ARE boys different from girls behaviourally from the beginning ...

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Dp and I keep having this conversation about what makes boys and girls different from the very outset (apart from physiological things obviously ) and wondering whether certain often remarked on differences like girls talk earlier than boys / boys are better eaters etc. are just cliches or if true are due to nature or nurture. I tend to think now that biology plays an important part but dp is convinced that up-bringing is more important a factor. What do you guys think in relation to your own kids and others you've come across?

Uwila - both probably - if you hadn't had that tendency then all the exposure in the world woudln't have made you capable of being or want to be and engineer if your brain didn't work that way in the first place. Me - I have a total inability to do things artistic !

Yes, JoolsToo, I've been researching the story of David Reimer in that programme for work, it's partly why the conversations have been going on between dp and I.

Throckenholt, dp is interesting because he's adopted into a family who are very non-academic and has turned out to be about the most academically minded person you can imagine! We don't know anything about his 'real' parents, all we do know is that he's deeply different to his adopted ones in every way you can imagine. Also to his adopted sister. So that must be a case of 'nature'?

I think like everyone says, it's clearly all to do with a very complex mixture of nature and nurture but it's fascinating to try to work the puzzles out.

Hmmm,interesting one.
DD is only 14months,so its a little early to say,but loves horses,tractors,cars,& anything to do with farms.She seems to have quite an analytical little mind & only has to see something being done once,to be able to do it herself.

I was bought up in a farming family,where there were no boys,but 5 girls.We were all expected to do 'mens' jobs & could all drive a landrover ect by the age of 11 or so.My dad once said to me that he never wanted to hear me using 'being a girl' as an excuse for not doing something & I always remembered that.It has stood me in good stead over the years & I now run my own business in a very male-dominated profession.

I hope dd will do whatever she wants in the future-although DH says that she is going to be an astronaut.

throckenholt- the teststerone autism link is more of simon baron-cohen's work, but the testosterone comes from the foetus rather than the mother (something that the media reports often miss).

Popsycal- Steve Jone's book "in the blood" is a good read (and he's the best speaker I've ever seen- very entertaining). Of course to get really reductionist the original selfish gene (richard dawkins) is worth a read as well. No nature/nurture - just genes replicating themselves.

I have a friend who was adopted. When he was 30 and traced his biological father he discovered he had done the same degree at the same university and ended up in the same profession as his father. Spooky eh?

Jimjams, I've wondered about this. I have PCOS (polycystic ovaries) and wondered if my own hormone imbalance could affect a foetus. Severely off-thread I know.

thanks for clarifying that jimjams - it was a long time ago and I couldn't remember the details - just that it was something to do with levels of testosterone during gestation - thought it was fascinating.

jimjams- i agree the selfish gene is a good and interesting read..

I haven't looked all that much into it beccaboo as I think its irrelevant in ds1's case (think its more relevant to the type 1 autism whereas I think ds1 is type 2) but my understanding is no- PCOS wouldn't affect it- as the extra testosterone is foetal generated. I think- that's the latest I heard though. There's probably quite a lot on google about it by now.