Judgments of gender norm violations in children from the United States and Korea

• American children ages 5, 7 and 9 judged hypothetical gender norm violations to be more acceptable than Korean children.
• In both Korea and the U.S., older children were more flexible about gender norm violations than younger children.
• When the gender norm was violated in order to help someone, the majorities of children at each age and in both countries judged the violation as acceptable.

Children's judgments of gender norm violations in the U.S. (N = 71) and Korea (N = 73) were examined at ages 5, 7 and 9 years. Children made judgments of hypothetical children violating gender norms when the violation was performed for a helping goal and when no helping goal was presented. When there was no helping goal, American children were more accepting of violations than Korean children, and older children were more accepting than younger children. However, when the norm was violated in order to help someone, there were no differences between the countries and age differences were diminished, with the majorities of children at each age judging the violation as acceptable.