Gender Role Traits Research Articles

Gender, gender role identity, and children's reported feelings toward the same and opposite sex

The present study explored the relative importance of gender role identity, gender role attitudes, and biological gender in determining the intensity of anger, disgust, hurt, envy, fear, pity, and liking reported toward same- and opposite-sex children. Sixty male and 60 female 6–12-year-old children reported on the intensity of emotions that a hypothetical child would experience toward same- and opposite-sex children in various situations. The Children's Personal Attitudes Questionnaire, the Children's Attitudes toward Women Scale, and a self-reported toy preference measure were used to assess gender role identity and attitudes. The results indicated that girls were more angry at males than at females, and that both sexes tended to be more hurt and disgusted by opposite-sex than by same-sex children. Girls also tended to report more fear than did boys, and both sexes tended to report more fear of males than of females. Most importantly, gender role identity and attitudes accounted for more of the variance in predicting the quality of reported emotions than did biological gender. Biological gender predicted to only one feeling: pity toward males, after the variance accounted for by the gender role traits was removed. In general, both boys and girls who scored highly on feminine gender role identity were both communal and vulnerable in their reported emotions (high in reported liking, fear, and hurt). Children's reported feelings toward the same- and opposite-sex children seemed to be based on the evaluation of whether other children's biological gender differed from the children's own gender role identity characteristics.

The Relationship between Barriers to Recreation and Gender-Role Personality Traits for Women

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the barriers to recreation confronting women and to determine the relationship between perceived barriers and gender-role traits as measured by androgynou...

Air Force Academy Graduates and Nongraduates: Attitudes and Self-Concepts

A general finding of socialization research at U.S. military academies is that it reinforces relatively traditional attitudes and masculine gender role traits of young men. The relative effect of military academy training on the attitudes and orientations of young men and women graduates and nongraduates is assessed, using data from the U.S. Air Force Academy. Although both graduates and nongraduates become more egalitarian about changing gender roles, these changes are not as marked for graduates. Graduates are also more likely to retain more traditional family life-style expectations than those who leave the academy. Nongraduates are more likely to shift away from traditionally masculine and feminine identities than graduates, according to the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Interestingly, among female graduates, the largest number shifted to strictly feminine identities. These findings are discussed in the context of the socialization of women in male-dominated environments.

Marital Status and Age as Related to Masculine and Feminine Personality Dimensions and Self-Esteem

Abstract The relationships among marital status, gender role traits, and self-esteem in a sample of American men and women was investigated in the present study. Divorce was found to be associated with shifts in gender role identity, leading to greater masculine (but not androgynous) personality traits for both sexes. Intact marriages were associated with higher self-esteem and greater masculinity for both sexes, and greater feminity for women. Masculinity and feminity both contributed to women's self-esteem, but only masculinity was associated with male self-esteem. Finally, comparisons between the present data and those of Spence and Helmreich (1978) suggest the need for more research on gender role identification with nonacademic adult samples.