Around the world, gender-specific expectations are placed on children from a young age — going far beyond pink for girls and blue for boys and, new research suggests, creating lasting damage into adulthood.

Boys are being taught to be strong and independent while girls are taught to be vulnerable and nurturing, a study published Wednesday in the Journal of Adolescent Health found. Researchers conducted interviews with 450 children as well as their parents or guardians in Bolivia, Belgium, Burkina Faso, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Scotland, South Africa, the U.S. and Vietnam.

Even among these most far-flung countries in the study, stereotypes remained the same, said Robert Blum, director of the Global Early Adolescent Study based at Johns Hopkins University, which conducted the research in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO).

“ ‘The myth that girls are weak and boys are strong was so globally pervasive we saw it play out over and over again in 15 countries and across five continents.’ ” — Robert Blum, director of the Global Early Adolescent Study based at Johns Hopkins University

“The myth that girls are weak and boys are strong, that girls are vulnerable and boys are aggressive, was so globally pervasive we saw it play out over and over again in 15 countries and across five continents,” he said.

The roles are first learned in the home from parents and are later reinforced by other guardians, siblings, classmates, relatives, clergy and coaches, he said. In nearly all of these countries, boys were taught to be the aggressors in romantic and sexual relationships. These norms had solidified by early adolescence, leading to a higher number of girls dropping out of school or suffering physical and sexual violence, child marriage, early pregnancy, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Can Wall Street close this gender gap?

Boys were also affected negatively by gender roles, experiencing more violence and higher risk for not conforming to stereotypical masculine roles compared to that girls experience for not conforming to feminine roles. “Boys also sustain a lot of negative consequences — they are more likely to drink alcohol, engage in interpersonal violence, and smoke cigarettes,” Blum said. “It hurts everybody.”

The study was entitled “It Begins at Ten: How Gender Expectations Shape Early Adolescence Around the World.” However, Deborah Best, a psychology professor studying gender stereotypes at Wake Forest University said her own research suggests children as young as five years old already have gender roles determined.

“ ‘Girls get the message they should not be in leadership roles and boys get message they need to be more assertive and aggressive.’ ” — Deborah Best, a psychology professor studying gender stereotypes at Wake Forest University

“Girls get the message they should not be in leadership roles and boys get message they need to be more assertive and aggressive,” she said.

In this way, norms learned before children even begin school can contribute to larger problems in life like the gender wage gap, which still persists in the U.S., and interpersonal violence. Parents should be informed of the impact of their behavior and raise children with fewer gender norms, she said. Education should also begin at a younger age, Kristin Mmari, associate professor and lead researcher for the qualitative research at the Global Early Adolescent Study, said.

“Adolescent health risks are shaped by behaviors rooted in gender roles that can be well established in kids by the time they are 10 or 11 years old,” she said. “Yet we see billions of dollars around the world invested in adolescent health programs that don’t kick in until they are 15 and by then it’s probably too late to make a big difference.”