Sex Role Perceptions Research Articles

Variations in men's psychological sex role self-perception as a function of work, social and sexual life roles.

Research was conducted to determine whether or not sex role self-perception varied across life situations. Data including demographic information and situational and global sex role was collected from men employed at a large midwestern university. Findings indicate a significant variation in sex role self-perception across work, social and sexual interactions. Regardless of whether the man generally perceives himself as masculine, feminine, or androgynous, his perceptions may change when confronted with culturally stereotypic rules and role demands. The results suggest, first, that caution be exercised in assuming that global sex role perceptions generalize to various role situations and, second, that discrepancies between the global sex role and the situational sex role could result in role strain. The latter could have clear impact upon the dyadic sexual situation.

Sex role attitude and perception of psychological abuse

This study focuses on the relationship between sex role attitude—traditionality and nontraditionality—and perception of psychological abuse. It was hypothesized that nontraditional women would be more adept at perceiving abuse than traditional women. Two hundred and fourteen subjects were polled using the Attitude Toward Women Scale. The 30 most traditional and 30 least traditional women were compared in terms of their reactions to vignettes depicting marital interactions. Several factors were analyzed in an attempt to explain why the nontraditional women were more sensitive in their perception of psychological abuse. Among these factors were educational level, tolerance for conflict, participation in consciousness-raising groups, “psychological sophistication,” and religious background.

Marital Satisfaction and Sex Role Perceptions among Dual-Earner Couples

This article proposes that traditional expectations regarding the spouse are still positively related to marital satisfaction. Dual-earner couples were asked to compare their intelligence, competence, professional success, and income to their spouse's and to estimate their marital satisfaction. Their responses showed that marital satisfaction is often related to perceptions that spouses fit sex-role stereotypes (i.e., both husbands and wives perceive the husband as superior). The wives showed significant correlations between marital satisfaction and perceiving husbands as superior on all four dimensions chosen for examination. Even women employed in male-dominated occupations seemed to find these traditional expectations important, and there were no differences between them and women employed in traditional female occupations. For the husbands, significant correlations in the predicted direction appeared only on two dimensions, income and professional success (i.e., their marital satisfaction was related to their perceptions of their wives' inferiority on these two dimensions). However, there was a significant positive correlation between marital satisfaction and perceiving themselves as less intelligent than their wives.

Sex-Role Attitudes of Malaysian Women: Implications for Career Development and Counselling

The increase in the number of women entering the labour force in the past half decade has reflected a growing consciousness of the role and status of women. This phenomenon has also been observed in Malaysia where the increasing involvement of women in the manufacturing and industrial sector moreover, raises a number of issues concerning their welfare. Considering the perception of the traditional role of women in Malaysia, an important area of interest is the relationship between sex-role attitudes and career development and counselling. It has been posited that the sex-role attitudes are an important factor in the career mobility of women such that women in non-traditional careers would have a different sex-role perception from their traditional counterparts. Studies conducted by Yanico et al. (1978), O'Connel (1979), Valentine et al. (1975), and Tipton (1976), indicate that samples of both women and men who had non-traditional curriculum choices or chose nontraditional occupations had liberal or contemporary attitudes towards the roles of women in society. However, respondents in the samples who were in traditional and neo-traditional curriculum choices or who chose to be in traditional occupations had traditional or conservative attitudes.

Sex role perceptions and social anxiety in opposite-sex and same-sex situations

The relationship between perceived sex role characteristics and self-rated anxiety and self-efficacy in both opposite-sex and same-sex interactions was evaluated. Forty-five male and 45 female undergraduates were administered the Bem Sex Role Inventory, and male or female versions of the Survey of Heterosexual Interactions, the Interpersonal Interaction Survey, and a Same Sex Interaction Inventory developed for the study. For both male and female subjects, reported discomfort in both opposite-sex and same-sex situations was significantly negatively related to masculinity, and unrelated to femininity. Congruently, self-efficacy ratings were positively related to masculinity and unrelated to femininity. Androgynous and masculine subjects did not differ in reported social discomfort or self-efficacy in either type of situation. These results suggest that social difficulties are associated with a deficit in some of the characteristics associated with the masculine sex role and add to a growing body of literature finding that only masculinity is associated with mental health and adjustment. Ratings in opposite-sex and in same-sex situations were strongly correlated with each other for both male and female subjects, suggesting that dating anxiety may be part of a broader pattern of social difficulty for both men and women.

A study of college women: Androgyny and perceptions of a feminist therapist

The present study examined the dimensions of instrumentality and expressiveness with respect to sex role orientation and perceptions of a feminist therapist. Also investigated was the willingness of the subjects to see a feminist and a traditional therapist for personal and career counseling. The 167 undergraduate female students from various programs completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory, the Adjective Check List to describe their perceptions of a feminist therapist, and four willingness scales. Results indicated that the subjects, regardless of sex role orientation, perceived the feminist therapist as predominantly instrumental rather than expressive or androgynous. In addition, the subjects, regardless of sex role orientation, were more willing to see a traditional therapist for personal counseling but more willing to see feminist therapist for career counseling.

But what about smart girls? Adolescent self-esteem and sex role perceptions as a function of academic achievement.

But what about smart girls? Adolescent self-esteem and sex role perceptions as a function of academic achievement.

But what about smart girls? Adolescent self-esteem and sex role perceptions as a function of academic achievement.

But what about smart girls? Adolescent self-esteem and sex role perceptions as a function of academic achievement.

Presenting the victim: Sex-based bias in press reports on crime

Current social images and perceptions are reflected, cultivated, and reinforced by the mass media (Katz 1981). The past decade has witnessed a growing interest in mass media images of women. The large body of research on the portrayal of women in the media has focused on a number of issues. Some have examined the relationships between media images and reality (Busby 1975; Beasley and Silver 1977; Tuchman 1978, 1979; Butler and Paisley 1980; Gallagher 1981). Other studies have analyzed the relationships between media images and audience perception of sex roles (Tuchman, Daniels and Benet 1978; Butler and Paisley 1980), and yet others (Lublin 1972; Bowman 1974, Marzoff 1977) have been intrigued by the reasons for the way in which women are presented in the mass media. This study deals with media images and social reality in a relatively neglected area—female criminality and the perception of the female offender. Presumably, the media's portrayal of female offenders represents to a large extent the existing social attitude toward female criminality.

Attributes and roles assigned to characters in children's writing: Sex differences and sex-role perceptions

This research examined the creative writing of 180 elementary school children for evidence of sex difference and sex-role perceptions. Stories were analyzed for frequency of male and female characters, attributes, and roles. Writers were equally divided by sex and into three age groups—grades 1–2, 3–4, and 5–6. Results suggest that the total number of characters, roles, and attributes was equivalent. However, the distribution of male and female characters, roles, and attributes differed with male and female writers. Female writers included significantly more female characters and assigned more attributes and roles to these characters. Nevertheless, in the stories of both male and female writers, there was a predominance of male characters and assignment of attributes and roles to male characters. The findings support the development and implementation of a nonsexist curriculum.

Studies on Management-Ability in Clothing (2) : Sex Role Perceptions and Educational Needs of University Students in Clothing

Studies on Management-Ability in Clothing (2) : Sex Role Perceptions and Educational Needs of University Students in Clothing

Sex Differences in the Vocational Aspiration and Sex-Role Perceptions of Primary-School Children in Rural Kenya

Abstract This study was designed to explore sex differences in primary-school children's vocational aspirations and their perceptions of sex roles. The subjects were 203 children, 120 boys and 83 girls in Grades 3, 5, and 7. Two hypotheses were tested: (a) Boys would aspire to a greater variety of vocations that are not available within their village community than girls, and (b) both boys and girls would perceive themselves and the opposite sex in different social and professional roles. Both predictions received support. The findings are discussed in terms of the availability of career models for rural children, differential upbringing, task assignment, and cultural norms pertaining to male-female desirable and valued roles in Kipsigis.

Sex Role Perceptions and Televised Political Advertising:

With a growing number of women seeking public office, it seems particularly important to compare public perceptions of male and female candidate performances of political television commercials, a dominant form of candidate-voter communication in modern elections. This experimental study tested reactions to both male and female candidates in each of six advertising settings. Two of these were settings traditionally associated with females, two were neutral settings. Results indicated that female candidates can be just as successful in television advertisements as male candidates, and that females are particularly successful when performing in male settings.

Sex-role perceptions among black female athletes and nonathletes

This study compared sex-role perceptions of Black female college athletes and nonathletes, and examined the relationship between sex-role perceptions and socioeconomic, demographic, familial, and psychological variables. The study replicated, in part, similar research by Snyder and Kivlin, who found differences in sex-role perceptions between athletes and nonathletes. Statistical treatment of data included chi-square technique, correlation, and multiple regression analysis. Interpretation of data indicated no significant differences in sex-role perceptions between Black female athletes and nonathletes. Independent variables influencing sex-role perceptions to a significant degree included age and body weight for both subgroups, with lesser influence derived from parental education level and psychological variables. Athletes' perception of their ability and the age they began their training influenced sex-role perceptions significantly. Athletic experiences for Black females appears distinct from that of White females, as perceived by the athlete and community, and this distinction influences sex-role perceptions of female athletes.

Alcoholic women: Sex-role identification and perceptions of parental personality characteristics

Thirty alcoholic women were compared with their nonalcoholic biological sisters on several measures of sex-role identification and a checklist of parental personality characteristics. Both groups are more masculine than the female norm in sex-role style and gender identity, but these scores are unrelated to parental descriptions. Sisters describe their parents similarly, and these descriptions do not support the stereotype of alcoholic women having masculine mothers and feminine fathers. Nonalcoholic sisters perceive themselves to be more similar to their mothers in attitudes and interests, regardless of whether the mother is described as stereotypically feminine or masculine. It is concluded that sex-role identification research on alcoholic women has been based on theoretical models which exclude complex sets of interacting variables, resulting in equivocal findings.

Can the Same Instrument Be Used to Measure Sex-Role Perceptions of Males and Females?

Can the Same Instrument Be Used to Measure Sex-Role Perceptions of Males and Females?

Sex role perceptions and televised political advertising: Comparing male and female candidates

Sex role perceptions and televised political advertising: Comparing male and female candidates

Perceptions of Sex Roles: Is There Any Consistency?

The research examined how the sexes are perceived in a number of different situations. A questionnaire was used to obtain the perceptions of 16 situations, each containing a male or female, by 209 subjects (114 females, 95 males). Subjects described their perceptions in each situation on 40 word pairs. All effects were significant in a repeated-measures multivariate analysis of covariance of the data. The correlations of the 40 word pairs contained 6 oblique, principal axis factors: Thoughtful, Egotistical, Beauty, Confidence, Easy Going, and Bad. The results show the sexes to be perceived inconsistently in the different situations. Such findings contrast with previous sex-role stereotypes and support an interactional viewpoint.

Sex-role identification of normal adolescent males and females as related to school achievement

The historical view of masculinity/femininity posited essentially bipolar opposites, with the presence of one set of characteristics precluding the other. More recent studies of sex-role stereotypes have defined sexual orientation within clusters of socially desirable attributes which males and females perceive as differentiating males from females. This view negates the contention that psychological sex roles are composed of bipolar opposites, and concludes that the constructs of masculinity and femininity are independent dimensions rather than a single bipolar dimension. Little is known about the sex-role functioning of adolescents, yet it is during adolescence that qualitative shifts occur in interpersonal relationships and concurrent changes occur in cognitive functioning, with adolescents shifting toward hypothetical thinking and abstract ideal notions. In view of these changes, much can be learned about adult functioning by studying the sex-role perceptions of adolescents related to familial and social variables. This study examines the sex-role perceptions that adolescents hold of fathers, mothers, ideal males, ideal females, and selves. Differences exist between male and female adolescents, and significant linkages exist between sex-role identification and academic achievement.

Sex-Role Perceptions of Traditional and Nontraditional College Women

Summary To investigate the differences in sex-role related behavioral preferences, three questionnaires were administered to females majoring in engineering (n = 95) and social sciences (n = 188): Work Interest Questionnaire, Opinions About Children, and Bem's Sex Role Inventory. Findings indicated that engineering students scored significantly higher on work incentives, promotion, and incisive and diplomatic actions while social science students scored higher on femininity, family-related, and work-flexibility factors. Engineering students indicated significantly higher need for having children and being good mothers but preferred smaller families than the social science students. A significantly higher percentage of engineering students were first-borns and came from larger cities than the social science students.