Behavioral Treatment of Childhood Gender Disorders

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Social learning techniques recently have been applied to the problem of childhood gender disorders. This diagnosis has been applied mostly to young boys who show pronounced degrees of "feminine" behavior and interests, who avoid activities stereotypically associated with their gender, and who express the desire to become girls. A conceptual and empirical critique is offered of this small but developing treatment literature. Conceptual difficulties attributable to the mixing of psychoanalytic and behavioral frames of references and to the use of gender role stereotypes as a reference point for defining abnormal behavior make the interpretation of the reported treatment successes problematic. Much of the confusion in this research area could be dispelled if systematic attention were paid to what the so-called "feminine" behavior means to the boy. This could be achiieved by means of a functional analysis of the relationships between the boy's cognitions and behaviors and the contexts in which they occur.