UC Santa Cruz

This study investigated the cognitive demand in the questions directed to Mexican-descent children by their mothers and fathers during play with three sets of toys. Nineteen boys and 18 girls were videotaped separately with each parent while playing with a feminine-stereotyped toy set (toy foods and plates) and a masculine-stereotyped toy set (toy track and cars). Both mothers and fathers asked more questions overall during the feminine-stereotyped play setting than during the masculine-stereotyped setting. Mothers asked proportionally more conceptual questions than did fathers. Other analyses revealed that child gender, language spoken, and education were significant predictors of mothers' question asking in either the feminine-or the masculine-stereotyped play setting. Attitudes toward gender equality predicted fathers' use of questions during the feminine-stereotyped setting. The findings are interpreted in relation to ecological and sociocultural models of parenting, gender, and child gender development.