ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the research evidence for boys' preference for the outdoor recess. It presents data on the degree to which preference for the outdoors varies by both gender and age during the middle school years in a school that allowed youngsters to choose freely whether to go outdoors or stay indoors for recess. The chapter also examines possible precursors to the outdoorish bias, as currently little data exist to explain why children choose indoors as opposed to outdoors. Children's preference to spend free time indoors or outdoors seems to be a particularly important choice marker. Young adolescents differ reliably in their choices of free-time activities from younger children. Most notable are the gender differences between the childhood and adolescent periods. As youngsters hit adolescence and their interests turn to heterosexual relationships, they want to spend time with members of the opposite sex, so gender differences in preferences that separate them tend to diminish.
