relations of gender identity to preadolescents' adjustment and friendship patterns

The purpose of this study was twofold: first, this research was conducted in order to replicate and extend Egan and Perry's (2001) work linking four components of gender identity to adjustment; second, this research was intended to extend knowledge of the relation between gender identity and affiliational patterns in the peer group. Measures of gender identity were (a) feelings of gender typicality, (b) contentment with one's gender assignment, (c) felt pressure for gender conformity, and (d) intergroup bias (feeling that one's own sex is superior to the other). Measures of adjustment included self-esteem, peer rejection, victimization by peers, and specific social behaviors. Participants were 206 children in Grades 3 through 8. Low gender typicality, low gender contentedness, and high felt pressure were all associated with maladjustment. Furthermore, children were especially likely to be at risk for poor adjustment when two of these factors occurred together (e.g., low gender typicality in combination with high felt pressure, low gender contentedness in combination with high felt pressure, or low gender typicality in combination with low gender contentedness). Intergroup bias was unrelated to adjustment. Analyses relating gender identity to characteristics of reciprocated friends and disliked peers indicated that children tend to choose friends with similar clusters of gender identity-linked characteristics and avoid children who do not possess those characteristics. Interpretations and directions for future research are offered.