Sex-role Theory Research Articles

Physical Attractiveness on Cognitive Evaluations of Saleswomen’s Performance

The present study examines the role of physical attractiveness in the causal attribution process of saleswomen’s performance. Sex-role stereotyping and attribution theory provide the theoretical framework for examining the influence of physical attractiveness in the evaluation process. Specifically, we develop hypotheses of how physical attractiveness, sex role stereotyped products and performance information affect: (I) causal attributions used to explain saleswomen’s performance, (2) expectations for future performance, and (3) decision confidence. Contrary to the practitioner literature, our experimental results support recent research showing that physical attractiveness plays a limited role in evaluator causal attributions and expectations for future performance of saleswomen. However, physical attractiveness appears to have a significant influence on evaluator decision confidence.

Sexual Harassment in Casinos: Effects on Employee Attitudes and Behaviors.

This study focuses on sexual harassment and job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and employee turnover among casino employees. It is the first study investigating sexual harassment in the gaming industry. Based on sex-role spillover theory it was expected that sexual harassment has less of an impact on casino employees than on employees in other industries. Six Reno, Nevada casinos participated in the study and 330 responses were generated from casino employees. The study results show that sexual harassment of and by casino employees is perceived to occur at about the same rate as in other industries. Sexually harassed employees were compared to employees who indicated that they had not been sexually harassed. Sexually harassed employees were less satisfied with their jobs and less committed to the organization. However, they were not more likely to quit their jobs. Sexually harassed employees tended to be younger, Caucasian, and in dealer positions. Hence, in addition to the well-publicized cost of sexual harassment lawsuits, the study shows that sexual harassment in casinos may well be the source of hidden costs important to human resources managers. A result of major interest was that employees who had been harassed held management responsible for not ensuring a work environment that is free of sexual harassment. Implications for casino management are discussed.

The Limits of “The Male Sex Role”

Some feminists have seen sex role theory as limited, even dangerous; others see it as useful mid-range theory. This article sheds light on this debate through an examination of the discourse of the men's liberation movement of the 1970s. Men's liberation leaders grappled with the paradox of simultaneously acknowledging men's institutional privileges and the costs of masculinity to men. The language of sex roles was the currency through which they negotiated this paradox. By the late 1970s, men's liberation had disappeared. The conservative and moderate wings of men's liberation became an anti-feminist men's rights movement, facilitated by the language of sex roles. The progressive wing of men's liberation abandoned sex role language and formed a profeminist movement premised on a language of gender relations and power. The article ends with a discussion of the implications of this case for debates about sex role theory, and urges the study of contemporary organizations whose discourse is based on the language of sex roles.

The role of marital power in depression and marital distress

Although research has established a clear relationship between depression and marital distress, the causal direction of this relationship cannot be determined from the existing data. Drawing on sex role theory, the learned helplessness model of depression, and a review of empirical research, this article explores inequity in marital power as a potential third variable that explains how depression and the quality of the marriage are related. The aim of the article is to generate more broadminded thinking about how marital power, depression, and marital distress are interrelated.

Refining Sex-Role Spillover Theory: The Role of Gender Subtypes and Harasser Attributions

A refined model of sex-role spillover theory (SRST), which posits a role for gender subtypes and harasser motivations in understanding perceptions of sexual harassment, is tested. Fifty male and 61 female undergraduates were asked to assess female targets on stereotypic characteristics, and to make attributions of harasser motivations for six scenarios describing three types of harassment (unwanted sexual attention, gender harassment, sexual coercion) at two levels of severity (nonphysical and physical) toward women in two different types of occupations (traditional and nontraditional). As predicted, scenarios about traditionally and nontraditionally employed female targets elicited different gender subtypes and different attributions of harasser motivations, depending on the type of sexual harassment experienced. Theoretical implications of this research are discussed.

Mate choice and competition in the barklouseLepinotus patruelis (Psocoptera: Trogiidae): The effect of diet quality and sex ratio

Courtship varies among individuals, partly because individuals differ in quality. To explore proximate factors affecting courtship behavior, I investigated the effect of diet quality on mate choice and competition in the barklouseLepinotus patruelis Pearman (Psocoptera: Trogiidae) in the laboratory. The effect of sex ratio on mate choice was also addressed. Some males were found to exhibit active mate choice, and rejected females in both male- and female-biased sex ratio groups, although they were more likely to do so in a female-biased sex ratio group. Diet quality affected male mate choice: males on high-quality diets were significantly more likely to reject females than males on low-quality diets. Males exhibited choice significantly more often than females, who showed no overt signs of choosiness. Both males and females competed for, access to mates: both sexes attempted to interfere with mounted pairs and females grappled. The choosiness of the male may have directly affected the incidence of female competition. The results also suggest that the patterns of mate choice inL. patruelis differ from those expected by conventional sex role theory.

Being female and less deviant: the direct and indirect effects of gender on alcohol abuse and tobacco smoking.

We explored the deviance gender gap in relation to alcohol abuse and tobacco smoking with a national sample of adults. Sex role theory inspired the hypotheses that much of the influence of gender on deviance is conveyed through the relationship of gender to social bonds and to the experience of physical violence in childhood. Our results indicated that being female was positively associated with belief and attachment bonds that inhibited alcohol abuse and smoking and negatively associated with the experience of physical violence as a child, which promoted alcohol abuse and smoking.

Sex-role similarities between adults and their parents

Sex-role is a product of interpersonal and intrapersonal cognitive functioning. As a result, parents play an important role in the development of their children's sex-role orientation. The aim of this research was to describe the relationship between the sex-role of adults and those of their parents as measured on the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (Bem, 1974). Inventories were completed by 24 men, 41 women, and their parents. Results show the strongest relationship for gender-consonant sex-roles for mother-daughter and father-son dyads. Findings are discussed in terms of sex-role and modeling theories.

Gender, War, and Peace

The relationships between gender and war are complex. Ways of thinking about gender and war influence the questions asked, the knowledge sought, and the meaning given to evidence. In psychological research, sex role theory is the standard explanation for findings of difference between women and men in attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors related to war. Feminist inquiry suggests several viable alternatives to sex role theory: feminist psychoanalysis, feminist moral theory, and social constructionism. This article examines these four epistemological positions and their potential claims about women's and men's psychological and moral responses to war, peace, and the nuclear threat. Each theory is examined for its utility and limits. We argue that a social constructionist orientation provides a particularly useful way of thinking about and researching both the intersections of gender and war and possible solutions to the human problems posed by war and the nuclear threat.

Familial dyadic patterns in defenses and object relations

The Defense Mechanisms Inventory was administered to 308 sets of marital couples, and adult sons or daughters. The inventory yields five defensive clusters as well as a composite object relations measure. Correlational analyses were aimed at determining the extent to which defensive and object relations styles generalize within the family. Results showed consistent similarities across the family in object relations styles and in acting out defenses. Dyadic analyses showed striking similarities between Husband-Wife, Father-Son, and Mother-Daughter, but not for Father-Daughter and Mother-Son dyads. Results are discussed in context of modeling, sex role, and systems theory.

Lived and imaginary narratives and their place in taking oneself up as a gendered being

: The relation between the way in which children understand feminist stories and their understanding of everyday life are examined in a feminist poststrucluralist framework. Sex-role socialisation theory is rejected as inadequate for the purposes of explaining either the sense children make of the stories they hear or how and why children take up their genderedness in the way that they do. Through preschool children's responses to feminist stories and through observations of preschool children's play, an alternative explanatory framework is elaborated. At the same time the relation between lived and imaginary narratives is explored.

Athletic Self-Concept and Mathematics Achievement in Girls

Several researchers have suggested that girls' mathematics performance may be mediated by an assertive sex role or "masculine interest." The present study made the assumption that girls' athletic self-confidence reflects "masculine interest" so girls' test scores for perceived athletic competence would be related to their mathematics achievement scores. A total of 207 boys and girls in Grades 4, 5, and 6 were tested for their perceived athletic ability using the Athletic Competence subscale of Harter's 1985 Self-perception Profile, and these scores were correlated with their mathematics achievement as measured on the Metropolitan Achievement Test and term grades. A low but significant correlation with Athletic Competence scores was found for girls on both measures of mathematics achievement. Although boys scored higher on the Athletic Competence subscale, there were no sex differences on either measure of mathematics achievement. Results are discussed in terms of both sex-role theory and cognitive development.

Some Theoretical Implications of Female and Male Interaction in Unstructured Small Groups

The contrasting assumptions and findings of three theoretical orientations frequently used to explain mixed-sex small group interaction are reviewed. Data from human relations training groups were analyzed to test sex-role differentiation theory hypotheses against alternative explanations grounded in role-status expectation and contextual role adaptation theories. Results did not support sex-role differentiation or adaptation orientations. Women were interactively dominant and more proactive and reactive to same-sex group members; men vacillated between attending to opposite-sex members or attempting global impact. Role-status expectation theory was advanced as the most appropriate explanatory framework for these results.

A Lesson on Sex Roles

ABSTRACT This paper analyses a lesson on sex roles which took place in a seventh‐grade classroom (12–13 year olds) as part of a humanities course in an Australian coeducational secondary school. It shows how routine instructional practices can combine with conventional knowledge and theorising to confirm notions of inequality rather than challenge them. The use of sex role theory, with its embedded biological assumptions, and the initiation‐reply‐evaluation format which ensures that the teacher is in control of the lesson topic and procedure, combine to produce a lesson in which what the pupils hear is a confirmation of the fact that women and men are not equal. The teacher's intention to teach a lesson about equality is thus undermined by his own theorising and his teaching technology. The analysis is undertaken to show the ways in which unwary teachers can sustain inequitable gender relations even when this is contrary to their intentions.

Family Change and Gender Differences: Implications for Theory and Practice

Theories of gender on which public policy and therapeutic interventions are based have not kept up with the family transition from preindustrial to modern times. The functionalist view of sex roles continues to emphasize separate spheres for women and men, a view which also has been adopted by some feminists. Yet working mothers have dual roles and suffer from overload as shown by research in a traditional society such as China and in an industrialized society such as the United States. Alpha bias, the exaggeration of gender opposition, is characteristic of psychodynamic and sex role theories. Beta bias, the denial of gender differences, is evident in systems theories. The dual roles of women and their dual socialization call for a new model of gender differences which recognizes this asymmetry in women's and men's roles and responsibilities.

Learning Courtship Aggression: The Influence of Parents, Peers, and Personal Experiences

Using a differential association/social learning framework and sex role theory, we examine four research questions concerning the zero-order and relative influences of parents, peers, and individuals' personal experiences on courtship aggression. We examine data separately for aggressors and victims as well as females and males, and we distinguish among three types of courtship aggression: abuse, violence, and sexual aggression. The results, from a random sample of college students, indicate that influences most proximate in time and place affect courtship aggression most strongly; that is, individuals' own experiences as victims and perpetrators are stronger influences than parents and peers in predicting courtship aggression. Patterns of results vary by type of aggressive behavior and sex of respondent.

Androgyny

This article examines the sex role identity of college students in India and in Australia and empirically tests the validity of the prediction that androgyny is the product of educated, middle-class, Western societies. Results reveal that sex role transcendence, rather than androgyny, is the product of Western societies such as Australia. Androgyny, on the other hand, was found to be more predominant in certain traditional cultures, such as India, and was particularly predominant among Indian males. These findings have important implications not only for sex role theory but also for cross-cultural investigations of sex role identity.

Graffiti vandalism: Frequency and context differences between the sexes

This paper explores a popular yet highly destructive form of property crime — graffiti vandalism. The localities of such destruction selected for study were male and female restrooms. Three hundred and ninety-two cases were collected and analyzed. Prior research theorized the existence of a significant difference in the amount of graffiti produced between the sexes. (It was believed that males produce more graffiti than females). Analysis, however, revealed equal production of graffiti by males and females.Content differences between the sexes were hypothesized. The content categories included homosexual, heterosexual, nonsexual (humorous and political statements) and racial graffiti. The findings as they relate to content differences between the sexes are presented and discussed relative to sex-role socialization theory.

Severity of and vulnerability to health problems in school-age children.

Severity and vulnerability as important constructs in the Health Belief Model were examined in school-age children. Cognitive development theory and sex-role socialization theory provided the bases for predicting age and gender differences. Nine hundred forty-six children in first, fourth, and sixth grade from seven schools in five states participated in the study. Severity and vulnerability in six categories of health problems were described. Analysis of variance revealed significant age and gender differences. Girls perceived that health problems were both more severe and that they were more vulnerable to them than boys. Age was significant on the vulnerability dimensions, although age patterns varied by health problems. Clinical and educational implications are discussed.

The Male Role and Mastectomy

To explore the psychosocial aspects of men's reactions and adjustments to mastectomy, this study used in-depth interviews with 24 husbands and clinical observations of a multisession men's support group as well as a test and retest analysis of questionnaire data. Sex role theory was used to explain how factors related to the male role complicate men's adjustment. Husbands placed a high priority on their wives' adjustment but kept their own feelings at bay. Men's adoption of a protective guardian role during their wives' hospitalization fostered denial and later blocked communication between spouses. Repeated-measures analysis of the questionnaire data indicated that support group members became significantly more communicative with spouses about mastectomy issues than did control group members. These quantitative findings parallel clinical observations.