Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Adult Student Perceptions Of Traditionally Sex-Typed Toys, Shelly Lynn Jackson

Dissertations and Theses

studies have examined children's toy preferences as they relate to sex-role development. However, studies have failed to examine the dimensions of the toys themselves. Because adults purchase the majority of toys children receive, this study sought to determine adult student perceptions of children's traditionally sex-typed toys. Eighty-one participants rated ten selected toys. Multidimensional scaling analysis revealed five underlying dimensions. The five dimensions included Productive Play, Sociability, Structure, Gender, and Age. It was discovered that the Gender dimension was less salient than both the Productive Play and Sociability dimensions. The dimensions pertaining to each toy are discussed.