A study on sex-typical childhood behaviors using the toy preference test

Background/Objectives : We studied a population of 23 non-clinical Italian children (11 males), at the age of 15 months, with the aim of evaluating playing behaviors and potential sex differences by means of the toy preference test. Methods The test was carried out in free play mode and 3 sets of games were used: boy-related toys (blocks, a car, an excavator), girl-related toys (a doll, a kitchen, a tea set), and gender-neutral toys (a ball, a book, a soft toy). Results Boys spent more time playing with boy-related toys (median time: 225.27 s; 50.5% of total time) but also with girl-related toys (a tea set, a kitchen, a doll). In contrast, girls had a clear preference for girl toys (237.33 s; 48.6%) and spent a lot of time playing with neutral toys (136.92 s; 33%). A significant difference (p 0.001) was observed for the use of neutral toys, with which the girls spent more time, and boy-related toys (p 0.019), which were used more by the boys than by the girls. No differences for girl-related toys were detected within boys and girls. Girls never played with the excavator, preferring the tea set (16.6%) and the book (15.4%). Conclusions We observed that at 15 months, boys and girls already follow different developmental trajectories with regard to the selection of sex-related toys. Girls preferred to play with girl-related toys and gender-neutral toys while boys focused mainly on boy-related toys and spent a significant amount of time with the girl-related ones.