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Gender and age effects interact in preschoolers' help-seeking: evidence for differential responses to changes in task difficulty

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2012

R. BRUCE THOMPSON ,
THOMAS COTHRAN  and
DANIEL MCCALL
R. BRUCE THOMPSON*
Affiliation:
University of Southern Maine
THOMAS COTHRAN
Affiliation:
University of Southern Maine
DANIEL MCCALL
Affiliation:
Gettysburg College
*
[*]Address for correspondence: R. Bruce Thompson, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Southern Maine, 96 Falmouth St., Portland, ME 04104, USA. e-mail: bthompso@usm.maine.edu
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Abstract

This study explored preschool age and gender differences in help-seeking within the theoretical framework of scaffolded problem-solving and self-regulation (Bruner, 1986; Rogoff, 1990; Vygotsky, 1978; 1986). Within-subject analyses tracked changes in help-seeking among 62 preschoolers (34 boys, 28 girls, mean age 4.22 years) solving a challenging puzzle with an adult. The goal was to document whether age and gender interact with fluctuating difficulty to affect children's spontaneous help-seeking. ANOVAs indicated that girls used more help-seeking during difficult segments of the task, despite performance equal to the boys. This pattern was strongest among older girls, who outperformed all other children and used the most help-seeking. Partial correlations, controlling for solving time, indicated that age predicted children's help-seeking during the most difficult segments of the task, but only among girls. Gender differences in social–linguistic maturation and cognitive development are discussed within the framework of Vygotskian theory and related educational practice.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 39 , Issue 5 , November 2012 , pp. 1107 - 1120
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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