Gender beliefs father bigger difference on education
Professor Mesman's research shows that the father's gender beliefs makes a bigger difference on the education than the mother's. The website The Good Men Project reports on it. The study is part of the long term study Boys will be boys?-programme that focuses on children's social and emotional development in the first four years of their lives.
The research has found that the way fathers treat their sons and daughters seems to have more influence on how aggressive the children are than mothers’ treatment of boys and girls. Additionally the way fathers treat their boys and girls differently is more related to their gender beliefs, whereas mothers are more likely to treat their boys and girls differently irrespective of their gender beliefs.
Long term research
The study is part of the long-term Boys will be boys? program focusing on the social and emotional development of children in the first four years of their lives. Two-parent families with two children aged around 12 months and 2.5-3.5 were invited to participate in the study for three years; 299 families are participating. The research reported here looks at the results from the first two years – at the start and one year later.
Read more about it on the The Good Men Project website.
Judi Mesman's main research theme concerns the role of parent and child gender, culture, and socioeconomic factors in shaping parent-child interactions and child developmental pathways, with special emphasis on observational research on sensitive parenting. Judi Mesman is dean of Leiden University College The Hague (LUC) and professor of the interdisciplinary study of societal challenges.