Abstract
This study extended research on gender differences in creative stories written by individuals to creative stories written in collaboration with a same- or an other-gender peer partner. Participants were 104 preadolescent sixth graders, mostly White and middle class. Same- and other-gender peer partners (18 girl, 16 boy, and 17 mixed-gender dyads) worked together for 4 weeks to write creative stories based on “mystery pictures.” Story ideas were coded into one of seven categories (i.e., overt aggression, verbal aggression, relational aggression, prosocial behavior, negative emotion, positive emotion, and neutral/other). Boy dyads' stories included a greater proportion of overtly aggressive story ideas and a lesser proportion of prosocial story ideas than did girl dyads' stories. Mixed-gender dyads' stories contained a greater proportion of prosocial ideas than did boy dyads' stories. Findings are discussed in light of a social-contextual approach to gender differences and similarities.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Anderson, K. J., & Leaper, C. (1998). Emotion talk between same-and mixed-gender friends. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 17, 419–448.
Bem, S. L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 155–162.
Björkqvist, K. (1994). Sex differences in physical, verbal, and indirect aggression: A review of recent research. Sex Roles, 30, 177–188.
Björkqvist, K., Lagerspetz, K. M. J., & Kaukiainen, A. (1992). Do girls manipulate and boys fight? Developmental trends in regard to direct and indirect aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 18, 117–127.
Block, J. H. (1983). Differential premises arising from differential socialization of the sexes: Some conjectures. Child Development, 54, 1335–1354.
Boehnke, K., Silbereisen, R. K., Eisenberg, N., Reykowski, J., & Palmonari, A. (1989). Developmental pattern of prosocial motivation: A cross-national study. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 20, 219–243.
Cairns, R. B., Cairns, B. D., Neckerman, H. J., Ferguson, L. L., & Gariepy, J. (1989). Growth and aggression: 1. Childhood to early adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 25, 320–333.
Carpenter, C. J., & Huston-Stein, A. (1980). Activity structure and sex-typed behavior in preschool children. Child Development, 51, 862–872.
Carter, D. B. (1987). The roles of peers in sex-role socialization. In D. B. Carter (Ed.), Current conceptions of sex roles and sex typing: Theory and research (pp. 101–121). New York: Praeger.
Cherry-Wilkinson, L., Lindow, J., & Chiang, C. (1985). Sex differences and sex segregation in students' small-group communication. In L. Cherry-Wilkinson & C. B. Marret (Eds.), Gender influences in classroom interaction (pp. 185–207). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
Cohen, J. (1960). A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 55, 151–162.
Crick, N. R. (1996). The role of overt aggression, relational aggression, and prosocial behavior in the prediction of children's future social adjustment. Child Development, 67, 2317–2327.
Crick, N. R., Casas, J. F., & Mosher, M. (1997). Relational and overt aggression in preschool. Developmental Psychology, 33, 579–588.
Crick, N. R., & Grotpeter, J. K. (1995). Relational aggression, gender, and social-psychological adjustment. Child Development, 66, 710–722.
Deaux, K., & Major, B. (1987). Putting gender into context: An interactive model of genderrelated behavior. Psychological Review, 94, 369–389.
DiPietro, J. A. (1981). Rough and tumble play: A function of gender. Developmental Psychology, 17, 50–58.
Eagly, A. H., & Crowley, M. (1986). Gender and helping behavior: A meta-analytic review of the social psychological literature. Psychological Bulletin, 100, 283–308.
Eisenberg, N., & Fabes, R. A. (1998). In W. Damon & N. Eisenberg (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology, Vol. 3: Social, emotional, and personality development (5th ed., pp. 701–778). New York: Wiley.
Eisenberg, N., Martin, C. L., & Fabes, R. A. (1996). Gender development and gender effects. In D. C. Berliner & R. C. Calfee (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology (pp. 358–396). New York: Prentice-Hall.
Fabes, R. A., & Martin, C. L. (1991). Gender and age stereotypes of emotionality. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 532–540.
Goodwin, M. H. (1980). Directive-response speech sequences in girls' and boys' task activities. In S. McConnel-Ginnet, R. Borker, & N. Turman (Eds.), Women and language in literature and society (pp. 157–173). New York: Praeger.
Gould, O. N., & Dixon, R. A. (1993). How we spent our vacation: Collaborative storytelling by young and old adults. Psychology and Aging, 8, 10–17.
Gray-Schlegel, M. A., & Gray-Schlegel, T. (1995). An investigation of gender stereotypes as revealed through children's creative writing. Reading Research and Instruction, 35, 160–169.
Grotpeter, J. K., & Crick, N. R. (1996). Relational aggression, overt aggression, and friendship. Child Development, 67, 2328–2338.
Hyde, J. S., & Linn, M. C. (1988). Gender differences in verbal ability: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 104, 53–69.
Johnson, R. T., Johnson, D. W., Scott, L. E., & Ramolae, B. A. (1985). Effects of single-sex and mixed-sex cooperative interaction on science achievement and attitudes and crosshandicap and cross-sex relationships. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 22, 207–220.
Kelly, J. R., & Huston-Comeaux, S. L. (1999). Gender-emotion stereotypes are context specific. Sex Roles, 40, 107–120.
Lagerspetz, K. M. J., Björkqvist, K., & Peltonen, T. (1988). Is indirect aggression typical of females? Gender differences in aggressiveness in 11- 12-year-old children. Aggressive Behavior, 14, 403–414.
Leaper, C. (1991). Influence and involvement in children's discourse: Age, gender, and partner effects. Child Development, 62, 797–811.
Leaper, C. (1994). Exploring the consequences of gender segregation on social relationships. In W. Damon & C. Leaper (Eds.), Childhood gender segregation: Causes and consequences (pp. 67–86). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Leaper, C., Anderson, K. J., & Sanders, P. (1998). Moderators of gender effects on parents' talk to their children: A meta-analysis. Developmental Psychology, 34, 3–27.
Levy, G. D., & Fivush, R. (1993). Scripts and gender: A new approach for examining gender role development. Developmental Review, 13, 126–146.
Maccoby, E. E. (1990). Gender and relationships: A developmental account. American Psychologist, 45, 513–520.
Maccoby, E. E. (1998). The two sexes: Growing up apart coming together. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Maccoby, E. E., & Jacklin, C. N. (1974). The psychology of sex differences. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Maltz, D. N., & Borker, R. A. (1982). A cultural approach to male- female miscommunication. In J. Gumperz (Ed.), Language and social identity (pp. 196–216). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McClosky, L. A. (1987). Gender and conversation: Mixing and matching styles. In D. B. Carter (Ed.), Current conceptions of sex roles and sex typing: Theory and research (pp. 139–153). New York: Praeger.
Miller, P. M., Danaher, D. L., & Forbes, D. (1986). Sex-related strategies for coping with interpersonal conflict in children aged five and seven. Developmental Psychology, 22, 543–548.
Nelson-LeGall, S., & DeCooke, P. (1987). Same-sex and cross-sex help exchanges in the classroom. Journal of Educational Psychology, 79, 67–71.
Österman, K., Björkqvist, K., Lagerspetz, K. M. J., Kaukiainen, A., Huesmann, L. R., & Frącek, A. (1994). Peer and self-estimated aggression and victimization in 8-year old children from five ethnic groups. Aggressive Behavior, 20, 411–428.
Presbury, J. H., Benson, A. J., Fitch, J. M., & Torrance, E. P. (1991). What can children's creative writing tell as about their cognitive development? Journal of Creative Behavior, 25, 244–249.
Przetacznik, G. M. (1989). Children's communicative skills expressed in story telling. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 20, 103–111.
Rajecki, D. W., McTavish, D. G., Rasmussen, J. L., Schreuders, M., Byers, D. C., & Jessup, K. S. (1994). Violence, conflict, trickery, and other story themes in tv ads for food for children. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24, 1685–1700.
Romatowski, J. A., & Trepanier-Street, M. L. (1987). Gender perceptions: An analysis of children's creative writing. Contemporary Education, 59, 17–19.
Ruble, D. N., & Martin, C. L., (1998). Gender development. In W. Damon & N. Eisenberg (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology, Vol. 3: Social, emotional, and personality development (5th ed., pp. 933–1016). New York: Wiley.
Sheldon, A. (1990). Pickle fights: Gendered talk in preschool disputes. Discourse Processes, 13, 5–31.
Sroufe, L. A., Bennett, C., Englund, M., Urban, J., & Shulman, S. (1993). The significance of gender boundaries in preadolescence: Contemporary correlates and antecedents of boundary violation and maintenance. Child Development, 64, 455–466.
Strough, J., & Berg, C. A. (2000). Goals as a mediator of gender differences in high-affiliation dyadic conversations. Developmental Psychology, 36, 117–125.
Strough, J., & Cheng, S. (1999). Dyad gender and friendship differences in shared goals for mutual-participation on a collaborative task. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Thorne, B. (1986). Girls and boys together but mostly apart: Gender arrangements in elementary schools. In W. W. Hartup & Z. Rubin (Eds.), Relationships and development (pp. 167–184). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Trepanier, M. L., & Romatowski, J. A. (1985). Attributes and roles assigned to characters in children's writing: Sex differences and sex-role perceptions. Sex Roles, 13, 263–272.
Trepanier-Street, M., & Romatowski, J. A. (1986). Sex age differences in children's creative writing. Journal of Humanistic Education and Development, 25, 18–27.
Trepanier-Street, M., & Romatowski, J. A. (1991). Achieving sex equity goals: Implications from creative writing research. Educational Horizons, 34–40.
Tuck, D. L., Bayliss, V. A., & Bell, M. L. (1985). Analysis of sex stereotyping in characters created by young authors. Journal of Educational Research, 78, 248–252.
Van Allsburg, C. (1984). The mysteries of Harris Burdick. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Warren, W. H., Nicholas, D. W., & Trabasso, T. (1979). Event chains and inferences in understanding narratives. In R. O. Freedle (Ed.), New directions in discourse processing (pp. 23–52). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Zahn-Waxler, C., Friedman, R. J., Cole, P. M., Mizuta, I., & Hiruma, N. (1996). Japanese and United States preschool children's responses to conflict and distress. Child Development, 67, 2462–2477.
Zarbatany, L., Hartmann, D. P., Gelfand, D. M., & Vinciguerra, P. (1985). Gender differences in altruistic reputation: Are they artifactual? Developmental Psychology, 21, 97–101.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Strough, J., Diriwächter, R. Dyad Gender Differences in Preadolescents' Creative Stories. Sex Roles 43, 43–60 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007087628278
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007087628278