Femininity Scales Research Articles

Strength Gains, Locus of Control, and Self-Description of College Football Players

The present study investigated strength gains and change in self-concept and locus of control related to participation in a weight-training program. 37 college football players were administered Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale and Gough and Heilbrun's Adjective Check List prior to and immediately following their participation in a 14-wk. weight-training program. While participants who scored high on the Femininity scale and high on externality on the I-E scale achieved greater gains on some of the strength measures, for the most part I-E and Adjective Check List scores did not predict strength changes. A positive correlation was found between change in total strength and change in score on the Self-confidence scale. Regardless of change in strength, subjects showed an increase in scores on the Order scale from pretest to posttest. The need for further research on the relationships between participation in a weight-training program, gains in strength and self-concept is discussed.

The relationship between gender‐role measures: A review

The relationship between self‐report measures of gender traits (PAQ and BSRI), behaviour (SRBS and MFRQ) and attitudes (AWS) is reviewed by considering the comparison of two or more groups differing on trait scores, correlations between the scales and relevant experimental studies. Trait measures show extremely small relationships to attitudes: for men, lower instrumental and higher expressive trait scores were weakly associated with a more non‐traditional attitude. For women, higher instrumental scores, lower expressive scores and higher (i.e. less feminine) M‐F PAQ scores were weakly associated with a more non‐traditional attitude. A very low relationship was found between the AWS and the Masculine and Feminine scales of the SRBS, but higher correlations were found for the M‐F scale (negative for men and positive for women). Very high correlations were found between the MFRQ (a role preference scale) and the AWS. There were conistent positive associations between the respective M and F scales of the PAQ and SRBS for both men and women, accounting for between 2.6 and 14.4 percent of the variance. Correlations between the PAQ scales and the MFRQ were generally low. These results support the multidimensional rather than the unidimensional view of masculinity and femininity.

Cross-Gender Behavior and Psychopathology in Boy Psychiatric Outpatients

One hundred 5-to 12-year-old boys referred for outpatient psychiatric evaluation were assessed for cross-gender behavior using the Child Behavior and Attitude Questionnaire (CBAQ) and the Child Game Participation Questionnaire (CGPQ), and for possible associated psychopathology using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and clinical psychiatric (DSM-III) diagnoses. On the two feminine scales of the CBAQ and CGPQ, 30 to 50% scored within defined clinical ranges. High feminine scale scorers did not have higher Total CBCL scores than lower feminine scale scorers, and scores on the feminine scales correlated minimally with scores on the CBCL broad and narrow-band behavior problem scales, except for a significant positive correlation with the Delinquent subscale. No particular clinical psychiatric diagnoses were significantly associated with high feminine scorers: however, high feminine behavior scorers tended to have more conduct problems and mixed adjustment disorders and less anxious and depressive psychopathology. Clinicians were not alert to the degree of cross-gender behavior found, perhaps due to the concomitant externalizing psychopathology and masculine behavior in these same patients.

Adolescent girls' sex role development: Relationship with sports participation, self-esteem, and age at menarche

This study investigated the development of sex role orientation among adolescent girls, and explored its relationship with sports participation, self-esteem, and age at menarche. The instruments were administered to 134 girls yearly from Grades 6 to 10 (ages 11 to 15). The results obtained with the Bem Sex Role Inventory showed group mean increases in the masculine and feminine scale scores, and considerable shifting in sex role categorizations over the five years. However, individual differences were quite consistent during the five-year study, suggesting some degree of stability in sex role orientation during adolescence. Sports participants and girls with high self-esteem had greater masculine sex role orientations throughout adolescence, with no differences in feminine orientations. It was concluded that the relationship of sex role orientation with sports participation and self-esteem was not an interactive one, but was reflective of individual differences. These individual differences begin in late childhood, with the variables developing concurrently. Age at menarche did not affect sex role orientation.

A psychometric study of the PRF ANDRO Scale.

This study investigated the adequacy of the items in the PRF ANDRO Masculinity (M) and Femininity (F) Scales, in terms of the content themes specified by Berzins, Welling, and Wetter (1978), and empirically tested their appropriateness using Bem's (1974) criteria. Results indicated that the PRF ANDRO M and F scales contain a large proportion of items that are theoretically irrelvant and that did not satisfy Bem's criteria. In addition, these scales were found to contain several items with low content saturation. Implications of the results are discussed.

Relationship between depressed mood and sex-typed personality characteristics in adolescents

The current study investigated the relationship between self-reports of depressed mood, self-esteem, and endorsement of sex-typed personality characteristics in a normal adolescent population. For positively valenced (socially desirable) sex-typed characteristics, masculinity was inversely related to depression while femininity was not significantly related. In contrast, for negatively valenced sex-typed characteristics the masculine and feminine scales showed similar effects: all were positively correlated with depression. Self-esteem was the best single predictor of depression and none of the sextyped characteristics contributed significantly beyond that accounted for by self-esteem. The results support previous findings with younger children and high school students by demonstrating that sex-typed characteristics in adolescents are significantly associated with depression, although this relationship is accounted for by the variance shared with self-esteem, a more general measure of mental health. However, the presence of negative feminine-typed characteristics was as highly correlated with depression as the absence of positive masculine characteristics and both relationships were stronger for females than males. Thus the linkages between sex-role socialization, sex-typed characteristics, self-esteem, depressed mood, and clinical depression bear further investigation, and may prove useful in understanding the development of depression in males and females.

Homosexual and heterosexual sex-role orientation on six sex-role scales.

A comparison was made of the sex roles of homosexual and heterosexual men and women on the Bem Sex Role Inventory, Personality Attributes Questionnaire, Personality Research Form Androgyny Scale, Adjective Checklist Masculinity and Femininity Scales, Extended Personality Attributes Questionnaire and Undesirable Characteristics Scale. The results indicated that homosexuals and heterosexuals differ in their response to different aspects of sex roles. The most consistent difference was the greater femininity of male homosexuals in respect to male heterosexuals. Other differences were scale-specific and the low interscale comparability indicated such scales should not be used interchangeably. Differences between results of studies comparing sex roles of the homosexuals and heterosexuals appear attributable to sample heterogeneity and distinctions between sex-role scales.

The CPI Femininity Scale in Kuwait and Egypt

The 38-item Femininity scale (Fe) of the California Psychological Inventory has validly differentiated between males and females in nine countries. Further cross-cultural study therefore seemed warranted. No such study had been undertaken in the Arab culture. An Arabic translation was administered to Egyptian males (91) and females (200) and Kuwaiti males (202) and females (227). The means for Egyptian males and females were 18.51 and 22.22, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (p < .001); the means for Kuwaiti males and females were 17.92 and 20.93, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (p < .001). Twenty-five items in Egypt and 21 items in Kuwait differentiated in the proper direction. Although the Fe scale functioned validly in this Arabian evaluation, its level of efficiency was somewhat lower than the original.

How Valid is the Social Desirability Scale of Bem's Sex Role Inventory

Extensive research has been carried out on Bern's Masculinity and Femininity scales, but little has been reported on the validity of the Social Desirability scale, so correlations were obtained for the Marlowe and Crowne Social Desirability Scale and Bern's scales, as well as a factor analysis of Bern's inventory, and mean sex differences for Bern's Social Desirability items. 478 first-year undergraduate students, aged 18 to 22 yr., 214 men and 264 women, were subjects. Correlations of Marlowe-Crowne scores were .42 with Bern's Social Desirability, .20 with Masculinity, and .13 with Femininity. Factor analysis of responses to Bern's inventory gave four factors: the social desirability items had high loadings, and no single social desirability factor was found that included the items of this scale in a representative number. Finally, nine of Bern's social desirability items were differentially endorsed by men and women. These results suggest that Bern's Social Desirability scale measures socially desirable characteristics, although the items do not form a cohesive scale and are not independent of sex.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the BEM Sex-Role Inventory

Confirmatory maximum likelihood factor analyses of the long and short versions of Bern's Masculinity and Femininity scales were conducted using two samples. The long-form Femininity Scale contained a number of items that did not load properly on the hypothesized factor. The short form of the inventory was more homogeneous than the long form and provided a better fit to the data than both two- and four-factor models of the long form.

Relations between instrumental and expressive personality characteristics and behaviors: A test of spence and Helmreich's theory

The purpose of this study was to test J. T. Spence and R. L. Helmreich's hypothesis that socially desirable instrumental and expressive personality characteristics are predictive of behaviors that call directly upon instrumental and expressive skills. An initial ( N = 400) and a cross-validation sample ( N = 288) of undergraduates completed a 92-item self-report instrument (Instrumental and Expressive Behavior Inventory; IEBI) designed to assess instrumental and expressive behaviors. The four multiple-act behavioral scales of the IEBI were empirically derived; three tapped instrumental behaviors and one tapped expressive behaviors. As was expected, correlational and regression results indicated that, for males and females, the Masculinity and Femininity scales of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) and the short Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) were related to instrumental and expressive behaviors, respectively. The results lend construct validity to Spence and Helmreich's PAQ and Bem's short BSRI as measures of instrumental and expressive attributes. The findings are discussed in terms of some of the cognitive processes involved in responding to trait and behavioral measures and in terms of the person-situation controversy.

The relationship between Eysenck's personality dimensions and Bem's masculinity and femininity scales

This study examines the relationship between the personality dimensions of Neuroticism, Extraversion and Psychoticism from the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and the two major scales of the revised Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI-R) Masculinity and Femininity. The results showed the hypothesized significant positive relationship between Extraversion and both Masculinity and Femininity for females only. Neuroticism was negatively related to Masculinity for women, as expected, but also negatively related to Femininity, a result contrary to hypothesis.Psychoticism was negatively correlated with Femininity for women, as expected. The expected relationship between Psychoticism and Masculinity was not found. The only hypothesized relationship which reached significance for males was a strong relationship betwen Extraversion and Masculinity. Results were discussed in light of the sex differences found.

Sex role development as a function of college experiences

The purpose was to evaluate the effect of college experiences on androgyny. One hundred and thirty-nine freshman and 57 senior women completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) as well as measures to assess precollege variables, including a biographical questionnaire, a life experience survey, a measure of parental identification, and parental sex role inventories. In addition, seniors completed measures that assessed college experiences. Almost all of the scales on the two precollege questionnaires that measured parental variables were found related to student's sex role. Consequently, all remaining relationships with sex role were examined with and without controlling for these parental scales. None of the variables that measured college experiences were found to be significantly related to sex role. The results did not support the hypothesis that seniors would assume a more masculine sex role than freshmen. However, the seniors did obtain significantly lower scores than freshmen on the BSRI Femininity scale.

The stability and attitudinal correlates of warmth and caring in medical students.

It is often said that medical school admits students who are compassionate, nurturant and person-oriented, and transforms them into cold, impersonal graduates. These attributes describe two ends of a personality trait continuum referred to as psychological femininity. The Femininity Scale of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire was administered to a class of medical students four times over 3 years. Measures of empathy, attitudes towards doctor-patient relations and attitudes towards professional psychological help were also obtained. Femininity appears to be normally distributed, remarkably stable over a 28-month interval and predictive of attitudinal measures of empathy, readiness to make psychiatric referrals, recognition of one's own need for psychological help, and a non-cynical, person-oriented approach to patient care. Such findings suggest a different state of affairs within medical training than is usually portrayed. Rather than viewing medical school as having a universally adverse effect on student compassion, medical school has virtually no effect on self-reports of warmth, kindness, helpfulness, etc. Students at different ends of the femininity continuum may require different interventions aimed at teaching communication skills and interpersonal sensitivity.

Femininity-Masculinity of Blacks and Whites over a Fourteen-Year Period

From 1973 through 1986 black and white college students took the Gough Femininity Scale. 1528 black females were not different from 936 white females, nor were 664 black males different from 554 white males. There were no apparent trends of increasing or decreasing femininity or masculinity, nor decreasing differences between men and women over the length of the study. Scores from 1973 through 1986 were not different from Gough's 1952 standardization sample.

Sex-Role Identity, Gender Identity, and Self-Schemata

Forty females and 40 males were shown slides of masculine and feminine phrases controlled for social desirability, sex-linked content, syllable length, and negative semantic construction to evaluate schematic processing on the dimensions of masculinity and femininity. Their responses to the phrases were timed. The BSRI, PAQ, and SSRIQ administered subsequent to the slide presentation were used to categorize subjects into groups of masculine, feminine, androgynous, and undifferentiated. Comparisons between the groups evaluated by the different scales indicated that the PAQ was the best predictor of schematic processing and that the SSRIQ and gender were not predictors of schematic processing. Correlations between the SSRIQ and the masculine and feminine scales of the BSRI and PAQ provided evidence partially supportive of Storms's (1979) theory that sex-role identity influences the development of same-sex-typed attributes but does not influence opposite-sex-typed attributes.

The effect of response style on the validity of the BSRI

The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), one of the most frequently used measures of sex role identity, comprises 60 personal descriptors, of which 20 are classified as masculine, 20 as feminine, and 20 as neutral with respect to sex-role identity. In order to examine possible effects of response tendency on this measure of sex-role identity, 133 students were administered the BSRI and subsequently assigned to sex-role categories (Androgynous, Masculine, Feminine, Undifferentiated) according to the procedures recommended by Bem. Analysis revealed significant differences in the magnitude of neutral, social desirability scores across sex-role categories. Findings support the contention that a response tendency, unrelated to sex-role identity, appears to influence individual self-ratings on the Masculine and Feminine scales of the BSRI and, thus, the assignment of individuals to sex-role category.

Self-esteem of female athletes and nonathletes relative to sex role type and sport type

The purpose of the present research was to investigate the relationship of the self-esteem of female athletes and nonathletes to sex role type and sport type. The athletic group was comprised of 75 female collegiate athletes from eight sports and the nonathletic group consisted of a random sample of 75 female nonathletes. An assessment of self-esteem and sex role type was completed through administering to all subjects the short form of the (PRF) ANDRO Scale of Masculinity and Femininity, and the Interpersonal Disposition Inventory (IDI). On the basis of the results of the IDI, the subjects were categorized into four sex role types: androgynous, masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated. Based upon previous research, it was predicted that (1) athletes would exhibit higher self-esteem scores than nonathletes, (2) the self-esteem of androgynous individuals would be higher than other sex role types, (3) the self-esteem of feminine or undifferentiated individuals would be lower than other sex role types, (4) the self-esteem of female athletes in higher femininity status sports would be greater than those in lower femininity status sports, and (5) there would be a greater proportion of androgynous athletes and feminine nonathletes. The following significant results were found: nonathletes in the feminine sex role type were lower in self-esteem than all other groups; and there was a greater proportion of androgynous athletes and feminine nonathletes than expected by chance. There were no differences in self-esteem of athletes in higher femininity status vs lower femininity status sports. These findings were discussed relative to past research, and the potential impact of sport on the psychosocial development or selection of certain sex role types.

The masculine and feminine self-disclosure scale: The politics of masculine and feminine self-presentation

A self-disclosure questionnaire was devised to examine women's and men's willingness to disclose information about the “masculine” and “feminine” aspects of themselves. The Masculine and Feminine Self-Disclosure Scale (MFSDS) has four separate subscales: two masculine scales assess the tendency to discuss agentic, instrumental traits and behaviors; and two feminine scales measure the tendency to self-disclose about communal, expressive traits and behaviors. The results indicated that women's and men's disclosure of their masculine-instrumental and feminine-expressive traits and behaviors to a disclosure recipient was tempered by the content of the disclosure and the personal characteristics of the disclosure recipient. These findings were interpreted within a self-presentational analysis that women and men attempted to foster favorable masculine-instrumental and feminine-expressive images for particular persons.

THE FACTOR STRUCTURE OF THE BEM SEX‐ROLE INVENTORY (BSRI)

Research on the factor structure of the Bem Sex‐Role Inventory generally indicates the existence of a number of smaller factors in addition to a major Masculine factor and a major Feminine factor. This has led to a suggestion that contrary to Bern's proposal, the scale is multidimensional. The present study attempted to examine further the factor structure of BSRI when applied to a non‐Western sample. The results of a factor analysis appear to confirm the suggestion that BSRI is multidimensional. There are also indications that both the Masculine and the Feminine scales have high internal consistencies which can be improved further if certain items were removed.