Sex Role Orientation Research Articles

Sex-Role Orientation Associations with College Students' Body-Image Preferences

Sex roles dictate acceptable attitudes and preferences for men and women. Further, perception of ideal body type is one attitude and preference that may be associated with sex-role orientation. Therefore, the current study examined the association between sex-role orientation and men's and women's reports of their preferred body type and their views of others' preferred body type for men and women. Responses from 172 university students indicated sex-role associations with participants' personal body-type preferences and participants' perceptions of the body types others prefer. Analysis indicates that a more masculine sex-role orientation was associated with men's and women's perceptions of larger ideal body images. Results are discussed in terms of the association between sex-role orientation and possible susceptibility to societal standards of ideal body images.

The effects of sex role orientation on family purchase decision making in Malaysia

The objective of this research is to investigate the effects of sex role orientation on role structure in family decision making in Malaysia. Four different purchase decisions were examined. A total of 240 couples were interviewed separately in four major cities in Malaysia. Structured questionnaires were used to interview husband and wife separately. It was found that there is no difference in sex role orientation among the four cultural groups of families. Also it was found that wives with higher levels of education have more modern sex role orientation. The effect of sex role orientation on wives' relative influence was found for the purchase of furniture, electrical appliances and groceries.

Multiple Roles of Married Korean Women: Effect on Depression

This study was designed to examine relationships between roles of employed married women in Seoul, South Korea, perceptions of their work role, coping patterns, and levels of depression. The convenience sample contained 382 women, aged 25–55 years, who were living with their husbands and working at least 20 hr weekly. Participants completed five questionnaires: demographic, Center for Epidemiological Studies—Depression Scale, Index of Sex-Role Orientation, Role Sharing, and Coping Strategies. Multiple regression analysis revealed several statistically significant relationships. Higher levels of depression were found in women who perceived motherhood and career roles as incompatible, those who coped by working harder, and those who spent less time helping children with homework. Women who owned their houses had lower levels of depression.

Effects of gender and sex role orientation on help-seeking attitudes

This study investigated the effects of gender and sex role orientation (masculinity and femininity) on attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help in a sample of 163 student trainee teachers (52 males and 111 females) in Singapore. The mean age of students was 25.39 years (SD = 3.80). ANOVAs revealed statistically significant main effects for gender and femininity on attitudes toward help-seeking. Specifically, females were reported to have more positive overall attitudes toward professional help-seeking and were more willing to recognize a personal need for professional help compared to males. Femininity significantly influenced students’ level of stigma tolerance. These findings suggest that both gender and sex role orientation play an independent role in influencing help-seeking attitudes. In addition, these variables appear to have a differential impact on different aspects of helpseeking.

An Examination of Established Antecedents of Power in Purchase Decision Making: Married and Nontraditional Couples

This research examined the extent that resource theory, sex‐role orientation, least interested partner hypothesis, and involvement apply to cohabiting heterosexual, gay, and lesbian couples. Findings revealed that (a) resources significantly affected only married partners' relative influence and strategy usage; (b) sex‐role orientation significantly affected relative influence for married partners and strategy selection for partners in both types of heterosexual couples; (c) least interest significantly affected relative influence for partners in both types of heterosexual couples and influence strategy selection for cohabi‐tors; and (d) involvement significantly affected relative influence and strategy usage for all couple types. Overall, the effect of the antecedents on relative influence and strategy usage depends on the extent that partners within any couple type are similar on various antecedents.

Effects of nurses' sex-role orientation on positive and negative assertion.

The present paper examines how the sex-role orientation of the nurse can affect both positive and negative assertion. The Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BRSI) and the Assertion Inventory (AI) were used to collect self-reported data from a convenience sample of 94 subjects. Behavioral data were obtained by directly sampling 50 nurses' responses within role-play situations. Contrary to earlier studies, the findings of the investigation indicated that there was no significant relationship between assertion measurements and sex-role orientation. Following a discussion of the findings, recommendations relating to future research are made and the limitations of the study are identified.

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The New American Art

Sex role identity related to the ratio of second to fourth digit length in women

Prenatal gonadal hormones have been implicated as important factors in the development of sex-role identity. The aim of the study reported here was to examine the relationship between adult sex-role preference and the second to fourth digit ratio (2D:4D ratio) in healthy women. There is evidence that the ratio of the length of second and fourth digits associates negatively with prenatal testosterone and positively with prenatal oestrogen. In this study the 2D:4D ratio was measured on a sample of 46 female university students. The subjects completed the form of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). It was found that the lower 2D:4D ratios associated significantly with higher, masculinized bias scores in BSRI indicating that 2D:4D ratio predicts the female or male self-reported sex-role identity in females.

Sperm trading and sex roles in the hermaphroditic opisthobranch sea slug Navanax inermis : eager females or opportunistic males?

The sea slug Navanax inermis (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia) is a well-known example of a simultaneous hermaphrodite in which mating partners trade sperm. According to previous work by others, sperm trading follows from a general preference for the female role when the expected variance in reproductive success in the male role is higher and the risk of failure therefore larger. However, this view contradicts theoretical and empirical studies of other systems, which predict a general preference for the male role; sperm trading is assumed to follow from the fact that individuals benefit from sperm receipt as a nutritional compensation for sperm investment. In this study, we investigate the behaviour of N. inermis in more detail. In addition to observations of regular pairs, we also paired individuals with a partner that had been isolated for 33 days in order to induce changes in sex-role preference in the non-isolated partner. We also collected all clutches produced throughout the study to check for signs of infertility as a consequence of allosperm depletion. Fertility of field-collected and isolated individuals suggested that sperm depletion occurs under natural conditions and may be caused by a lack of partners. Although this argues in favour of female preference, low mating rates both reduce variance in male reproductive success and remove the intent to use sperm for nutritional purposes, thus eliminating the conditions under which both hypotheses are intended to operate. The observational data indicate that animals are eager to mate as males, particularly at the beginning of a mating session. Intromissions lasted longer when a simultaneous intromission was received from the partner. Increases in intromission were recorded in non-isolated individuals with partners which were previously isolated and therefore more attractive as females. This response would not have been expected were the female role the preferred one. A summary of the arguments concerning preference for either gender suggests some preference for the male role, but indicates that sexual preferences may actually change or become neutral within an individual, even in the course of a mating session. Overall, our results clearly confirm previously published observations of sperm trading in N. inermis . © 2003 The Linnean Society of London . Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2003, 78 , 105 - 116. ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: sexual conflict ‐ sexual selection ‐ Gastropoda ‐ reciprocity ‐ gamete trading ‐ sperm trading ‐ egg trading.

Sex-role orientation, marital status and mental health in working women.

The objectives of this study were to make a men-women comparison as to the effects of job stress and sex-role orientation on mental health and to determine if marital status modifies effects of job stress and sex-role orientation on mental health in women. Subjects were 644 men and 301 women who were working at two private companies and one national agency. Job contents, sex-role orientation and mental health were measured by the Job Content Questionnaire, the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and the 30-item General Health Questionnaire, respectively. High job demands and femininity in men, masculinity in women predicted poor mental health. The best predictor of poor mental health was consciousness of being a woman in unmarried women, and stress outside the job in married women.

Sex and Sexuality in Men's Personal Advertisements

In this article, the author examines 2,400 men's personal advertisements from the Internet to explore gender role and sex role preferences in mate selection. Using content analysis, the author examines how men define their gender roles and sex roles, and how they express role preferences in their mate. The results show that when compared with gay men, straight men are less concerned about gender roles and sex roles. Gay men's personal advertisements are the real analytic lens here because they are the ones faced with the ambiguities that need to be negotiated, whereas straight men may have taken gender-typical roles for granted. The author also discusses how men knowingly or unknowingly express and reproduce cultural norms of heterosexuality and gender-typical behavior, and how they may perpetuate forms of heterosexism and sexism.

Humor in Persuasion on Threatening Topics: Effectiveness Is a Function of Audience Sex Role Orientation

The hypothesis was that humor relative to no-humor appeals on threatening topics are effective for high-masculinity individuals because they seem particularly averse to experiencing distress (i.e., sadness and fear). Persuasive targets were sunscreen use to prevent melanoma (skin cancer) in Study 1 and condom use to prevent AIDS in Study 2. The humor and no-humor appeals presented the same substantive information. In both studies, high-masculinity men and women exhibited greater intent to adopt the preventive behaviors in response to the humor relative to the no-humor appeal; no difference emerged for low-masculinity individuals. Humor effects were not related to explicit responses to the ads (e.g., listed thoughts and feelings). In Study 2, threat intensity in the media context was manipulated (moderate vs. low) as experiential processing is likely favored under greater threat. Overall, the results seem attributable to experiential processing of humor appeals on threatening topics by high-masculinity participants.

A Computer Application for Research on Gender

This study accounts for weak and inconsistent evidence in prior research on differential use by men and women of care-oriented moral reasoning by investigating the indirect effects of sex-role subscription on moral viewpoint through interactional context. An online computer context for solving moral dilemmas by minimizing gender cues and bias due to sex-role demands in interaction is introduced to encourage reliance on internalized gender variations in moral orientation. Observation of a matched sample of 104 participants assigned to treatment and control groups tested whether the relationship between sex-role orientation and care-oriented moral reasoning is stronger for sex-role-stereotyped than for undifferentiated individuals online versus face-to-face. A statistically significant difference was found, suggesting the effectiveness of the context control in invoking a gender difference in moral reasoning. Implications are for incorporating computer interactional context as a moderating variable in experimental designs, especially those employed in research testing gender theory.

Perceptions of Rape and Sexual Assault Among Australian Adolescents and Young Adults

This study expands the empirical and theoretical understanding of attitudes toward rape victims. Six hundred and eight adolescents and young adults were given three brief questionnaires assessing attitudes toward rape victims, attitudes toward women, and sex-role orientation, in addition to three sexual coercion vignettes. The results demonstrated that a significant proportion of students held unfavorable attitudes toward rape victims, perceived the victims as being responsible for the rape, and perceived the victims as contributing to their assault. Negative stereotypes about rape were also related to conservative and traditional beliefs about women's social roles. Gender and educational level differences regarding rape victims were also found. The direct implications of these results for enhancing the efficacy of rape prevention and education programs is discussed in terms of both content and target group.

Determinants of Moral Reasoning: Sex Role Orientation, Gender, and Academic Factors

Mixed results regarding the role of gender in moral reasoning prompted an investigation of an alternative characteristic that may be more influential in the process: sex role orientation. We present an empirical assessment of the relationship between an individual’s moral reasoning level and his/her sex role orientation, gender, and several academic factors. Our results indicate that sex role orientation is not related to moral reasoning level. Gender is related to moral reasoning in our study, women reasoning at higher levels than men. We found a positive relationship between education and moral reasoning level, and moral reasoning levels differed across academic institutions. Our results also show business students have lower moral reasoning levels than students in other fields, although this result did not reach statistical significance.

Do established antecedents of purchase decision‐making power apply to contemporary couples?

AbstractThe research reported here investigated the extent to which hedonic theory explains the nature of the effects of the established antecedents of marital roles (resource theory, sex‐role orientation, least‐interested partner hypothesis, and involvement) on relative influence and strategy usage in purchase decision making for married and nontraditional couples (cohabiting heterosexual, gay, and lesbian couples). The findings reveal that hedonic theory (the effect of partners' [dis]similarity in an antecedent on that antecedent's impact of relational power) explains the majority of cases where the impact of the antecedents on power vary across couple types. In some cases, however, hedonic theory is lacking in its explanatory power, thus indicating that couple types differ other than the extent to which partners are (dis)similar demographically or socioeconomically. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Sexual orientation and eating psychopathology: the role of masculinity and femininity.

Previous research suggests that eating disorders are related to homosexuality in men, although links with female sexual orientation are less clear. Appearance factors have generally been implicated in this relationship. However, previous studies have failed to consider the role of femininity, even though evidence suggests that this is a more critical factor than sexual preference. The aim of this study was to consider the relationship between gender-role orientation and eating psychopathology in nonclinical men and women of different sexual orientations. One hundred university students (40 homosexual; 60 heterosexual) completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory and the Eating Attitudes Test. For the group as a whole, there were links between femininity and high levels of eating psychopathology, whereas masculinity was associated with relatively healthy eating-related attitudes and behaviors. When considering the role of sexual orientation, these links were specific to homosexual men and women. In relation to homosexual men and women, the results support a model where femininity might be seen as a specific risk factor for eating disorders, whereas masculinity is likely to be a protective factor. Methodological and conceptual implications are discussed.

Comments on the Empirical Investigation of Women Managers: Their Fears

In the October-December 1999 issue of Vikalpa (Vol 24, No 4), we had published an article titled “Fear of Success among Women Managers” by Sanghamitra Buddhapriya, which was an attempt to study the impact of managerial level and sex-role orientation on fear of success. In this rejoinder to her article, Rosen John discusses some of the shortcomings of the article especially with regard to the choice of sampling techniques selected and the narrow spectrum from which the respondents were chosen.

The role of sexual orientation in predicting outcome value and anticipated communication behaviors

The purpose of this study was to (1) examine the role of sexual orientation in determining a positive or negative predicted outcome value during an initial interaction, and (2) to test whether the predicted outcome value (POV) was related to anticipated communication behaviors. Participants (N = 284) completed one of two surveys. The surveys differed only in terms of the opening scenario, which introduced a fictitious target whose sexual orientation was manipulated. The data from this study suggest that learning of an individual's sexual orientation during an initial encounter negatively influences predicted outcome value and anticipated communication behaviors. Additionally, men continue to predict outcome values that are significantly more negative than those predicted by women. The results from this study remain important especially in light of recent research in which interpersonal contact with gays and lesbians has been shown to influence positively heterosexuals’ attitudes toward this minority group.

Examining the factor structure and sources of differential functioning of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised — Abbreviated

The aim of this study was to examine the basis of the differential functioning of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised — Abbreviated (EPQR-A) between males and females. Previous research with various forms of the EPQ [Francis, L.J. (1993). The dual nature of the Eysenckian neuroticism scales: a question of sex differences. Personality and Individual Differences, 15, 43–59; Forrest, S., Lewis, C.A., & Shevlin, M. (2000). Examining the factor structure and gender bias of the Eysenck personality questionnaire revised — abbreviated. Personality and Individual Differences, 29, 579–588.] has identified consistent significant sex differences on the Neuroticism and Psychoticism sub-scales; the findings for Extraversion are equivocal. This study uses a structural equation modelling approach to determine the extent to which these sex differences in the EPQR-A can be explained by variables representing biological sex or socially learned gender roles. Using data from 224 Northern Irish undergraduate university students, a factor analytic model was specified and estimated using LISREL8 [Jöreskog, K., & Sörbom, D. (1999a). LISREL 8.30. Chicago: Scientific Software Inc.]. The model was specified and estimated where the three EPQR-A factors were regressed onto a sex variable and a variable measuring sex-role orientation. The results suggested a significant difference on Neuroticism and Psychoticism due to sex-roles, and differences on Extraversion due to sex-roles and biological sex.