Eine interessante Metastudie zu einem alten Thema: Spielzeugvorlieben
It is generally recognized that there are gender-related differences in children’s toy preferences. However, the magnitude of these differences has not been firmly established. Furthermore, not all studies of gender-related toy preferences find significant gender differences. These inconsistent findings could result from using different toys or methods to measure toy preferences or from studying children of different ages. Our systematic review and meta-analysis combined 113 effect sizes from 75 studies to estimate the magnitude of gender-related differences in toy preferences. We also assessed the impact of using different toys or methods to assess these differences, as well as the effect of age on gender-related toy preferences. Boys preferred boy-related toys more than girls did, and girls preferred girl-related toys more than boys did. These differences were large (d ≥ 1.60). Girls also preferred toys that researchers classified as neutral more than boys did (d = 0.29). Preferences for gender-typical over gender-atypical toys were also large and significant (d ≥ 1.20), and girls and boys showed gender-related differences of similar magnitude. When only dolls and vehicles were considered, within-sex differences were even larger and of comparable size for boys and girls. Researchers sometimes misclassified toys, perhaps contributing to an apparent gender difference in preference for neutral toys. Forced choice methods produced larger gender-related differences than other methods, and gender-related differences increased with age.
Es zeigen sich also sehr große Unterschiede zwischen den Geschlechtern und gerade auch bei den Präferenzen zwischen für das Geschlecht typischen und untypischen Spielzeug.
Aus den Ergebnissen:
Hier sieht man, dass einige Mädchen durchaus auch Jungssachen mögen und umgekehrt, dass aber bei bestimmten Spielzeug sehr deutliche Präferenzen bestehen.
und noch eine Grafik:
Und aus der Schlussfolgerung:
Meta-analyses of gender-related differences in children’s toy preferences found that gender differences and gender-specific effects on children’s toy preferences are large and reliable, and that some toys that researchers have classified as neutral may actually be preferred by girls. Also, the meta-analytic results suggest that girls and boys show gender-related differences of similar magnitude, both for broad groups of toys and for dolls and vehicles, specifically. In addition, forced choice methods show larger gender-related differences than other methods, and gender-related differences increase with age, but have not changed in size over historical time. Few prior studies have reported data for individual toys or for varied cultures, ethnicities, or socioeconomic groups. Future research could usefully report how toys were chosen for study and classified into gender categories and report descriptive statistics for the individual toys used. Useful future studies might analyze children’s gender-related toy preferences in different cultures, ethnicities, and socioeconomic groups.
Das verschiedene Studienarten verschieden große Unterschiede ergeben ist durchaus interessant. Muss da Kind zwischen bestimmten Spielzeugen wählen, dann zeigt sich der Unterschied am deutlichsten, vermutlich, weil es dann eben das für es attraktivere Spielzeug wählt, während es in sonstigen Situationen eben auch andere Sachen ausprobiert, weil er nicht wählen muss.
Die Studie sagt natürlich noch nichts über die Ursachen aus.
Allerdings ist eine der Forscherinnen Melissa Heines, die gerade auch auf dem Gebiet der CAH-Mädchen forscht.
Eine Vielzahl von Studien legt nahe, dass der Unterschied biologische Grundlagen hat:
Alles Evolution 