Sex-role Beliefs Research Articles

On whose side are you: perspective-taking and attribution of blame in handling sexual harassment complaints

PurposeThe authors aim to explore how perspective-taking and attribution of blame lead to side-taking by human resource professionals (HRPs) when making judgements and handling complaints of sexual harassment.Design/methodology/approachEmploying qualitative methodology, the authors used semi-structured in-depth interviews with 35 HRPs from 30 companies in Sri Lanka. Attribution theory and perspective-taking were used as theoretical lenses.FindingsIn handling complaints of sexual harassment incidents, HRPs take the perspectives of the alleged perpetrator, complainant, or the company and attribute the blame to the alleged perpetrator or the complainant. Irrespective of the gender of the HRPs and the perspective they take, they would most often blame the female complainants due to sexual harassment myths and misperceptions and traditional sex-role beliefs. Thus, they either take the side of the alleged perpetrator or the company, explicitly/implicitly or intentionally/unintentionally.Originality/valueThe central originality of this research is the finding that HRPs take sides in resolving complaints of sexual harassment and perspective-taking and attribution of blame by HRPs lead to this side-taking in organisational settings.

The Effects of Parenting Styles on Sex-Role Ideologies of Pru West Senior High Students

No two parents view things in the same way when it comes to raising their children. In this light, the current study attempted to establish a link between parenting methods and gender role ideas. This study used a correlational research design. We selected 300 individuals from a population of 1480 using stratified and simple random selection procedures. The participants’ parenting styles were assessed using Buri’s (1991) Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ), and their sex role beliefs were assessed using Williams and Best’s Sex-Role Ideology Scale (SRIS) (1990). Moment of Pearson-Product Correlation was used to determine the relationship between parenting methods and sex role ideology, while regression was utilised to determine the variables’ predictions. It was discovered that parenting techniques had no effect on the participants’ sex-role ideas. Individuals with an authoritative parenting style, on the other hand, were more likely to develop a more modern sex-role ideology, whereas those with an authoritarian parenting style developed a more conventional sex-role ideology. Additionally, both sex and religion predicted modern and traditional sex-role ideas, respectively. Tribe anticipated an authoritative parenting style without regard for either permissive or authoritarian parenting methods. The study recommends that because parenting styles are related to sex-role ideology, guidance and counselling coordinators should place a premium on the most effective parenting style in order to help students develop an acceptable sex role ideology.

Examination of factors affecting males’ determination of sexual harrassment Criminal Psychology

직장내 성희롱은 오랜 기간 사회적 문제로 제기되어 왔고 관련대책도 증가하고 있지만 좀처럼 근절되지 않고 있다. 지난 수십 년간 성희롱 연구가들은 성희롱에 대한 개념과 판단에 성별, 연령 등의 사회인구학적 요인, 권력관계, 조직내 분위기, 가부장적 사회 등의 사회문화적 요인, 성희롱 관련 인식차이와 같은 개인적 요인이 영향을 미친다고 지적해왔다. 성희롱 행위의 상당수가 남성에게서 발생한다는 점을 고려하여 본 연구에서는 직장인 남성의 성희롱 판단에 영향을 미치는 요인을 탐색코자 하였다. 이를 위해 기존의 성희롱 관련 판례 등을 참고하여 직장내 성희롱을 묘사하는 4개의 시나리오를 구성한 후, 이를 권력관계, 성희롱유형, 피해자반응으로 변이시켜 직장에 재직 중인 남성 참여자(N=452)에게 성희롱 정도를 판단케 하였다. 또한 응답자의 사회인구학적 특성 및 인식적 특성(성희롱 관련 통념) 등을 함께 투입하여 성희롱 판단에 영향을 미치는 요인을 탐색하였다. 연구결과, 우리나라 직장인 남성들은 성희롱 행위의 유형 즉, ‘성적(sexual) 성질’을 성희롱 판단 정도에 가장 고려하는 것으로 나타났다. 권력관계는 부분적으로 영향을 미쳤는데, 성희롱 행위가 신체적일 때는 성희롱 판단에 별다른 영향을 미치지는 않다가 언어적일 때는 동료 간의 상황보다 권력관계에서 일어나는 상황을 보다 더 성희롱으로 판단하고 있었다. 일부 시나리오에서는 개인이 가지고 있는 성희롱 관련 통념이 성희롱 판단에 영향을 미쳐, 성희롱 관련 통념이 존재할수록 관련 상황을 성희롱으로 판단하지 않는 것으로 나타났다. 성희롱 행위경험이나 연령 등은 성희롱 판단에 영향을 미치지 않았다. 이러한 결과는 남성이 직장내 성희롱을 판단할 때 행위의 ‘성적 성질’을 가장 중시하면서 권력관계에서 발생하는 예외적 경우가 아니면 언어적 성희롱에 다소 덜 민감할 수 있음과, 개별적 남성이 가지고 있는 ‘성희롱 관련 통념 및 인식’이 연령이나 성희롱 표출경험보다 성희롱 판단에 영향을 미치는 것으로 해석되었다. 향후 남성의 성희롱 예방교육에서 성희롱 관련 사례 분석 및 논의 등을 강화하여 언어적 성희롱을 포함한 성희롱 전반행위에 대한 민감성을 기르고, 개인의 성희롱 관련 통념 수준을 진단하여 문제가 있을 경우 그 수준을 감소시키는 참여형 교육으로 변모시킬 필요가 있음을 제안하였다.Sexual harrassment has been a societal problem for a long time and public measures to counteract to it has been increasing, but noticeable change has not been yet found. Many researchers have pointed that one of the reasons that sexual harassment has not been exterminated lies in difficulty in determining it. In order to examine what factors affect judging sexual harassment, we created 4 scenarios based on actual sexual harassment cases, varied them with power-relationships, sexual harassment types and victim responses, assigned the varied 32 scenarios to all participants(N=452) randomly, and had them rate to what extent the illustrated acts were sexually harassing. We also examined personal factors(age, marital status, experience of committing sexual harassment), individual perceptions(conventional beliefs on sexual harassment, sex role beliefs, rape myth) along with the varied scenario factors. The results showed that participants considered the sexual nature of the illustrated act foremost in determining sexual harassment. When the sexual harassment involved physical acts, power relationship did not affect at all, but when it did verbal ones, they rated scenarios with power relationship more sexually harassing than ones without it. In some scenarios, individual perceptions affected determining sexual harassment. The more conventional beliefs participants had, their agreement with sexual harassment became lower. These results were interpreted and discussed within individual difference model, and we suggested sexual harassment prevention education be improved by engaging participants with more activities such as role-plays or case discussions and thus encouraging them into dealing with their perceptual processes.

Men's Perceptions of an Acquaintance Rape: The Role of Relationship Length, Victim Resistance, and Gender Role Attitudes.

Sexual aggression is a persistent and prevalent issue in the United States, which often results in a number of psychological, emotional, and physical consequences for victims. The current study examined whether the length of relationship between the victim and perpetrator, level of victim resistance, and observers' gender role attitudes play a role in observers' perceptions of an alleged sexual assault. Participants included 297 male college students from a public university in the Northeastern United States. Contrary to hypotheses, there were no significant effects for length of relationship on participants' attributions. Relative to no resistance, verbal and physical strategies by the victim predicted higher levels of victim credibility, perpetrator culpability, and perpetrator guilt, as well as lower levels of victim culpability and perceived victim pleasure. Endorsement of traditional adversarial sex role beliefs and hostile sexist attitudes, as opposed to egalitarian attitudes, were associated with the attribution of less credibility to the victim, perceived victim trauma, perpetrator culpability, perpetrator guilt, and shorter recommended prison sentences, as well as greater victim culpability and perceived victim pleasure. Laypersons' perceptions of sexual assault merit further study, as they are relevant to juror decision making and third party responses to sexual victimization (e.g., peer support for victim) and can contribute to the secondary victimization and recovery of survivors of sexual assault.

Multi-cultural Adaptation of the O' Kelly Women Beliefs Scale to Samples in the US, India, Colombia, and Mexico

The present exploratory study examined the psychometric properties of the O'Kelly Women's Belief Scales (O'Kelly, 2011) an instrument that measures women, s irrational beliefs about traditional feminine sex role stereotypes, in a multi-cultural sample of 1644 women born and living in the US, India, Colombia, and Mexico. A varimax rotation with cutoff eigenvalues of 3, showed that 43 items loaded into 5 components which accounted for 38.43% of the variance of this multinational version. The items were subsequently grouped into: Irrationality, with a total of 24 items and Rationality, with the 13 items. Analyses indicated a Cronbach's alpha from .72 to .88. Results indicate that this version of the instrument may be used to evaluate both the rational and irrational content of sex-role beliefs of women born in the US, India, Colombia, and Mexico.

Preliminary factor analysis of the O’Kelly Women Beliefs Scale in a US sample

Using a Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy framework, the O’Kelly Women Beliefs Scale (O’Kelly, in press) was originally constructed in Australia to measure sex-role beliefs women may develop through sex-role stereotyping. Factor analysis of the 92 original items showed that 64 items loaded into a single component that accounted for 18.2% of the variance in a sample of 974 Australian women. The present exploratory study examined the psychometric properties of the OWBS in a sample of 202 women born and living in the US. A varimax rotation with cutoff eigenvalues of 3, showed that 37 items loaded into 3 components which accounted for 58.48% of the variance. The items were subsequently grouped into two factors: Irrationality, with a total of 27 items was created by merging component 1 and 3 (Pearson’s r = 0.8 between them), and Rationality, with the 10 items from component 2. Analyses indicated a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.91 for Factor 1, and a Cronbach’s alpha 0.74 for Factor 2. Results indicate that this version of the instrument may be used to evaluate both the rational and irrational content of sex-role beliefs of women born in the US.

Psychometric Properties of the O’Kelly Women’s Belief Scales

Wolfe and Naimark (Using rational-emotive therapy effectively. Plenum, New York, 265–301, 1991) claim that women, through sex-role stereotyping, may develop sex-role beliefs that are not helpful. However, there is a dearth of research in this area with one of the major problems being the lack of an instrument to measure such sex-role beliefs. To date the Bem Sex Role Inventory has been the main instrument used to measure gender schema. As it has been criticised extensively, a new instrument to measure gender schema was proposed. The O’Kelly Women’s Belief Scales was therefore developed within a rational-emotive behaviour therapy framework, reflecting the belief processes of demandingness, awfulising, low frustration tolerance and negative self rating. Following the development of the scale, questionnaires were sent to 2,562 women working at a large, multi-site, teaching hospital. Data from the 974 respondents resulted in the development of five subscales of the O’Kelly Women’s Belief Scales: General Traditional Beliefs, Demands, Awfulising, Low Frustration Tolerance and Negative Self Rating. Each of these subscales loaded on one factor and had high internal consistency. The scales were shown to have test–retest reliability and concurrent, divergent and construct validity.

Is it All about Sex? Acupuncture for the Treatment of Pain from a Biological and Gender Perspective

Pain is a unique personal experience showing variability where gender and sex related effects might contribute. The mechanisms underlying the differences between women and men are currently unknown but are likely to be complex and involving interactions between biological, sociocultural and psychological aspects. In women, painful experimental stimuli are generally reported to produce a greater intensity of pain than in men. Clinical pain is often reported with higher severity and frequency, longer duration, and present in a greater number of body regions in women than in men. Women are also more likely to experience a number of painful conditions such as fibromyalgia, temporomandibular dysfunction, migraine, rheumatoid arthritis and irritable bowel syndrome. With regard to biological factors, quantitative as well as qualitative differences in the endogenous pain inhibitory systems have been implicated, as well as an influence of gonadal hormones. Psychosocial factors like sex role beliefs, pain coping strategies, and pain related expectancies may also contribute to the differences. Being exposed to repeated painful visceral events (eg menses, labour) during life may contribute to an increased sensitivity to, and greater prevalence of, pain among women. When assessing the outcome of pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies in pain treatment, the factors of gender and sex should be taken into account as the response to an intervention may differ. Preferably, treatment recommendations should be based on studies using both women and men as the norm. Due to variability in results, findings from animal studies and experiments in healthy subjects should be interpreted with care.

Diferencias de sexo y género en el dolor: ¿responden las mujeres a la acupuntura mejor que los hombres?

Pain is a personal subjective multidimensional experience influenced by a number of factors with different origin like biological and socio-cultural. In women, painful experimental stimuli are generally reported to have a greater intensity in comparison with men. Clinical pain is often reported with higher severity and frequency, longer duration, and present in a greater number of body regions in women as compared to men. Women are also more frequently represented in a number of pain conditions such as fibromyalgia, temporo mandibular dysfunction, migraine, rheumatoid arthritis and irritable bowl syndrome. The mechanisms underlying these differences are still unclear but factors ranging from biological to psychosocial could all contribute. Relating to the biological factors, quantitative as well as qualitative differences in the endogenous pain inhibitory systems as well as the influence of gonadal hormones have been implicated. Psycho-social factors like sex role beliefs, pain coping strategies, and pain related expectancies may also contribute. Taken together the above findings suggest that gender aspects should be taken into consideration when designing and assessing the effects of acupuncture treatments.

Adoption by Same-Sex Couples

The current study investigated the relationship between sex-role beliefs and attitudes toward same-sex couple adoptions as suggested by Feminist and Queer theory. A mailed questionnaire was used to collect data from a purposive sample of adoption workers and social work students. The questionnaire included an abbreviated version of the Sex-Role Egalitarianism Scale and the newly created Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Couples as Adoptive Parents Scale. Findings supported the existence of a positive, linear relationship between sex-role beliefs and attitudes. Implications of the results, limitations of the investigation, and directions for future research are presented.

Women More than Men Attend to Indicators of Good Character: Two Experimental Demonstrations

Past research implicates adaptations in women to assess men's willingness to invest in offspring ( La Cerra, 1995 ). In two new studies, women's evaluations of an opposite-sex target as a long-term partner and short-term sex partner were negatively impacted by viewing that target ignore a baby in distress; this effect occurred for men in Study 1 only. Men's short-term sexual attraction to a female target was not affected by context. In Study 2, women responded similarly to a man vacuuming and to a man interacting with a happy baby. Neither sociosexual orientation nor sex-role beliefs moderated participants' sensitivity to targets' behavior. Women more than men appear to display a general sensitivity to an opposite-sex target's good character.

The long-term impacts of group treatment for partner abuse.

This paper evaluates Responsible Choices for Men, a 14-week therapy group for abusive men based on feminist perspectives using narrative methods. Pre-test and post-test information was available for 76 program completers measuring physical and non-physical abuse, self-esteem, perceived stress, family relations, depression, assertiveness, and sex-role beliefs. The men significantly improved on all variables. A further focus was following up with 22 group members, contacted 5 to 28 months post treatment and asked to complete the same measures. The results indicated not only maintenance of the post-group changes, but continued improvement. Clinical implications and recommendations for group programming with abusive men are presented.

Sex, gender, and pain: Women and men really are different

Sex-related differences in the experience of both clinical and experimentally induced pain have been widely reported. Specifically, females are at greater risk for developing several chronic pain disorders, and women exhibit greater sensitivity to noxious stimuli in the laboratory compared with men. Several mechanisms have been proposed to account for these sex differences. Psychosocial factors such as sex role beliefs, pain coping strategies, mood, and pain-related expectancies may underlie these effects. In addition, there is evidence that familial factors can alter pain responses, and these intergenerational influences may differ as a function of sex. Sex hormones are also known to affect pain responses, which may mediate the sex differences. Although the magnitude of these effects has not been well characterized, there are potentially important practical implications of sex differences in pain responses. These implications are discussed, and directions for future research are delineated.

Testing a Mediational Model of Sexually Aggressive Behavior in Nonincarcerated Perpetrators

This study examined a psychological model of male sexually aggressive behavior toward women. Forty-seven men who reported completing or attempting acts that legally represent rape in most states and 56 nonviolent men completed measures assessing early home environment, attitudes regarding women and relationships, impulsive behaviors, and peers' characteristics. As predicted, sexually aggressive behavior was associated with exposure to negative childhood experiences with fathers. These experiences included reports of emotionally distant, uncaring fathers and witnessing father-perpetrated domestic violence. The relationship between poorer fathering and sexually aggressive behavior was partially mediated by impulse control problems as a young adult. Although having delinquent peers and endorsements of hostile attitudes toward women and rigid sex-role beliefs, predicted perpetration, contrary to expectations, neither mediated the relationship between poorer fathering and perpetration.

Nursing Students' Attitudes Toward Victims of Domestic Violence as Predicted by Selected Individual and Relationship Variables

Access to quality health care for victims of abuse is often limited by the attitudes of health care professionals. Data collected from female nursing students (n = 155) revealed that those students with more egalitarian sex-role beliefs and a greater sense of control over life events were more sympathetic to battered women than those students with more traditional sex-role attitudes and less perceived control. Sex-role egalitarianism was found to be the best predictor of attitudes toward victims of domestic violence. Implications for health care practitioners and policy makers are presented.

Sex-role attitudes and clinical appraisal in psychiatry residents.

To measure sex-role beliefs of psychiatry residents and to examine bias in clinical appraisal. Residents (45 female, 51 male) evaluated 1 of 4 possible clinical case histories-a female or male patient with histrionic personality disorder (HPD) or antisocial personality disorder (APD)-and completed the Sex-Role Egalitarianism Scale (SRES). As predicted, female residents were more egalitarian than male residents (P < 0.03) according to the SRES. As expected, significantly more male than female patients received the diagnosis of APD (P < 0.00002). Although it was predicted that female patients would more often be given the HPD diagnosis than males, no significant gender differences were found. Sex of resident was not found to influence clinical behaviour significantly. These results highlight differential sex-role attitudes, as measured by the SRES, between female and male residents and suggest that residents' sex-role biases affect the diagnosis of APD. These results have implications for psychiatric assessment and treatment. Further understanding of these issues is critical to the development of educational tools to address sex biases in psychiatry.

Item radicality as a measure of quality for attitude scales: a study using sex role beliefs

We examined the relationship between item radicality and item quality or goodness, for attitude scale items measuring sex role beliefs. Item radicality was defined as the obviousness with which an item represented an extreme position toward an attitudinal object. Initially, 70 undergraduates rated 150 sex role belief items resulting in highly reliable judgements of item radicality. Subsequently, we used groups varying in degree of sex role ideology to investigate the relationship between item radicality and item quality. Results demonstrated that high item radicality is associated with high quality items. Findings were interpreted as support for the rational approach to test construction emphasizing the use of clear undisguised item content.

The Tendency to Arrest Victims of Domestic Violence

The arrest of victims of domestic violence occurs at an unexpectedly high rate and is a problem of growing concern. In this study of 111 police officers, it was predicted that those inclined to arrest the victim would have more negative stereotypes and attitudes toward victims and women in general and would tend to justify the violence. Results showed that officers with an inclination to arrest victims in vignette depictions of domestic violence believed that domestic violence is justified in some situations and that women stay in violent relationships for psychological reasons. They also reported less comfort in talking with victims. General sex-role beliefs were unrelated to their responses. Suggestions are made for officer training and further research.

Maternal depressive symptomatology over the transition to parenthood: Assessing the influence of marital satisfaction and marital sex role traditionalism.

This longitudinal study examined the importance of the marital context in predicting maternal depressive symptomatology, as assessed with marital satisfaction and the endorsement of traditional sex role beliefs about the marriage, in 142 first-time mothers and their husbands or partners. Data were collected during pregnancy and at 6 weeks and 9 months infant age. Maternal and paternal reports about the marriage were assessed, and analyses were done on the way in which marital context scores interacted with earlier and concurrent levels of maternal depressive symptomatology. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that the final model explained 57% of the variance; marital context contributed 18% of the variance beyond that of earlier symptom levels in predicting mothers'depressive symptoms 9 months after the birth of the first child

Maternal depressive symptomatology over the transition to parenthood: Assessing the influence of marital satisfaction and marital sex role traditionalism.

This longitudinal study examined the importance of the marital context in predicting maternal depressive symptomatology, as assessed with marital satisfaction and the endorsement of traditional sex role beliefs about the marriage, in 142 first-time mothers and their husbands or partners. Data were collected during pregnancy and at 6 weeks and 9 months infant age. Maternal and paternal reports about the marriage were assessed, and analyses were done on the way in which marital context scores interacted with earlier and concurrent levels of maternal depressive symptomatology. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that the final model explained 57% of the variance; marital context contributed 18% of the variance beyond that of earlier symptom levels in predicting mothers'depressive symptoms 9 months after the birth of the first child