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Wild that that is the click-bait headline they went with when the conclusion in the actual study is: "after controlling for other moderators, our models suggest
by roguecoder 2y ago
Wild that that is the click-bait headline they went with when the conclusion in the actual study is:
"after controlling for other moderators, our models suggest that parents report they slightly favor daughters over sons (a small effect). Children report no differences." and "Past meta-analytic data show that girls are significantly higher in effortful control, on average, than boys (Else-Quest et al., 2006)."
But this paper seems determined to ignore that granting freedom to different children will have different results. It says:
"Conscientious and agreeable children also received more favored treatment. For conscientious children, favoritism was strongest when based on differences in conflict (i.e., more conscientious children had relatively less conflict with their parents)."
That seems less like "favoritism" and more like "the natural consequence of acting in a trustworthy manner".
The paper addresses that criticism by claiming, without citation: "Whether differential control is developmentally appropriate or not, siblings may not see it as fair".
We can talk about more-effective mechanisms to support good behavior, but the idea that every child should be treated the same regardless of how trustworthy they are seems patently ridiculous. Actions have consequences, even for children.
"Why are boys not being taught to be conscientious?" seems like a more fruitful question than "how can we make parents be meaner to girls?"
- dauertewigkeit 2y agoIsn't conscientiousness a biologically driven psychological trait? I always assumed that to be the case. I don't think you can train conscientiousness or any other psychological trait for that matter. But I am no expert and would be delighted to be convinced otherwise.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- watwut 2y agoThat still does not imply it is somehow favoritism if parents have less conflicts with a kid that does not bully siblings, does homework and only needs to be asked to do chores to actually so them. I know it is somewhat caricature. But "my brother is lazier and parents never have him do any chores so that there is less conflict" is not fairness despite there being no conflict. Less conscientious kid means there have to be more conflict.
- subjectsigma 2y agoThank you, this is why whenever I see a surprising headline I scan the top comment before reading the article. Is there a chance that boys and girls are favored in different ways and that’s just not being captured correctly? I know my parents treated me (male) and my sisters very differently but it’s hard to say if anyone was “favored”…
- piltdownman 2y ago'Why don't we teach parents proper pedagogy' seems like a more moral position than 'Lets continue treating boys as defective girls'. https://www.johnlocke.org/boys-are-treated-like-defective-girls/ https://www.johnlocke.org/boys-are-treated-like-defective-gi... https://www.foundationfather.com/p/boys-are-not-defective-girls https://www.foundationfather.com/p/boys-are-not-defective-gi...
- bitshiftfaced 2y agoI was following you until the end. > "Why are boys not being taught to be conscientious?" seems like a more fruitful question than "how can we make parents be meaner to girls?" Woah now, hang on just a bit. I think you made a bit of a leap there. Let's recall that the authors reported a "slight" preference and a "small" effect. One thing that could explain this is simply how girls mature at a faster rate in childhood and adolescence. After all, the authors report, "Results showed that when favoritism was based on autonomy and control, parents tended to favor older siblings." If you control for age, then I'd expect sex-related differences in maturity to become more pronounced.