Despite some literature indicating that child gender influences parenting interactions (Lindsey and Mize, 2001; Mor- rongiello and Dawber, 2000), the pattern of findings reported in the current study is in keeping with the results of a meta-analysis showing non-significant or small effect sizes for parents' differential socialisation of boy and girls (Lytton and Romney, 1991).
Based on these findings it may be interpreted that Australian parents are moderately egalitarian in their engagement with challenging parenting behaviour for male and female children.
To confirm this, it may be required to compare challenging parenting behaviour of both caregivers in families with male and female children.