Testing an intergroup relations intervention strategy to improve children's appraisals of gender-nonconforming peers

Past research has linked poor psychosocial adjustment among children who express gender nonconformity (GNC) to poor peer relations (e.g., facing ridicule and rejection); however, very little research has explored whether it is possible to improve children's appraisals of GNC. The present study attempted to replicate a previous intervention that was conducted among 8- to 9-year-old children from Hong Kong that successfully improved children's appraisals of gender-nonconforming peers. Specifically, it tested whether the same intervention was successful at improving appraisals of gender-nonconforming peers in a sample of children from Canada and among both 4- to 5-year-old and 8- to 9-year-old children. To do so, we employed an experimental vignette design among 4- to 5-year-old (n = 176; 48% girls) and 8- to 9-year-old (n = 182; 49% girls) children. In the intervention condition, targets were presented who displayed mostly gender-nonconforming preferences, some gender-conforming preferences, and positive attributes. Following the intervention, participants' appraisals of gender-nonconforming and gender-conforming targets were assessed through verbal reports, a sharing task, and a rank-order task. Overall, the intervention did not improve appraisals of GNC, and there were no differences based on age or gender of the participants, or gender of the targets. We discuss possible reasons why there was a cultural difference in the effectiveness of the intervention and how future intervention work in this area might be strengthened.