The technique developed by Hartup, Moore, and Sager (1963) was used to measure avoidance of non-traditional sex-typing in school-age children. A between-subjects design was used in which 40 elementary school children were studied under four experimental conditions (sexes, ages 5 and 10 yr.). The dependent variable was the number of observations in which looking at or touching sex-atypical toys was scored. Statistical analyses showed that 10-yr.-olds avoided atypical sex objects more than did the 5-yr.-olds, and boys avoided sex-atypical objects more than did girls. There was no interaction between age and sex. The results support the hypothesis that avoidance of behavior can be a useful index of the development of sex-role typing.
