This longitudinal research program has been assessing the development of traditional and non-traditional patterns of sexual identity in males and females. One sample consists of 66 boys, initially evaluated at age 4-11, when they preferred the clothes, toys, companionship and games of girls, role-played as females, and had stated their wish to be female. The second sample consists of 56 boys matched with the first sample on age, sibling sequence, and parental marital and socio-economic status. The latter boys were not selected on parameters of sex-typed behaviors. Parents in both samples were systematically evaluated along with their sons. The boys and their parents have been periodically reevaluated into the boys' mid-adolescence or young adulthood. Follow-up contact with these two groups has been completed. The third sample consists of 50 girls, initially evaluated at age 4-12, when they preferred the toys, companionship and activities of boys, frequently role-played as males, avoided traditionally feminine clothes, and, for the majority, had a preference for being male. The fourth sample consists of 49 girls demographically matched with the third sample. The behavior of this sample was traditionally sex-typed when initially evaluated. The children and parents in the two samples of girls are being periodically reevaluated. Most will have entered adolescence or early adulthood by the end of the proposed study period. The principal aims for this application are: 1) continue to follow the psychosexual and psychosocial development of the female samples; 2) conduct variable reduction on parental and child behavioral data from initial evaluation of the female samples; 3) complete analysis of child behavioral features and family-child interactions to describe diverse patterns of early female psychosocial development; 4) preliminary comparison of follow-up data evaluating personality adjustment, peer group integration, dating patterns, self-esteem, and adult life goals for the two groups of females; and 5) plan statistical analyses incorporating initial and follow-up evaluation data into a coherent description of the diverse patterns of psychosexual development during childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
| Green, R; Roberts, C W; Williams, K et al. (1987) Specific cross-gender behaviour in boyhood and later homosexual orientation. Br J Psychiatry 151:84-8 |
| Williams, K; Goodman, M; Green, R (1985) Parent-child factors in gender role socialization in girls. J Am Acad Child Psychiatry 24:720-31 |
| Green, R (1985) Gender identity in childhood and later sexual orientation: follow-up of 78 males. Am J Psychiatry 142:339-41 |
