Abstract

This study attempted to investigate the trend of sex-role preference among Korean kindergarten children. The subjects were 560 kindergarten childrens (280 boys and 280 girls) selected from 28 public and private schools in two different major cities: Seoul, and Chung-Ju. The age range of the children was from 5. 0 years to 6. 9 years, with mean age of 6. 23yrs. (for boys) and 6.21yrs. (for girls). The sex-role preference of the children was measured by the modified ITSC. The results revealed that : (1) the subjects were likely to stabilize their sex-role preference in their kindergarten age level: (2) great and significant differences, indicating existence of dichotomous sex-role preference patterns, occured among Korean kindergarten children: (3) boys were more rigid than girls in their sex-role preference. The findings of this study were that : (1) the ability to indentify and understand their gender identity attributed considerable factors for their sex-role preference: (2) however, in trying to asses the complex influences of demographic variables on children's sex-role preference, there were many potentially important variables to be examined.