These four types of activities is quite common in studies on observed parenting practices [50]. In fact, they reflect a continuum of structured to non-structured activities.PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0159193 July 14,4 /Gender-Differentiated Parental ControlChild behavior. Differential control of boys and girls may not, or not only, result from parental attitudes about how to treat boys versus girls, but as a reaction to pre-existing gender differences in child behavior. Large longitudinal studies with ethnically and socioeconomically diverse samples provide ample evidence for the bidirectional association between parental Bayer 41-4109 site controlling or autonomy-supportive strategies on the one hand and child disruptive behaviors at the other hand (see [51], [52], [53]). Similarly, large population-based longitudinal twin studies from the US and UK have shown that cooperative and/or prosocial children (aged 2?2 years old) are more likely to elicit positive reactions from their mothers and fathers, whereas children with tendencies toward disruptive GSK089 manufacturer behavior elicit negative reactions from their mothers and fathers (evocative rGE, [51], [54], [55]). Given this evidence and the fact that boys have been found to show more disruptive behavior problems than girls during childhood and adolescence [56], [57], [58], [59], and because boys have shown more genetic liability for disruptive behavior problems than girls [60], [61]), they may also be more likely to elicit controlling behavior from their parents. There is at least one study showing that it is not only a gender difference in child behavior that elicits the different treatment of boys and girls. In this 10-year longitudinal populationbased study of approximately 1,000 US children between the ages of 1 and 20 years it was found that mothers and fathers were harsher with boys than with girls [62]. Boys and girls in this study did not differ in terms of temperament, so the harsher treatment of boys was not because they were more difficult to begin with. As a response to this harsh treatment, especially by mothers, boys appeared to become more difficult and noncompliant. However, it should be noted that this is a single study, relying on questionnaires and interviews, without observational data. Thus, potential effects of child temperament or behavior on gender-differentiated parenting cannot be ruled out conclusively. In the current meta-analysis we tried to take the child’s behavior during the task into account (e.g., using proportion scores, or including child behavior as a covariate in the analyses), to disentangle differences in parental control toward boys and girls from differences in behavior of boys and girls. We expected effect sizes to be larger in studies that did not control for child behavior, because in these studies the child effect on gender-differentiated parenting is not controlled for. In a related vein we expected parents’ differential use of controlling or autonomy-supportive strategies to be less pronounced in clinical or at risk samples (e.g., child has some disorder, or shows high or clinical levels of problem behavior) compared to healthy samples. In these samples boys and girls show more similar levels of problem behavior, and are thus unlikely to elicit differential reactions by their parents based on their behavior. Alternatively, the similar level of child problems in boys and girls in these families may be the consequence of parents’ similar use of controlling and auto.These four types of activities is quite common in studies on observed parenting practices [50]. In fact, they reflect a continuum of structured to non-structured activities.PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0159193 July 14,4 /Gender-Differentiated Parental ControlChild behavior. Differential control of boys and girls may not, or not only, result from parental attitudes about how to treat boys versus girls, but as a reaction to pre-existing gender differences in child behavior. Large longitudinal studies with ethnically and socioeconomically diverse samples provide ample evidence for the bidirectional association between parental controlling or autonomy-supportive strategies on the one hand and child disruptive behaviors at the other hand (see [51], [52], [53]). Similarly, large population-based longitudinal twin studies from the US and UK have shown that cooperative and/or prosocial children (aged 2?2 years old) are more likely to elicit positive reactions from their mothers and fathers, whereas children with tendencies toward disruptive behavior elicit negative reactions from their mothers and fathers (evocative rGE, [51], [54], [55]). Given this evidence and the fact that boys have been found to show more disruptive behavior problems than girls during childhood and adolescence [56], [57], [58], [59], and because boys have shown more genetic liability for disruptive behavior problems than girls [60], [61]), they may also be more likely to elicit controlling behavior from their parents. There is at least one study showing that it is not only a gender difference in child behavior that elicits the different treatment of boys and girls. In this 10-year longitudinal populationbased study of approximately 1,000 US children between the ages of 1 and 20 years it was found that mothers and fathers were harsher with boys than with girls [62]. Boys and girls in this study did not differ in terms of temperament, so the harsher treatment of boys was not because they were more difficult to begin with. As a response to this harsh treatment, especially by mothers, boys appeared to become more difficult and noncompliant. However, it should be noted that this is a single study, relying on questionnaires and interviews, without observational data. Thus, potential effects of child temperament or behavior on gender-differentiated parenting cannot be ruled out conclusively. In the current meta-analysis we tried to take the child’s behavior during the task into account (e.g., using proportion scores, or including child behavior as a covariate in the analyses), to disentangle differences in parental control toward boys and girls from differences in behavior of boys and girls. We expected effect sizes to be larger in studies that did not control for child behavior, because in these studies the child effect on gender-differentiated parenting is not controlled for. In a related vein we expected parents’ differential use of controlling or autonomy-supportive strategies to be less pronounced in clinical or at risk samples (e.g., child has some disorder, or shows high or clinical levels of problem behavior) compared to healthy samples. In these samples boys and girls show more similar levels of problem behavior, and are thus unlikely to elicit differential reactions by their parents based on their behavior. Alternatively, the similar level of child problems in boys and girls in these families may be the consequence of parents’ similar use of controlling and auto.
