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Cross-Cultural Research
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Social Structure and Sex-Role Choices among Children in Four Cultures

Robert L. Munroe

Pitzer College

In a four-culture study, children, ages 3 to 9, were tested concerning proclivities toward same-sex or different-sex roles. Of the four cultures, two (Logoli of Kenya and Newars of Nepal) were structured patricentrically (virilocal residence, patrilineal descent, strong sex stereotypes). The other two cultures (Black Carib of Belize and American Samoans) were not structured patricentrically (neolocal or bilocal residence, etc.). It was predicted that because of salient gender differentiation, Logoli and Newar children would more frequently choose same-sex roles (father, mother, etc.) and culturally specified gender-appropriate tasks than would Black Carib and Samoan children. The results were opposite in direction to the predicted outcomes in 31 of 32 instances. Possible reasons for these findings, including Vygotskian accounts of development, are offered in the discussion. A positive aspect of the study is the clear counter-instance it provides to Barber’s charge that behavioral scientists tend to find what they are looking for.

Key Words: sex roles • child development • patricentricity • social structure • constructivism

Cross-Cultural Research, Vol. 38, No. 4, 387-406 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/1069397104267482
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