ABSTRACT
In terms of environmental factors, children are more likely to segregate when similar age peers are present and adult supervision is minimal, such as play time on school playgrounds. Indeed, some of the arguments made for gender segregation among human children are similar to those made for gender segregation in adults of other mammalian species. Gender segregation in children has been defined often in terms of the separation of boys and girls in social groupings. Gender segregation in children begins around 3 years and peaks at 8 to 11 years. Gender segregation in childhood is, generally, influenced by differences in behavior of boys and girls, the different roles they enact, as well as immediate environmental factors. Children were observed on their school playgrounds during their recess periods and during after-school day-care programs held at the schools. The playgrounds on which they were observed were all spacious places, between 3- and 10-acre sites.
