Gender stereotyping and intended audience age: An analysis of children's educational/informational TV programming

This study examined sex‐role stereotyping within FCC‐mandated children's educational programming. A content analysis compared stereotyping across program age ranges and revealed that programs intended for young children present a more traditional view of sex roles than programs intended for teens. Male characters in old programs were stereotyped to a lesser extent than their young program counterparts, while female characters remained equally stereotyped across age ranges. These results suggest that children are being exposed to consistently gender stereotyped television role models at precisely the age when they are forming their own sex role identities.