Feminine Sex-role Orientations Research Articles

Alcohol, women’s clothing, and the perception of sexual intent

ABSTRACTThis study investigated factors involved in sexual information processing when alcohol is involved. Seventy-two male and 90 female participants viewed one of four videos of a heterosexual dyad interacting where the females’ clothing (sexualized/non-sexualized) and drink consumed (alcohol/water) was manipulated, and completed personality questionnaires. It was hypothesized the condition containing sexualized clothing, alcohol consumption and a male participant viewing the video would infer the greatest level of perceived sexual intent. Results yielded support for an effect of clothing. Also, men, compared to women, were significantly more socio-sexually inept, sexually pre-occupied, adopted a masculine sex role orientation and held conservative attitudes toward women. However, the feminine sex role orientation was not adopted significantly more by females when compared to males. The results of this study re-affirm the strong link between sexualized clothing and misperception, reinstating the need for clear verbal communication of sexual/platonic intentions. Recommendations are made for future research.

Breast cancer, personality and the feminine role

This article argues that it may be illuminating to look at breast cancer also from a cultural point of view. It is built around a hypothesis which proposes that, on a certain level, breast cancer can be seen as an attempt by women to rid themselves of the breast as a symbol of some of the essential aspects of their femininity, as feminine qualities are seen as of little import in today's industrialized Western world. The argumentation begins by showing that there is a certain type of personality which is prone to cancer: One of the main characteristics of this personality is either the repression or the inability to express or feel anger. Furthermore, studies on sex-roles and defence mechanisms have shown that persons with feminine sex-role orientations use more repressive, self-blaming defence mechanisms. The author finally goes on to discuss the psychic mechanisms thought to lie behind somatization and cancer as a psychosomatic disease.

Social, psychological and physical correlates of eating problems. A study of the general adolescent population in Norway.

The characteristics and concurrent predictors of eating problems were identified. Ninety-seven per cent of a representative sample of Norwegian adolescents (N = 11315) completed a questionnaire containing a 12-item version of the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT) and measures of a large number of physiological, psychological and social factors previously suggested to be of aetiological importance. Social class, drug use and indicators of 'the model child' (high grades, high occupational aspirations and much homework) were not related to eating problems. Logistic regression analyses identified perceived obesity as the strongest associated factor, followed by gender, depression, excessive exercise and unstable self-perceptions. In addition, adopting idols with perfect bodies, body dissatisfaction, low self-worth, feminine sex-role orientation, lack of parental care, early pubertal timing, age and number of alcohol intoxications all added to the probability of eating problems. About 6% perceived themselves as obese in spite of subnormal BMI. Such misperceptions increased the risk of high scores on EAT.

The relationship of gender, sex role, and law-and-order attitudes to nuclear opinions

Australian students' attitudes to nuclear weapons were considered in relation to sex-role identification and political orientations. By including a measure of sex-role orientation, we hoped to clarify earlier confusion surrounding gender as a predictor of nuclear views. Our hypothesis was that men and women with feminine sex-role orientations would display the strongest antinuclear feelings. Also, we predicted that an authoritarian political stance advocating strict law-and-order on the domestic front would predict support for nuclear weapons in international defense. The subjects were 46 male and 62 female first-year university students. The measure of nuclear attitudes was a 23-item inventory (NARQ) which had previously been extensively refined and validated for Australian populations (Jennings & Lawrence, 1986). The BSRI (Bem, 1974) measured sex-role orientation. An Australian law-and-order scale was also developed for this research. Latent trait models for rating data were applied to NARQ and law-and-order scales. The results revealed sex differences on approximately one-third of the nuclear opinion items, with men expressing stronger support for nuclear weapons in every case. Authoritarian law-and-order attitudes likewise predicted support for nuclear weapons in both men and women. A stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that BSRI masculinity and law-and order made separate, statistically significant, contributions to overall variation in nuclear views. These results were considered in relation both to previous research and to practical implications for political behavior.

Perceptions of self-disclosure as a function of gender-linked variables

One hundred and sixty raters with either an androgynous, masculine, or feminine sex role orientation judged the intimacy and commonness of masculine and feminine self-disclosures attributed to either men or women speakers. Feminine disclosures were rated as significantly more intimate and more common than masculine disclosures. Masculine disclosures made by women were rated as significantly less common than either feminine disclosures by women, or masculine or feminine disclosures by men. Although rater sex role orientation had no significant effects, physical gender did. Female raters judged all disclosures as more intimate than male raters. Implications for future research are discussed.

Sex, sex-roles, and irrational beliefs.

Irrational beliefs have been related to a variety of psychological distresses, some of which are thought of more in relation to one sex than the other, i.e., depression, nonassertiveness, anger. However, Ellis did not assert that there were sex differences in irrational beliefs, and few researchers have examined the effect of sex-role socialization on irrational beliefs. The present study explored the effect of sex and sex-roles on irrational beliefs for a sample of 270 college students using the Irrational Beliefs Test and Bern's scale. While the study supports the belief that sex and sex-role are not unidimensional constructs, the data suggest that differences in sex-role socialization contribute to differences in adherence to irrational beliefs. It appears, however, that a feminine sex-role orientation is related to irrational beliefs. Although study is needed, clinicians are cautioned not to assume there are no sex or sex-role differences related to irrational thinking.

Toys, spatial ability, and science and mathematics achievement: Are they related?

This review of research examines the possible relationships among children's toy playing habits, spatial abilities, and their science and mathematics achievements. Only studies that made use of United States subjects, aged 3- through 13-years-old, are included in the review. Toy playing habits, spatial ability, and science and mathematical achievement appear sex typed. Males and/or children who maintain a masculine sex role orientation tend to play with a wider variety of toys, exhibit superior spatial skills, and maintain greater science and mathematics achievement scores than females and/or children with feminine sex role orientations.

Sex Role Orientation and Type a Behavior Pattern

Male and female college students completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Jenkins Activity Survey, a part of which is the Type A Scale. Correlational results showed that as Type A scores increased, BSRI scores decreased (more masculine sex role orientation). Analysis of variance showed that males and females with masculine sex role orientations (SROs) had significantly higher Type A scores than those with androgynous SROs, who in turn had significantly higher Type A scores than those with feminine SROs.

Exploring sex differences in expectancy, attribution, and academic achievement

Two studies were carried out to explore if sex differences in expectancy and attribution of achievement are related to sex differences in academic performance. Study I investigated expectancy and attribution of achievement, operationalized as grade point index, among 176 male and 116 female college freshmen. Men were found to form higher expectations for future grades. Attributions measured through assigning percentage weights to ability, luck, effort, and difficulty as causal explanations of one's grade point index showed that men make more ability and women more effort attributions. Despite these differences in expectancy and attribution patterns, men and women were found not to differ in their performance. In Study II 120 college freshmen, half of them male, half female, filled out questionnaires before and after a midterm examination. A subsample of 49 also completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory. The results basically confirm the previous study's findings, except in Study II, men and women gave equally high weights to effort as a cause. The results also show that a feminine sex-role orientation is associated with a debilitating pattern of expectancy and attribution and lower performance, especially among women. Implications of the results for unraveling inconsistencies in the attribution literature and for a need to clarify connotations of femininity are discussed.

Sex differences, sex-role orientation, and reward allocations

In study 1, 52 male and 52 female undergraduates allocated rewards to pairs of children for their performances in team and competitive situations. Males allocated rewards more “equitably,” especially when allocating to boys in competition, while females allocated rewards more “equally.” Boys, but not girls, who did more work received more rewards than their partner; and children with greater work inputs under competitive conditions received more rewards than children in team conditions. In study 2, the sex-role orientation of 60 college students was found to be related to their reward allocations. Males and females with a masculine sex-role orientation allocated rewards equitably, while individuals with a feminine sex-role orientation allocated rewards equally. Results indicated that sex and situational differences in reward allocations are affected by sex-role orientation and differential socialization practices by adults.

Sex-typing and spatial ability: The association between masculinity and success on piaget's water-level task

A sample of 58 college women and 43 college men were tested on Piaget's water-level task and asked to complete the Bem Sex Role Inventory. The instructions for the water-level task were varied so as to emphasize or deemphasize the scientific laboratory character of the task. Subjects were classified by sex, sex-role orientation (masculine, androgynous, feminine), task description condition, and water-level performance. A log-linear analysis of the resulting 2×3×2×2 multidimensional contingency table revealed significant main effects for both sex of subject and sex-role orientation. Males and those males and females with masculine sex-role orientations were more likely to succeed with the water-level task than females and those with feminine sex-role orientations. The effect of sex role on water-level performance emerged most clearly among highly sex-typed individuals and the effect of sex was significant only among those with androgynous sex-role orientations.