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Emerging evidence indicates that males and females may follow distinct trajectories of emotional development. The male trajectory may be characterized by an emphasis on separateness and independence, whereas the female trajectory may be characterized by skillfulness in interpersonal relatedness. These differences begin during the first year of life, within the context of mother-child emotional communication. The consequence of these differences in early emotional experiences may be that males and females develop different modes of autonomous strivings—males becoming effective in independent, self-initiated activities and females becoming effective in relationship regulation.
We begin with a discussion of the concept of autonomy. We then present a review of the literature of sex differences in social relations, focusing on infancy and toddlerhood (encompassing the first three years of life) and childhood. A brief presentation of our own research, highlighting the role of emotional availability in organizing these sex differences during the transition from infancy to early childhood, will follow.