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Rebecca Bigler of the University of Texas at Austin and colleagues at the University of Kansas say their study challenges the idea that children live in a color- or gender-blind world.

In 2006 -- more than a year before Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., entered the race for the Democratic presidential nomination -- the researchers interviewed 205 children ages 5 to 10 from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds about the absence of female, African-American and Hispanic presidents.

The study found most children are aware that women and minorities have been excluded from the presidency. Although most of the children believed people of all races and genders should be president, they offered some surprising answers as to why only white males have held the nation's highest political office:

-- 25 percent say it is illegal for women and minorities to hold the office of president.

-- 33 percent say racial and gender bias kept women and minorities from being president.

-- one-third say members of the excluded groups lacked the skills to hold the position.

The study is at: http://www.utexas.edu/features/2008/stereotypes.

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