Gender Differences and Similarities in Self-Concept Within Everyday Life Contexts

Abstract

A stereotypic pattern of gender differences has been found in previous self-concept research. Men have tended to rate themselves higher on self-concept measures of giftedness, power, and invulnerability, and women have rated themselves higher on self-concept measures of likability and morality. This study tested the validity of these gender differences for two natural life contexts—family and work—from the perspective of target persons and others in the family and work contexts who knew the target persons well. Overall, the gender stereotypic pattern of self-concept scores was evident in work and family self-ratings and observer-inferred ratings. Gender accounted for 3–7% of the variance of the five self-concept dimensions for which a significant gender difference was found.