Pretty in pink: The early development of gender-stereotyped colour preferences
LoBue and DeLoache note that parents commonly dress baby girls in pink and baby boys in blue, though children generally prefer blue regardless of gender and there was no evidence that girls have a special preference for pink. In a large cross-sectional study, children aged between seven months and five years chose between pairs of objects in which one was always pink. By age two, girls chose pink objects more often than boys did, and by about two and a half they had a significant preference for pink. Boys showed an increasing avoidance of pink.
LoBue and DeLoache note that parents commonly dress baby girls in pink and baby boys in blue, though children generally prefer blue regardless of gender and there was no evidence that girls have a special preference for pink. In a large cross-sectional study, children aged between seven months and five years chose between pairs of objects in which one was always pink. By age two, girls chose pink objects more often than boys did, and by about two and a half they had a significant preference for pink. Boys showed an increasing avoidance of pink.
Written from the abstract as shown on the OpenAlex record, read 2026-11-04.
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doi:10.1111/j.2044-835X.2011.02027.x. Sample sizes and percentages are from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest (5 September 2011).