CHILDRENS REACTIONS TO TEXTBOOK STORIES IN WHICH FEMALES ARE PORTRAYED IN TRADITIONALLY MALE ROLES

Assessed the effects of portraying a female main character in a traditionally male role on male and female children's sex role perceptions and story evaluations. 67 female and 44 male 3rd and 4th graders read a series of stories in which either the majority of main characters were female, or the majority of main characters were male, or male and female main characters were equally represented. Results indicate that (a) exposure to female main characters in nontraditional role activities increased Ss' perceptions of the number of girls who could engage in these same activities but did not affect perceptions of sex role activities not presented in the stories, and (b) story evaluations did not vary as a function of sex of the main character. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1979 American Psychological Association.