proportion of gender-typed responses was virtually identical in the control and stereotyped conditions. Thus, once children have acquired gender-typed instrument preferences, musician gender may only be salient when it conflicts with such preferences and/or children s knowledge about instrument stereotypes. The low rate of gender-typed responding for kindergarten girls in the stereotyped, relative to the control condition, is difficult to reconcile with such an account. Further research is therefore needed to determine whether this anomaly is both replicable and statistically significant. Although the counter-examples were successful in modifying girls instrument choices in particular, the mechanism underlying this effect remains to be identified. Is it merely the case that gender-consistent instruments are made aversive by pairing them with other-sex musicians (i.e., rejection of other-sex models)? Are children now accepting the gender-inconsistent instruments because they have been played by same-sex musicians (i.e., attraction to same-sex models)? Or, is it a combination of the two? In this study, the data can be explained equally well by either or both of these processes, and it is impossible to tease apart their individual contribution. STUDY 2 This second study was conducted (a) to determine whether counterexamples are effective when the presentation format is simplified and (b) as a preliminary exploration of how counter-examples might exert their effect.

12 634 Pickering and Repacholi In terms of the first aim, little is currently known about the range of conditions under which counter-examples influence children s preferences. For instance, can instrument preferences be manipulated using very simple stimuli like the line-drawings commonly featured in children s books? It is conceivable that counter-examples have little impact when presented in this format, partly because there is less information available about the appearance and other physical qualities of the instrument. More important, however, children might be more prone to treat this type of counter-example as fictional and unrelated to how people behave in the real world (e.g., girls don t really play the trumpet ). Regardless of whether a counter-stereotyping effect could be obtained with this presentation format, it was hypothesized that boys would be less likely to select gender-inconsistent instruments than girls in the counter-stereotyped condition. Moreover, based on the results of Study 1, it was predicted that the boys would display an overall preference for the masculine-typed instruments, despite their exposure to the counterexamples. Once again, both kindergarten and fourth-grade children were recruited to determine whether age would influence the efficacy of this type of counter-example. An additional ( same-sex ) condition was included to explore the basis of any counter-stereotyping effect. As previously noted, counter-stereotypes may be effective, wholly or partly, because they create an aversion to instruments played by other-sex musicians (i.e., the gender-consistent instruments). If so, then removal of these other-sex musicians should substantially reduce the efficacy of the counter-examples. When all the musicians are of the same sex as the child, gender-consistent instruments will remain attractive and a decrease should be observed in the amount of gender-inconsistent responding. Thus, it was predicted that children in the same-sex condition would display more gender-typed responding than those in the traditional counter-stereotyped condition. On the other hand, the same-sex condition also expands the range of options available to children by showing them that all of the instruments can be played by members of their own sex. Therefore, it was expected that gender-typed responses would be less prevalent in the same-sex than in the stereotyped condition. Method Participants A total of 304 children were recruited from public elementary schools. Of these, 139 children were in kindergarten (mean age = 5 years, 10 months; SD = 4.17 months, range = 5,1 6,8) and 69 of these children were female. The remaining 165 participants were in fourth grade (mean age = 9 years,

13 Gender-Typed Instrument Preferences months; SD = 4.6, range = 9,1 10,10) and 81 were female. As in Study 1, the majority of the children were Caucasian and the sample was drawn from suburbs that were predominantly middle-class. Materials Pictures of the eight instruments, without musicians, were obtained from a large color picture book. These pictures were presented to children in the same order as that used in Study 1. Four sets of black-ink line drawings were also prepared on large sheets of paper. These drawings were based on the color pictures and were laid out in the same order. The drawings were also to scale, enabling children to compare the size of the instruments. In the stereotyped condition, each instrument was depicted as being played by a musician whose gender was consistent with adult stereotypes. Unlike Study 1, the musicians depicted in these drawings were all children of elementary school age, rather than adolescents. The instrument musician pairings were reversed in the counter-stereotyped condition. For example, the flute was played by a boy and the drum was played by a girl. In the samesex condition, all of the instruments were played by a child of the same gender as the participant. Finally, in the control condition, the instruments were presented without musicians. Procedure For practical reasons, children were tested as a group in their school classrooms, in the presence of the class teacher (usually a female) and a female researcher. Because a complete set of the actual instruments could not be obtained for this study, the researcher simply showed children the eight color pictures. Each picture was accompanied by discussion questions to ensure that children could differentiate between the instruments. These questions were as follows: how is it played, what color is it, what material is it made of, how loud and how high can it be played. If no member of the class could answer a particular question correctly, the answer was provided by the researcher. After all eight instruments were presented, male and female children from each age-group were randomly assigned to one of the four drawing conditions. Because of experimenter error, almost twice as many children received the control drawings compared to each of the other three conditions. Children were asked to look carefully at all of the drawings on their individual sheet of paper and to circle the instrument that they would most like to play. The researcher emphasized that she wanted to find out what each child liked and that they should not be concerned about any other child s sheet of paper.

14 636 Pickering and Repacholi Results Instrument Preferences in the Control Group Instrument choice in the control group was initially examined to determine whether children displayed gender-typed instrument preferences when no musicians were presented in the drawings (see Table III). There was no significant difference in the proportion of control group children selecting a gender-consistent (.55) versus gender-inconsistent (.45) instrument, χ 2 (1, n = 112) = 1.29, p =.26. Interestingly, the drum was the most popular choice for control group girls (38%) as well as boys (47%). Hierarchical log-linear analysis was conducted to determine whether child age and/or gender influenced instrument choice in the control group. Using a backward elimination procedure, the best-fitting model contained the Gender Instrument Choice interaction χ 2 (4, n = 112) = 6.11, p =.19. Thus, collapsing across the two age-groups, more control group boys selected gender-consistent instruments than girls,.68 versus.42, χ 2 (1, n = 112) = 8.02, p <.01. This gender effect was largely due to the fourth-grade boys, the only group of control children to display a significant preference for gender-appropriate instruments, χ 2 (n = 32) = 10.12, p <.001. Instrument Preferences as a Function of Drawing Condition, Child Gender, and Age A second hierarchical log-linear analysis was conducted to examine whether children s instrument choices were influenced by the type of drawing they had received. The final model included the Age Gender Instrument Choice and Drawing Instrument Choice interactions, χ 2 (18, n = 304) = 12.68, p =.81. More detailed analysis of these two effects was conducted Table III. The Proportion (and Number) of Children Selecting Gender-Consistent Instruments as a Function of Drawing Group, Age, and Gender Kindergarten 4th grade Girls Boys Girls Boys (N = 15 18) (N = 15 18) (N = 15 18) (N = 15 18) No model.48 (11) a.56 (14) b.38 (12) c.78 (25) c Stereotype.73 (11).67 (10).88 (15).94 (17) Counter-stereotype.53 (8).73 (11).44 (7).75 (12) Same-sex.69 (11).80 (12).56 (9) 1.00 (18) a N = 23. b N = 25. c N = 32.

15 Gender-Typed Instrument Preferences 637 using a series of chi-squares, and the Bonferroni correction was applied to maintain α fw =.05. As before, all tests were two-tailed, except in those instances where the original hypothesis was directional. The Age Gender Instrument Choice interaction indicated that children s instrument preferences differed as a function of their age and gender. Thus, collapsing across the drawing conditions, fourth-grade boys were more gender-typed than fourth-grade girls,.86 versus.53, χ 2 (1, n = 165) = 20.78, p <.001. There was no difference, however, between the younger boys and girls,.67 versus.59, χ 2 (1, n = 139) = 0.89, p =.35. In addition, kindergarten boys were less gender-typed than fourth-grade boys, χ 2 (1, n = 154) = 7.50, p <.01, but there was no age-difference in girls preferences, χ 2 (1, n = 150) = 0.61, p =.44. Detailed analysis of the Drawing Instrument Choice effect revealed that there was less gender-typed responding in the counter-stereotyped than in the stereotyped condition,.61 versus.85, χ 2 (1, n = 127) = 6.40, p <.01, one-tailed. As predicted, children were more gender-typed in the same-sex than in the counter-stereotyped condition, although this difference was only marginally significant,.77 versus.61, χ 2 (1, n = 127) = 3.65, p =.03, onetailed. There was no significant difference in the proportion of gender-typed responses in the same-sex and stereotyped conditions, χ 2 (1, n = 130) = 0.42, p =.52. Moreover, it was only in these two conditions that an overall preference for the gender-consistent instruments was found ( ps <.001). In the stereotyped condition, the most frequently selected instrument for boys was the drum (49%), whereas for girls it was the flute (38%). These instruments were likewise the most popular choices among boys (drum, 45%) and girls (flute, 28%) in the same-sex condition. Log-linear analysis was also used to examine specific hypotheses about how age and gender would influence the efficacy of the counter-examples. Unlike the overall analysis, there was no age effect, and the best-fitting model for the counter-stereotyped condition only included the Gender Instrument Choice interaction, χ 2 (4, n = 65) = 0.36, p =.97. As predicted, boys were not only less likely to choose a gender-inconsistent instrument than girls, but a significant proportion (.74) preferred the masculine instruments, χ 2 (1, n = 31) = 7.26, p <.01. In this condition, the drum was the most frequently selected instrument for both girls (26%) and boys (39%). Discussion There was no overall preference for gender-typed instruments when musicians were absent in the drawings. Indeed, only about half of these control group children circled a gender-consistent instrument. As predicted, control group boys were more gender-typed than control group girls, but

16 638 Pickering and Repacholi only the fourth-grade boys displayed a significant preference for the masculine instruments. The absence of a gender-typed preference is somewhat surprising, given that children made their selections in a classroom context, where peer influence might be expected to increase the rate of stereotyped responding. However, given the control group findings in Study 1, which were based on a similar sample size, it is unlikely that children in the subsequent study had not yet acquired gender-typed instrument preferences. Instead, there were some fundamental differences between the two control groups that might have influenced children s instrument choices. For instance, children in both studies were asked to select the instrument that they would most like to play, but those in the second study were not given an opportunity to do so. Thus, children might be more flexible when hypothetical preferences are being measured. For example, they might believe that negative outcomes, such as criticism, are less likely to occur as a result of circling a gender-inappropriate instrument than if they were to actually play it. Why younger children would be more likely to subscribe to this belief than older children remains unclear. Moreover, such an explanation does not adequately account for why children were less flexible and more gendertyped in the same-sex condition. Alternatively, the gender stereotypes may have been less salient when the instruments were presented in drawings with no musicians. For example, a girl might reject the trombone because it looks difficult to play or the saxophone might be unappealing to her because it looks cumbersome. These sorts of gender-relevant cues would be less apparent in drawings relative to the videotaped and/or real instruments. However, some instruments may be rejected not on the basis of their physical appearance, but their acoustic properties (e.g., pitch, timbre, loudness), and these cues were absent in Study 2. For instance, a trumpet may not look cumbersome, but the maximum volume of brass instruments (and drums) is greater than that of reed (e.g., clarinet), wind (e.g., flute), and string (e.g., violin) instruments. It is also easier for musicians to play brass instruments and drums loud, in comparison to other instruments. In summary, when musicians are absent, a presentation format that highlights an instrument s gender-relevant features may be needed to direct children s attention to the associated stereotype. Although instrument selection was always preceded by a brief discussion about the eight instruments in Study 2, the older children should have been more familiar with any gender-relevant features than the younger agegroup. Despite this potential advantage, fourth-grade control girls still failed to display a preference for feminine instruments. This finding is congruent, however, with previous research (e.g., Katz & Boswell, 1986) indicating that girls often become more flexible during middle childhood, whereas boys stereotyped responding increases.

17 Gender-Typed Instrument Preferences 639 It has been argued here that there was a methodological basis for the lack of gender-typed preferences in the control group. This proposal is further supported by the responses of children in the same-sex condition. Each instrument was played by a musician, and all musicians were of the same gender as the child. In essence, this created another type of control group. Although only one gender was represented in these drawings, children now displayed a significant preference for gender-typed instruments. This finding is particularly striking given that fewer children were assigned to the samesex than to the control condition. However, in the same-sex condition, half of the musicians were depicted as playing gender-inappropriate instruments, and this conflicting information in particular may have increased the salience of the instrument stereotypes. One of the main aims of this second study was to determine whether counter-examples are effective when presented in line drawings. Despite the simplicity of the stimuli and the small sample sizes, children in the counterstereotyped condition were less gender-typed than those exposed to stereotyped musicians. Like their counterparts in Study 1, these children failed to display an overall preference for the gender-consistent instruments. Furthermore, as evident in other domains such as careers (Durkin & Hutchins, 1984), boys were far less receptive to the counter-examples than girls. So, how did this counter-stereotyped material exert its effect? Children may have selected gender-inconsistent instruments because they were attracted to the same-sex musicians, repulsed by the other-sex musicians or some combination of the two. The same-sex condition was included to explore whether the counter-stereotyping effect is reliant, at least in part, on children rejecting other-sex musicians. In both the same-sex and counterstereotyped conditions, children were presented with same-sex musicians playing gender-inconsistent instruments. However, in the same-sex condition, these counter-examples had little impact. Instead, children displayed an overall preference for the gender-consistent instruments and were no less gender-typed than those exposed to a complete set of stereotyped drawings. The efficacy of the counter-stereotyped condition was therefore due, in part, to the inclusion of another type of counter-example (i.e., genderconsistent instruments played by other-sex musicians). In this condition, children selected gender-inconsistent instruments not simply because they were attracted to same-sex musicians. It appears that their preferences were also based on a desire to avoid behaving like the other-sex musicians. Summary and Conclusions The control group data in Study 1 and the same-sex condition in Study 2 indicated that, by age 5, children have acquired gender-typed instrument

18 640 Pickering and Repacholi preferences. Moreover, as in other domains (e.g., toy preferences), boys tended to be more strongly stereotyped than girls. In contrast, control group children in Study 2 failed to display an overall preference for gender-typed instruments. This latter finding highlights the importance of how children s gender-typed instrument preferences are assessed. For instance, when the instruments are presented in line drawings without musicians, there may be insufficient cues available to direct children s attention to the associated gender stereotypes. It is also possible that some selection procedures (e.g., circling an instrument) produce higher rates of gender-inconsistent responding than others (e.g., playing an instrument) because the perceived risk is low. Therefore, to develop a simple but sensitive measure, researchers will need to more systematically explore how different selection procedures and presentation formats influence children s preferences. One of the main aims of this research was to determine whether children s gender-typed instrument preferences could be modified by presenting counter-stereotyped musicians. The analyses indicated that the counterexamples had an immediate impact on children s preferences, regardless of whether this material was presented in videotapes or line drawings. The effectiveness of the drawings was particularly impressive, not only because of their simplicity but also because children made their selection within a group context. On the other hand, it could be argued that this type of counterexample was only effective because it was combined with a relatively low-risk selection procedure. Children may feel more comfortable circling a drawing of a gender-inappropriate instrument than playing it. But the former behavior is clearly not without some potential risk, because boys and girls displayed gender-typed preferences in the same-sex and the stereotyped conditions. Thus, it is conceivable that this very simple type of counter-example would still be effective if children were instructed to play their preferred instrument. As to whether the counter-examples employed in each study only influenced instrument preferences or also had an impact on children s genderrelated beliefs remains to be investigated. Additional research is also required to determine the longevity of these counter-stereotyping effects. Various studies (e.g., Martin & Halverson, 1983; Stangor & Ruble, 1989) indicate that children have difficulty remembering counter-stereotyped information and may even distort such material (i.e., recall it as gender-stereotyped). Thus, the long-term efficacy of these types of interventions may depend on repeated and prolonged exposure to counter-examples. In both studies, boys were not only less receptive to the counterexamples than girls, but they also exhibited a significant preference for the masculine instruments. Such strong resistance by the boys complements counter-stereotyping studies in other domains, such as occupations and

19 Gender-Typed Instrument Preferences 641 domestic chores (Jeffery & Durkin, 1989). It is also in line with research indicating that boys experience more negative outcomes than girls for engaging in cross-sex activities (Martin, 1990). The perceived risk associated with playing, or even just circling, a gender-inappropriate instrument was probably much greater for the boys than for the girls. Thus, it may be the case that boys are only responsive to counter-examples when positive consequences for engaging in such behavior are presented to them. Furthermore, when a stereotyped child observes a solitary same-sex musician playing a gender-inconsistent instrument, it may quickly be dismissed as an exception to the rule. For example, research by Bussey and Perry (1982; Perry & Bussey, 1979) has indicated that children are more likely to engage in same-sex imitation when multiple models perform the same activity, rather than a single model. Thus, boys in particular could benefit from exposure to multiple examples of a counter-stereotyped behavior. Both kindergarten and fourth-grade children were included in each study to determine whether age influenced children s responses to the instrument counter-examples. It has been suggested that kindergarten children are generally less receptive to counter-stereotyped material than those in the middle childhood years (Jeffery & Durkin, 1989). One explanation for this age difference is that kindergarten children are cognitively immature and fail to understand that gender stereotypes are social conventions rather than morally right (Stoddart & Turiel, 1985). However, there was no evidence in either study that kindergarten children were more resistant to the instrument counter-examples than the older age-group. As noted earlier, previous attempts to modify kindergarten children s gender-typed preferences and beliefs have produced mixed results. Whether this age-group is perhaps more accepting of cross-gender behavior in some domains (e.g., musical instruments) than others (e.g., occupations) remains to be investigated. Moreover, the inclusion of preschoolers in this type of study might reveal stronger evidence for age-related changes in children s responsiveness to counter-stereotyped material. The second study also explored the processes that underlie the counterstereotyping effect. In general, the findings suggested that children s instrument choices were motivated, at least in part, by a desire to avoid behaving like the other-sex musicians. It was not simply the case that children were attracted to the same-sex musicians. Girls, for example, were willing to select a masculine instrument if it was played by a female musician, but only when the feminine instruments were played by males. Thus, when attempting to modify children s gender-typed instrument preferences, it may not always be sufficient to present positive role models (i.e., musicians of the same-sex as the child playing gender-inconsistent instruments). To enhance the counter-stereotyping effect, children may also need to be exposed to

20 642 Pickering and Repacholi counter-examples for the gender-consistent instruments. But in doing so, we run the risk of creating a new set of stereotypes, when the goal should be to encourage children to view these instruments as gender-neutral. Thus, an important avenue for future counter-stereotyping research is to determine whether children s preferences can be successfully modified when they are exposed to both males and females playing each instrument. Ultimately, the message that needs to be conveyed to children is that anyone can play these instruments. ACKNOWLEDGMENT We thank the children and schools for participating in this research. REFERENCES Abeles, H. F., & Porter, S. Y. (1978). The sex-stereotyping of musical instruments. Journal of Research in Music Education, 26, Alpert, J. L. (1980). The effect of disc jockey, peer, and music teacher approval of music on music selection and preference. Journal of Research in Music Education, 30, Archer, J. (1984). Gender roles as developmental pathways. British Journal of Social Psychology, 23, Ashton, E. (1983). Measures of play behavior: The influence of sex-role stereotyped children s books. Sex Roles, 9, Australian Bureau of Statistics. (1998). Socio-economic indexes for areas: Census Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Bruce, R., & Kemp, A. (1993). Sex-stereotyping in children s preferences for musical instruments. British Journal of Music Education, 10, Bussey, K., & Perry, D. G. (1982). Same-sex imitation: The avoidance of cross-sex models or the acceptance of same-sex models? Sex Roles, 8, Byo, J. (1991). An assessment of musical instrument preferences of third-grade children. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 110, Crowther, R. D., & Durkin, K. (1982). Sex and age related differences in the musical behaviour, interests and attitudes towards music of 232 secondary school students. Educational Studies, 8, Delzell, J. K., & Leppla, D. A. (1992). Gender associations of musical instruments and preferences of fourth grade students for selected instruments. Journal of Research in Music Education, 40, Dorow, L. G. (1977). The effect of teacher approval/disapproval ratios on student music selection behavior and concert attentiveness. Journal of Research in Music Education, 25, Durkin, K. (1985). Television and sex-role acquisition: 3. Counter-stereotyping. British Journal of Social Psychology, 24, Durkin, K., & Hutchins, G. (1984). Challenging traditional sex role in careers education broadcasts: The reactions of young secondary school pupils. Journal of Educational Television, 10, Etaugh, C., & Liss, M. B. (1992). Home, school, and playroom: Training grounds for adult gender roles. Sex Roles, 26, Fagot, B. I., & Hagan, R. (1991). Observations of parent reactions to sex-stereotyped behaviors: Age and sex effects. Child Development, 62,