Children's views on women track parents' sexism, 175-family study finds
Representative image: 2081671 / Pixabay
A study of 175 New Zealand families in the journal Sex Roles, reported on October 17, 2026, links 8-year-olds' views of women to their parents' sexist attitudes.
What Happened
A study published in the journal Sex Roles, and reported on October 17, 2026, has found that the way 8-year-old children think about women closely follows their parents' own sexist attitudes, with fathers and mothers linked to different kinds of bias. The researchers, from a team that includes psychologists working in Auckland, New Zealand, studied 175 families, each made up of a mother, a father and their 8-year-old child.
Key Facts
- The paper is titled "Intergenerational Links Between Parents' and Children's Hostile and Benevolent Sexism" and appears in Sex Roles, a peer-reviewed journal.
- The sample was 175 family groups of a mother, a father and an 8-year-old child; 51% of the children were girls and 49% boys.
- Fathers' hostile sexism, meaning openly negative views of women, predicted their children's agreement with hostile statements about women, for both sons and daughters.
- Mothers' benevolent sexism, meaning views that seem kind but treat women as weaker and in need of protection, predicted their children's benevolent attitudes, again for both sons and daughters.
- Mothers' hostile sexism was linked to sons' hostile attitudes but not daughters'; fathers' benevolent sexism was not linked to children's benevolent attitudes.
- The links held after the researchers accounted for factors such as the child's age and understanding of others' minds, and the parents' education, jobs and which parent was the main caregiver.
- All families were mother-father couples in New Zealand, and the study shows association, not cause and effect.
Why It Matters
Psychologists describe sexism as having two faces. Hostile sexism is the open kind: the belief that women are trying to gain power over men, or are too easily offended. Benevolent sexism sounds warmer: women are pure, gentle and must be protected and provided for. It can feel like respect, but it also carries the message that women are less capable. This framework is known as ambivalent sexism.
The new study asks where children pick up these ideas. By measuring the attitudes of both parents and the child in the same family, the researchers could see which parent's views lined up with which of the child's views. The pattern they found was split along the two kinds of sexism: fathers' openly negative views travelled with the child's openly negative views, and mothers' protective-but-limiting views travelled with the child's protective-but-limiting views. That held whether the child was a boy or a girl.
The authors suggest the split may reflect the different roles parents often play at home. In write-ups of the paper, fathers who agree with hostile sexism are described as more likely to see themselves as the authority in the family, which may show up in more controlling parenting. Mothers, who in many families do more of the daily care, may pass on benevolent ideas through ordinary routines and the way they talk about who does what.
For Indian families, the study is not a direct guide: it covers one country and only two-parent, mother-father households, and the researchers did not test cause and effect. But the question it raises is familiar in homes where daughters are told to be careful and sons are told to be strong. The finding that a gentle-sounding message can shape a child's view of women as much as a harsh one is a useful prompt for parents to listen to what they say, and to what their children repeat.
| Parent's attitude | Linked child attitude |
|---|---|
| Father's hostile sexism | Child's hostile attitudes (sons and daughters) |
| Mother's benevolent sexism | Child's benevolent attitudes (sons and daughters) |
| Mother's hostile sexism | Sons' hostile attitudes only |
| Father's benevolent sexism | No link found |
Impact
Short-term: The study adds evidence to a growing body of research that children absorb attitudes about gender at home by around age eight, earlier than many parents assume.
Long-term: Because the families were measured at one point in time, follow-up work tracking the same children over years would be needed to show whether parents' attitudes actually cause children's views, and whether the pattern holds in other cultures and family types, including single-parent and joint families.
Who is affected: Parents and caregivers, teachers of primary-school children, counsellors, and policy makers who design gender-equality programmes for schools and families.
Key Takeaway
In 175 New Zealand families, fathers' hostile sexism and mothers' benevolent sexism were each linked to the same kind of attitude in their 8-year-olds, though the study shows association rather than cause.
Questions and Answers
Do children learn sexism from their parents, according to this study?
The study found that 8-year-olds' views about women tended to match their parents' attitudes: fathers' hostile sexism with children's hostile views, and mothers' benevolent sexism with children's benevolent views. It shows a link, not proof that parents cause those views.
What is the difference between hostile and benevolent sexism?
Hostile sexism is openly negative, such as believing women seek to control men. Benevolent sexism sounds positive, such as believing women are delicate and need protecting, but it still treats women as less capable than men.
Who took part in the research?
175 families in New Zealand, each with a mother, a father and an 8-year-old child. About half the children were girls and half boys.
Does this apply to families in India?
Not directly. The study covered only mother-father households in one country. Its findings may or may not hold in other cultures or in single-parent and joint families, which would need their own research.
Disclaimer: Prepared by the Peepals newsroom from publicly available sources with AI assistance. Information is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication and may change. Images may be representative. Not professional advice. Report an error via our contact page.
Sourced and fact-checked by the Peepals Global Editorial Team
Reported, fact-checked and published by the Peepals Global Editorial Team.
