Abstract
The interaction between adults and preschool children was observed while children engaged in a group arts-and-crafts activity. Subjects were 16 male and 16 female children and 2 male and 2 female adults. The percentage of times the child's satisfactory task behavior was followed by an adult response was used as the measure to determine whether adults respond differently to boys and girls, whether this is related to different patterns of behavior displayed by boys and girls, and whether this differential response varies with the sex of the adult. There was a tendency for boys to receive more attention from adults than girls. Female adults showed a greater differential response, giving proportionately more attention to boys than did male adults. The amount of attention a child received was not correlated, however, with amount of attention-seeking behavior displayed by the child during the task. Implications for the role of male adults in the early school environment are suggested.
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