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Child Development Perspectives
Article

Beyond Pink and Blue: The Complexity of Early Androgen Effects on Gender Development

Sheri A. Berenbaum,

Corresponding Author

The Pennsylvania State University

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sheri A. Berenbaum, Departments of Psychology and Pediatrics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802; e-mail: sab31@psu.edu.Search for more papers by this author
First published: 01 November 2017
https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12261
Citations: 11
Sheri A. Berenbaum, The Pennsylvania State University.
The work reported in this article was supported by grants HD19644, HD044398, and HD057930 from the National Institutes of Health. I appreciate the many people who have contributed to the research; for especially significant help, I thank Kristina Bryk, who skillfully managed the projects and contributed to all stages from conceptualization through dissemination; collaborators, particularly Adriene Beltz and Susan McHale; pediatric endocrinologists and family support group staff who assisted with recruiting families; Diana Crom, who coordinated the intensive data collection for the study of preteen girls; and graduate and undergraduate students and research assistants who helped coordinate studies, and collect and process data. I am especially grateful to the families who participated in the studies.
[Article updated on November 11, 2017, after first online publication on November 1, 2017: The Figure C legend was updated to provide clarity.]
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Abstract

Why do girls and women differ from boys and men? Gender development is typically considered to result from socialization, but sex hormones present during sensitive periods of development, particularly prenatal androgens, play an important role. Data from natural experiments, especially from females with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, show the complexity of the effects of androgens on behavior: Prenatal androgens apparently have large effects on interests and engagement in gendered activities; moderate effects on spatial abilities; and relatively small or no effects on gender identity, gender cognitions, and gendered peer involvement. These differential effects provide an opportunity to move beyond identifying sources of variation in behavior to understanding developmental processes. These processes include links among gendered characteristics, psychological and neural mechanisms underlying development, and the joint effects of biological predispositions and social experiences.