Children's perceptions of sex differences in babies and adolescents: a cross-national study.

A sample of 838 children aged 5-15 in Australia, England, North America, and Sweden were interviewed about physical and sexual development. One section covered how children perceived sex differences. Criteria used for scoring were based on a biological realism scale. In identifying sex differences of newborn babies, a progression from realistic to unrealistic recognition was observed with increasing age in all countries. The Swedish younger age groups were more realistic than their English-speaking peers, with the latter catching up in the teenage years. In discerning pubertal sex differences, children tended to move from presexual ideas between 9 and 11 years and to have achieved full sexual answers between 13 and 15 years. Evidence did not support the latency period theory or the presence of castration fantasies in children. Cross-national differences are discussed and their implications explored.