Sex Role Orientation Research Articles

Consistency of Aggressive, Assertive, and Submissive Behavior in Male Adolescents

Abstract The cross-dimensional and cross-situational consistency of the interpersonal behavior of 82 male adolescents varied as a function of their sex role orientation and class of behavior. The adolescents were observed over a 3-month period in a variety of naturally occurring school activities. Whereas 28 of 91 intercorrelations among the aggressiveness dimensions were statistically significant for masculine-typed subjects, only 9 of 91 were significant for feminine-typed subjects. Considerable cross-dimensional and cross-situational consistency of assertiveness for the entire sample was reflected in (a) 10 of 36 intercorrelations among the assertiveness dimensions achieving statistical significance; (b) a significant positive correlation between assertiveness levels in conflictual and nonconflictual situations; and (c) a significant positive correlation between assertiveness levels in passive-structured and active-structured contexts.

Television sex roles in the 1980s: Do viewers' sex and sex role orientation change the picture?

This study investigated viewer perceptions of female and male television characters as a result of viewer sex and sex role orientation. Young adult viewers (N=677) rated television characters and themselves using the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ). Viewers were classified as feminine, masculine, androgynous, or undifferentiated in their PAQ orientations. The television characters were four men and four women who shared the lead and a working relationship on crime action shows. Results indicated that viewers rated all the male characters as stereotypical masculine, but only one female character as stereotypical feminine. Viewer sex and sex role orientations did affect ratings. Viewer sex had a greater impact on the ratings of female characters than on the ratings of male characters. Female viewers tended to rate female characters as higher in instrumental and masculine traits than male viewers did. Results based on sex role orientation of the viewer were inconsistent across characters, but in general, undifferentiated viewers rated both male and female characters as low in expressive and instrumental traits compared to how androgynous viewers rated them. Further, a masculine sex role orientation appeared to block perception of expressive traits in both male and female characters.

A theoretical analysis of sex differences in same-sex friendships

An investigation of sex differences in same-sex friendships was conducted in terms of the intersection and social penetration model of relationship development, and Bem's theory of sex role orientation. The results indicated that there were significant sex differences in the nature of the same-sex friendships studied. In the terminology of Levinger's (“Toward the Analysis of Close Relationships,” Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1980, 16, 510–544) intersection model, female same-sex friendships indicated greater involvement. In the terminology of Altman and Taylor's (Social Penetration: The Development of Interpersonal Relationships, New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1973) social penetration model, female friendships demonstrated greater depth. Overall, the female friendships were of longer duration than those of the males. The differences in involvement and depth were found within each designated level of friendship (causal, good, and close). However, the difference in involvement was moderated by the sex role orientation of the participants, in that the sex difference was greater between sex-typed individuals than between androgynous individuals. An examination of questionnaire subscale intercorrelations indicated that females tended to seek friends to whom they could relate in many different areas, while males tended to develop different relationships to meet different needs.

Adolescent sex-role orientation and ego identity

This study investigated the relationship between sex-role development and ego development in a sample of 9th-12th grade Anglo-American and Mexican-American students attending high school in a southwestern state. All students were administered: (a) the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (Grotevant and Adams, 1984) as a measure of ego development (i.e., diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and identity achievement), and (b) the Personal Attributes Questionnaire Short Form (Spence, Helmreich and Stapp, 1975) as a measure of masculinity and femininity. Results indicated no ethnic differences in the relationship between ego identity and masculinity/femininity. Adolescents who were identity achieved on ideological identity formation had significantly higher levels of masculinity than did moratorium, foreclosed, and diffused individuals. For interpersonal identity, identity achieved adolescents had higher levels of both masculinity and femininity than did individuals who were foreclosed, diffused, or in moratorium. Discussion centered on these results in light of the additional finding that there was little shared variance (eta2) between masculinity, femininity and ego identity.

Sex role orientations of male and female collegiate athletes from selected individual and team sports

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether the sex role orientations of male and female collegiate athletes were more similar in team sports than in individual sports. It was predicted that females in masculine-oriented team sports (basketball and volleyball) would exhibit sex role orientations more similar to those of their male counterparts than would females in individual sports (track/field and swimming). To test this notion the S. L. Bem (“The Measurement of Psychological Androgyny, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1974, 42, 155–167) Sex Role Inventory was administered to 381 athletes from 37 National Collegiate Athletic Association institutions. The median-split procedure (S. L. Bem, “On the Utility of Alternative Procedures for Assessing Psychology Androgyny,” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1977, 45, 196–205) was used to classify subjects as masculine, feminine, androgynous, or undifferentiated. Separate Gender × Sex Role Orientation chi square tests were performed on the frequency data of team and individual sport athletes. The results indicated no significant differences in the sex role orientations of male and female team sport performers, with the greatest proportion (66%) having a masculine (33%) or androgynous (33%) orientation. For individual sports there was a significant difference in the sex role orientations of males and females. The highest proportion of females were classified as feminine (37%) and the lowest proportion were classified as masculine (11%). Individual sport males were somewhat evenly distributed among the four sex role orientation categories, with the highest proportion classified as undifferentiated (36%). It was concluded that sex role orientation of elite female athletes may be associated with the male appropriateness of the sport in which they participate.

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.

Family and Social Network Factors After Divorce in Catholic Italian Women and Catholic Anglophone Women

Twenty-one Catholic Italian divorced women and a matched group of 21 Catholic Anglophone divorced women (who were born in Canada and whose ethnic roots were in Great Britain) were studied with regard to several family and social network variables. It was found that Catholic Italian women reported having grown up in an extended family situation more frequently, rated their degree of family loyalty as greater, felt that their fathers were more disapproving of their divorces, and reported fewer nonfamily members who could be relied on to provide emotional support than Catholic Anglophone women. However, the two groups did not differ significantly in terms of family concept, interaction with their parents after divorce, network density, mothers' approval/disapproval of the divorce, and sex role orientation. The findings were discussed in terms of the limits of the methods used in this study and suggestions for further research.

Determinants of household division of labor: resources, power, and ideology.

Using data from a large sample of married couples (N = 3,649), this study examines factors that are correlated with the amount of a husband's participation in domestic work. It was hypothesized that both spouses' earnings, work status, sex-role orientations, their power relationship, and the interaction between power and sex-role orientations were related to the husband's relative share in domestic work. The hypothesized relationships were found statistically significant in these data. The pattern of household division of labor apparently is affected not only by both spouses' monetary contributions, but also by their time availabilities, power relations, and ideologies.

Age as a moderator of the relation between three dimensions of satisfaction and sex role

We examined the moderating effect of age on the relation between sex role orientation and relationship and job satisfaction as well as life satisfaction. Two hundred and thirty-two noncollege married, employed, young, middle, and older adults were administered the Bem Sex Role Inventory, the General Positive Affect Scale, the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Age significantly moderated the relation between each type of sex role and life satisfaction. As age increased, the strength of the relation between sex role and life satisfaction increased. Age also moderated the relation between masculinity and androgyny and job satisfaction, whereas femininity was not significant in predicting job satisfaction. There were no significant predictors of relationship satisfaction.

Self-Esteem and Sex-Role Attitudes: A Comparison of Italian- and Anglo-Australian Adolescent Girls

Two groups of 15-year-old girls, one Italian-Australian (IA, n = 60), and one Anglo-Australian (AA, n = 48), were compared on self-esteem and a wide range of measures associated with sex roles, including sex-role satisfaction, sex-role orientation, and assessment of and attitudes toward sex-role differentiation in the family and the culture. Self-esteem and sex-role satisfaction did not differ in the two groups. Nor were there differences in attitudes toward sex-role differentiation, even though cultural and familial differentiation were greater in the IA group and males were accorded relatively more value. However, the groups did differ in the pattern of variables associated with self-esteem and with these sex-role measures. In the more traditional IA subculture, girls' sex-role attitudes correlated with situational constraints. Unlike the AA girls, self-esteem was, in part, associated with stereotypic feminine attributes and preoccupations, and conformed to the androgyny model of well-being. In the AA group, sex-role attitudes and self-esteem were associated with perceptions of personal qualities valued in the broader, more egalitarian culture, such as intellectual ability and masculinity, thus confirming the masculinity model.

Influences of Gender and Sex Role Orientation on Help-Seeking Attitudes

Abstract In this study, I investigated the influence of gender and sex role orientation on help-seeking attitudes. Two hundred eighteen college students (124 female, 94 male) completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory and the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help scales. Results revealed that both gender and sex role orientation significantly influence help-seeking attitudes. Women were more tolerant of the stigma associated with seeking professional help, more willing to recognize a personal need for help, and more open to sharing problems with others. Students classified as feminine were more confident in professionals' ability to help with personal problems and, along with androgynous students, were more willing to recognize a personal need for help.

Moral judgment and sex role orientation as a function of self and other presentation mode

Gilligan's concern for a negative bias in assessing moral reasoning based on feminine interpersonal orientations and corresponding positive bias in favor of masculine orientations of justice and equity was explored. Bem's Sex Role Inventory provided a psychological index of orientation rather than only biological sex. College men and women completed Rest's moral dilemmas (DIT) in the usual manner-other condition-or assumed the role of the central character-self condition. The latter procedure augmented affective dimensions assumed to underlie orientation differences. Males in the other condition scored higher on the DIT than those in the self condition; females revealed the opposite pattern. Using the sex role categories, it appeared that androgynous males had higher DIT scores in the self condition than in the other condition, in direct contrast to the overall results for males. For females who were androgynous or masculine in orientation, the self condition resulted in higher DIT scores than the other condition. Generally, the greater affective demands in the self condition produced a higher frequency of Stage 3 use for men and women regardless of sex role orientation. The other condition showed a higher percentage of Stage 4 use among males and females independent of sex role orientation. Sex role orientation and affective arousal were discussed in terms of Gilligan's view of moral judgment development.

Sex-Role Orientations among Married Men in the Military: The Generational Factor

Drawing upon a probability sample of 928 US Air Force married men from 24 bases worldwide, the present study examined the extent to which variation in sex-role orientation is age-related. Parallel to findings in the civilian community, younger men in the military, as compared to their more senior peers, reported more egalitarian attitudes toward the roles of men and women in marriage and society.

Gender Self-Concepts in the USA and Yugoslavia

This study was designed to measure differences between Yugoslavian and US college students in sex-role orientation. It was hypothesized that there would be significant differences in the number of Yugoslavian and US students classified as androgynous, masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated. 52 male and 52 female students at the University of Belgrade, and 43 male and 63 female students from San Francisco Bay Area colleges and universities completed the Bern Sex-role Inventory. Analysis supported the hypothesis. Significantly more US males and females than their Yugoslavian peers were classified as androgynous. Significantly more Yugoslavian male and female students than US students were classified as undifferentiated. Significantly more US female than Yugoslavian female students were classified as masculine, and significantly more Yugoslavian female than US female students were classified as feminine. The results were discussed in terms of differences in the political, sociocultural, and economic conditions in the two countries.

Masculinity, femininity, and self-esteem: A multitrait-multimethod analysis

A multitrait-multimethod matrix analysis was conducted to determine (1) the degree to which self-report trait and behavior measures of sex role orientation converge, (2) the degree to which measures of masculinity and self-esteem can be discriminated, and (3) the relative degree of relationship of trait and behavior measures of sex role orientation to self-esteem. The results indicated that trait and behavior measures of masculinity and femininity showed little convergence, that trait masculinity did not meet the criteria for discrimination from self-esteem, and that trait masculinity was more strongly correlated with self-esteem than was behavior masculinity. These results were stronger for women than for men.

Perceived A Gentic and Communal Behavior in Mixed-Sex Group Interactions.

Twenty-six male and 26 female undergraduates participated in four-person mixed-sex group discussions. After each of three discussions in which a consensus was required, each person in the group rated the other members on their degree of talkativeness, on the quality of their expressed ideas, and on the degree of their concern for other's feelings. Results showed that sex role orientation alone predicted task-orientation; individuals of both sexes who had high masculinity scores on the BSRI were perceived to have talked more and to have had good ideas. Gender and sex role orientation predicted warm socioemotional behavior: Females and individuals with high femininity scores were judged to have been more concerned about group members' feelings. The prediction that androgynous individuals would exhibit the greatest behavioral flexibility (perform both task and socioemotional behaviors) was marginally supported.

Status Enhancement and Fertility: Reproductive Responses to Social Mobility and Educational Opportunity

This book synthesizes conceptual frameworks around which research on the determinants of fertility have been organized. Elaborating underlying causal dynamics it specifies how both traditional and more modern status attainment processes affect fertility. Emphasis is given to the potent role education plays in developing modern sex-role orientations among women and in providing them with the means to pursue rewarding alternatives to bearing large families. Womens education enlightenment social options and knowledge to control their reproductive destinies are intricately related. The books contents are organized around 2 general processes: social mobility and educational attainment. The 1st half of the book assesses what is known about the relationship between social mobility and fertility and advances this knowledge through theoretical synthesis. A literature review of what has been done in social mobility-fertility studies is included. A fundamental problem repeatedly emerging in analytical approaches to the social mobility-fertility question is the male-oriented focus on the research. Rather than comparing the situation of women with that of men this book compares women with each other in terms of labor force participation and age at 1st birth. How education serves as an independent status enhancement mechanism for women by influencing these factors and how this influence affects fertility is also explored. The fundamental conclusion drawn from the assessment of social mobility-fertility research is that a shift is required from a predominantly male-dependent status orientation to a more female-oriented focus. Thus the 2nd half of the book examines mechanisms through which women achieve status by their own initiatives and how this achievement is reflected in reproductive behavior. While each book section overviews empirical associations reported to date apropos status enhancement and fertility the main thrust is to elaborate causal processes proposed to explain observed associations.

Overeating and sex-role orientation in women

In a study on 540 women, the relationship between overeating and sex-role orientation, and the effects of anxiety and negative self-concept on this relationship was studied. Two types of overeating are distinguished: emotional, and external eating behavior. Both emotional and external eating behavior were found to be related to the adherence to feminine stereotype traits, not to the adherence to masculine stereotype traits. Furthermore, these relationships were attenuated when scores for the scales for anxiety and self-concept were partialed out. This suggests that the contribution of femininity to both types of overeating is due mainly to anxiety and negative self-concept associated with female stereotype traits. It is concluded that feminine sex-typed women seem to be particularly at risk for overeating.

SEX-ROLE ORIENTATION: DIFFERENCES AMONG STUDENTS AND TEACHERS

The Bem Sex-role Inventory was administered to a total of 408 students and 393 teachers who were randomly selected from seven Caribbean States. Analyses indicated marked differentiation of males (both teachers and students) and females (both teachers and students) in sex-role orientation. Comparisons between students arid teachers on both the masculinity and femininity dimensions showed the students to be more rigidly sex-typed.

The masculinity?Irrationality relationship explored: Searching for a common denominator

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relative empirical support for two alternative ways of interpreting the relationship between masculinity and irrationality. The common denominator in this particular relationship was theoretically assumed to either reflect a person's ‘locus of control’ expectations or his/her level of self-esteem. Two separate empirical studies were performed with groups of undergraduate university students. Both studies replicated earlier results, thus supporting the masculinity hypothesis as the one accounting for the relationship between sex-role orientation and irrationality. Of the two possible common denominators explaining this relationship, level of self-esteem was the one receiving the strongest empirical support. Some interesting gender differences concerning these two possible common denominators were also found.