It was the purpose of this study to examine children's picture books from 1988 to 1998 to determine to what extent stereotypic gender behavior and attitudes were depicted during the decade. A content analysis on 10 years of best-selling picture books, as determined by Publishers Weekly, was performed.;After 100 books were selected, secured, and read, they were analyzed using qualitative content analysis for portrayal of activities and occupations. The number of characters in text and illustration in addition to the number of main characters were noted according to gender on an analysis worksheet to tally how the gender concepts appeared in the book.;A chi-square analysis was used to determine if significant differences existed between gender representation. The analysis indicated a significant difference between the number of male and female characters in the picture books. Males comprised a larger proportion of representation in text and illustrations than females.;A significant difference also was found in the number of activities the genders participated in. Males were involved in more activities than the female characters. Males also were found to participate in significantly more active/mobile activities than females in the years 1991 through 1997. Occupations were found to be apparent more often for males than females. The variety of occupations portrayed was greater for males. No distinguishable trend in gender portrayals could be established for the years 1988 through 1997 based on the acquired data.
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