Family Background Questionnaire Research Articles

Androgyny and the perception of marital roles

To study the relationship between sex-role orientation and marital roles, 83 female and 94 male undergraduates completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) to describe themselves and their ideal mates. Then they rated four written descriptions of egalitarian and traditional married couples and answered a Family Background Questionnaire. The marital ratings were made by female androgynous and stereotyped and male androgynous and stereotyped groups of subjects. The results showed that androgynous subjects preferred egalitarian marriages, but stereotyped subjects indicated no significant preference for egalitarian or traditional marriages. Androgynous subjects depicted an ideal mate as possessing an androgynous sex-role orientation on the BSRI, and stereotyped subjects showed the same preference except that their ideal mates were less androgynous. All subjects' ratings of marriages were analyzed in conjunction with family background, and results revealed that the mother's occupation and parents' satisfaction with her occupation influenced attraction to the wife's role differentially for men and women, while the father's role was unrelated to any preferences.