U.S. adults differ in how much they say certain things should be emphasized for boys and girls

Amid concerns about mental health and other challenges boys and girls in the United States are facing, we asked U.S. adults about some aspects of raising boys and girls these days. We found some differences in how people answer about each gender. We also saw changes from when we last asked about this topic in 2017.

By double-digit margins, more U.S. adults say there’s too little emphasis on encouraging boys to do each of the following than say the same about girls:

• Talk about their feelings when they are sad or upset (57% say this about boys vs. 31% about girls)
• Do well in school (43% vs. 27%)

Majorities say there’s about the right amount of emphasis on encouraging girls to do each of those things.

There is a more modest but statistically significant difference when it comes to encouraging boys and girls to stand up for themselves. More say there’s too little focus on this for girls (41%) than say the same for boys (37%).

Similar shares of adults say there’s too little emphasis on encouraging boys and girls to be leaders. But slightly more say there’s too much focus on this for boys (17%) than for girls (12%).

How we did this

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to explore how much emphasis Americans think there should be on certain things when raising boys and girls these days. We also sought to learn whether these views have changed since 2017, when we last asked these questions.

For this analysis, we surveyed 6,204 adults from Sept. 3 to 15, 2024. Most of the respondents are members of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), a group of people recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses who have agreed to take surveys regularly. The survey also included an oversample of Black and Hispanic adults from the SSRS Opinion Panel, another probability-based online survey web panel recruited primarily through national, random sampling of residential addresses.

The survey was conducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other factors. Read more about the ATP’s methodology.

Here are the questions used for this analysis, the topline and the survey methodology. 

For the most part, views on these questions don’t differ between adults who do and don’t have children younger than 18. But those who don’t have a minor child are more likely than those who do to say there’s too little emphasis on encouraging boys to talk about their feelings. In contrast, parents of a minor child are more likely to say there’s the right amount of emphasis on this. 

Related: The Gender Gap in Teen Experiences

How views have changed

By margins of at least 10 percentage points, Americans are less likely now than they were in 2017 to say there’s too little emphasis on encouraging girls to do each of the following:

• Do well in school (27% now vs. 43% in 2017)
• Be leaders (38% vs. 53%)
• Stand up for themselves (41% vs. 54%)

The shares saying there’s about the right amount of focus on each of these for girls have gone up by similar margins.

There have been more modest drops in the shares saying there’s too little emphasis on encouraging boys to do well in school (43% now vs. 51% in 2017) and to be leaders (36% vs. 41%).

How views differ by gender and by party

As was the case in 2017, men and women have different views about raising boys and girls. The same is true of Republicans and Democrats.

Differences by gender

Women (63%) are more likely than men (51%) to say there’s too little emphasis on encouraging boys to talk about their feelings. In contrast, men are about twice as likely as women to say there’s too much emphasis on this for boys (19% vs. 8%).

Men are more likely than women to say there’s too little emphasis on encouraging boys to:

• Stand up for themselves (44% of men say this vs. 31% of women)
• Be leaders (43% vs. 31%)
• Do well in school (49% vs. 39%)

Women are more likely than men to say there’s too little emphasis on encouraging girls to:

• Talk about their feelings (37% of women vs. 26% of men)
• Stand up for themselves (45% vs. 37%)
• Be leaders (42% vs. 34%)
• Do well in school (29% vs. 24%)

Differences by party

By wide margins, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say there’s too little emphasis on encouraging boys to stand up for themselves (49% vs. 26%) and to be leaders (47% vs. 26%).

In turn, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say there’s too little emphasis on encouraging girls to stand up for themselves (50% vs. 34%) and to be leaders (50% vs. 27%).

These figures include adults who identify with or lean toward each party.

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say there’s too little emphasis on encouraging both boys and girls to talk about their feelings, but the gap is wider when it comes to boys. Seven-in-ten Democrats say this, compared with 45% of Republicans.

Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis, the topline and the survey methodology.