A meta-data study published in the journal "Infant and Child Development" by John A. Barry of University College London’s Institute for Women’s Health, as well as colleagues from other universities, has found that young children tend to prefer toys "typed to their gender," reports PsyPost.
According to the abstract, after examining the studies, which were conducted in multiple countries across 36 years, with a significant sample size of 1,600 children (almost evenly divided between boys and girls), the researchers found that "boys played with male-typed toys more than girls did, and girls played with female-typed toys more than boys did."
Additionally, variances including the "geographical location of the study," the age of the participants, the "presence of an adult," the time period during which the study took place, and the "inclusion of gender-neutral toys" didn’t have a "significant effect," the researchers report.
The abstract also suggests that toy preferences appear to be formed by both "innate and social forces," adding that "the consistency in finding sex differences in children's preferences for toys typed to their own gender indicates the strength of this phenomenon and the likelihood that has a biological origin."
There are some details that indicate that as time goes by, social influence plays a larger role in the choosing of gender-typed toys:
... further analysis of data for boys and girls separately revealed that older boys played more with male-typed toys relative to female-typed toys than did younger boys. Additionally, an effect of the length of time since study publication was found: girls played more with female-typed toys in earlier studies than in later studies, whereas boys played more with male-typed toys in earlier studies than in more recent studies. Boys also played with male-typed toys less when observed in the home than in a laboratory. Findings are discussed in terms of possible contributions of environmental influences and age-related changes in boys' and girls' toy preferences.
The study will either be ignored or fervidly protested by progressives because it doesn’t comport with their preferred narrative that gender identity is entirely a result of social engineering.
For progressives, science is only sound if the result is one that favors their dogma. Anything else can and will be dismissed entirely or explained away by citing alleged biases, incompetent scientific technique, or (insert excuse here).