<\/span><\/h2>\nChildren learn gender labels when very young,\u00a0<\/span>at\u00a018\u00a0to\u00a021<\/span>\u00a0months, shaped by parental\u00a0<\/span>behavior\u00a0and expectations. For example, parents give\u00a0girl and boy\u00a0toddlers different toys,\u00a0and they often expect boys to be better at crawling than girls.\u00a0At\u00a0two years, children can\u00a0already\u00a0feel atypical if they are not like others of their own gender.<\/span><\/p>\nResearchers\u00a0at Yale and Harvard universities in the USA\u00a0reviewed how victimization of gender nonconforming children influences their development. They present a \u201csocial cognitive\u201d approach\u00a0which\u00a0proposes that gender identity develops through\u00a0<\/span>direct<\/span>\u00a0influences, such as verbal messages about how boys and girls should behave, and\u00a0<\/span>indirect<\/span>\u00a0influences, such as parents modelling gender specific\u00a0behavior. A child is an interactive agent in this process of development. The process is influenced by culture: for example, non-Western\u00a0or\u00a0more religious men are\u00a0likely to be\u00a0less accepting of gender nonconforming individuals.<\/span><\/p>\nTwo types of socialisation have been studied: in the home and among peers.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>Gender socialisation at home<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\nAt home, gender socialisation takes place through\u00a0things like\u00a0clothing, how parents praise their boys and girls and\u00a0how\u00a0parents\u00a0use gender specific pronouns. Experimental studies have shown that adults interacting with infants introduced as a girl were more likely to\u00a0give\u00a0\u2018feminine\u2019 toys\u00a0to the child, such as dolls and domestic items. If the infant is introduced as a boy, however, they are more likely to introduce \u2018masculine\u2019 toys, such as tools and cars, and they encourage more physical activity. Parents support things like exploration, rough-and-tumble play and dressing up differently in boys and girls,\u00a0despite\u00a0a lack of\u00a0evidence that boys and girls are different in any domain typically associated with gender,\u00a0such as\u00a0crawling ability.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nParents tend to associate\u00a0gender\u00a0nonconformity in\u00a0children\u00a0with homosexuality\u00a0and often discourage gender nonconforming\u00a0behavior.\u00a0Discouragement of nonconformity in children as young as\u00a0four\u00a0years includes telling them to change their\u00a0behavior, punishing or restricting their nonconforming activities and sending them to\u00a0counseling.\u00a0Such children are\u00a0also\u00a0at\u00a0greater risk of physical, psychological and sexual abuse in the home, and\u00a0of\u00a0PTSD\u00a0later in life.<\/span><\/p>\nThese problems affect sexual and gender minority youth in particular\u2014individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, or\u00a0another orientation that is not heterosexual,\u00a0as well as\u00a0those who identify as transgender, agender, gender fluid, or another category that is not cisgender. Transgender youth are particularly exposed to negativity from their parents.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n