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PubMed1975

Birthdate psychology: a new look at some old data.

This brief note deals with the development of alternative perspectives on the provocative, and as yet unexplained result of an earlier study in which groups of people born under different astrological zodiac signs were found to differ markedly in their scores on the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) scale described as a measure of "Femininity." Attention is focused on (a) discrepancies between the observed pattern of high and low scores on the CPI Femininity scale, and classification of sun signs as "masculine" or "feminine" by astrologers; (b) the trend in the data indicating that the six sun sign categories for which the highest scores were obtained on the Femininity scale correspond to birthdates running continuously from July 24 to January 20, while the six sun sign categories for which the lowest scores were obtained on that scale correspond to birthdates running continuously from January 21 to July 23; and (c) speculative consideration of the kinds of climatic, dietary, and/or cyclical geomagnetic events that might affect reproduction and prenatal and/or neonatal development in such a way as to influence adult personality.

Astrology↗
PubMed1978

The relationship of women's sex-role identity to self-esteem and ego development.

The present study examined the relationship of women's sex-role identity to self-esteem and ego development. One hundred fifty-three female undergraduate students at the University of Maryland were the volunteer Ss for this study. During class time these persons completed the Index of Adjustment and Values, used to measure self-esteem, and the Sentence Completion Test, ussed to measure ego development. From this pool of Ss four sex-role identity groups were determined: androgynous women, feminine women, masculine women, and undifferentiated women. Twenty-five from each group were randomly selected to comprise a final sample of 100 women. Results of the self-esteem analyses supported previous findings that androgynous women possess a higher degree of self-esteem than stereotypically feminine women and undifferentiated women, but revealed no significant difference in self-esteem between androgynous and masculine women. In contrast, the level of ego development of androgynous women was not significantly different from that of feminine and undifferentiated women but was significantly higher than that of masculine women. Overall results support the theory that a combination of masculine and feminine characteristics is beneficial for women in terms of both self-esteem and ego development.

Ego↗
PubMed1999

Gender congruence in confirmatory and compensatory drinking.

The relationship between gender-stereotypical traits and drinking behaviors was examined in 422 university students via both positive and negative measures of masculinity and femininity. Two canonical variates summarized the underlying relationships. The 1st canonical variate indicated that both high negative masculinity and low positive femininity predicted alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems. This behavior was labeled confirmatory drinking because it depicts a style of drinking that reinforces gender-stereotypical images about alcohol use; masculine characteristics are typically associated with high levels of alcohol consumption. The 2nd canonical variate indicated that both low positive masculinity and low positive femininity predicted problem drinking. This behavior was labeled compensatory drinking because drinkers often use alcohol to express their masculinity and femininity. The distinction between confirmatory and compensatory drinking has important implications for the development of more effective education and preventative strategies.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

The effect on expected job success of the connotative meanings of names and nicknames.

The authors conducted this study among U.S. students to determine whether expectations of job success are related to the degree of match between the masculinity or femininity of men's or women's names and the stereotypic masculinity or femininity of planned occupations. Results confirmed the predictions: The greater the match among (a) the gender of names, (b) the participants' ratings of the masculinity or femininity of those names, and (c) the masculinity or femininity of planned occupations, the greater the expected likelihood of job success.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

The stability and attitudinal correlates of warmth and caring in medical students.

It is often said that medical school admits students who are compassionate, nurturant and person-oriented, and transforms them into cold, impersonal graduates. These attributes describe two ends of a personality trait continuum referred to as psychological femininity. The Femininity Scale of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire was administered to a class of medical students four times over 3 years. Measures of empathy, attitudes towards doctor-patient relations and attitudes towards professional psychological help were also obtained. Femininity appears to be normally distributed, remarkably stable over a 28-month interval and predictive of attitudinal measures of empathy, readiness to make psychiatric referrals, recognition of one's own need for psychological help, and a non-cynical, person-oriented approach to patient care. Such findings suggest a different state of affairs within medical training than is usually portrayed. Rather than viewing medical school as having a universally adverse effect on student compassion, medical school has virtually no effect on self-reports of warmth, kindness, helpfulness, etc. Students at different ends of the femininity continuum may require different interventions aimed at teaching communication skills and interpersonal sensitivity.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2005

Subdomains of gender-related occupational interests: do they form a cohesive bipolar M-F dimension?

In four studies, with a total of 1780 male and 2969 female participants, subdomains of masculine and feminine occupations were identified from sets of occupational preference items. Identified masculine subdomains included "blue-collar realistic" (e.g., carpenter), "educated realistic" (electrical engineer), and "flashy, risk-taking" (jet pilot). Feminine subdomains included "fashion-related" (fashion model), "artistic" (author), "helping" (social worker), and "children-related" (manager of childcare center). In all studies, principal components analyses of subdomain preference scales showed that masculine subdomains were bipolar opposites of feminine subdomains. This bipolar structure emerged in analyses conducted on combined-sex groups, high-school boys, high-school girls, men, women, heterosexual men, gay men, heterosexual women, and lesbian women. The results suggest that, although there are distinct masculine and feminine occupational subdomains, gender-related occupational preferences, nonetheless, form a replicable, cohesive, bipolar individual difference dimension, which is not an artifact of studying mixed-sex or mixed-sexual-orientation groups.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Sex role orientation, personality structure, and adjustment in women.

In an effort to clarify and expand the theoretical foundation for behavioral researches on androgyny the present study, through an extensive literature review, attempted to establish personality structure as a function of masculine instrumentality (M) and feminine expressivity (F) in females. Results were strong and confirming, suggesting that considerable relationship may exist between certain sex role socialization practices and general personality development. In addition, the implications of instrumentality and expressivity for adjustment were investigated through a planned contrast of clinical and normal groups, with the expectation that feminine females would appear more frequently in the clinical group. However, results clarified that it is the lack of masculine instrumentality in the personality, not the feminine role per se, which is implicated in mental illness. These findings lend clarity to previous researches on androgyny and adjustment. Implications for feminine socialization and ego psychology are considered.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Secrecy, disclosure, and closet dynamics.

This paper examines the assumption that male homosexuality has a natural affinity with femininity and that male heterosexuality has a natural affinity with masculinity. An analysis of the relationship between people's disclosure or concealment of their homosexual practice or identity, particularly as it relates to notions of hegemonic masculinity and femininity provides the focus of this paper. It is argued that everyday understandings of homosexuality tend to be resolved in such as way as to press homosexuality into the service of privileging a male, masculine, and heterosexual subjectivity. This privileging is achieved, in part, as a result of the everyday social practices of homosexually active men's witting and unwitting deference to the hegemonic presumption that masculine men are naturally heterosexual, and its inverse, that feminine men are homosexual and are a perturbation of the natural order. We argue that this correlation is manufactured in everyday life in the world of appearances, but that the appearance of things is not reflected at a level of practice, which is to say, male homosexual practice is not necessarily feminine, just as male heterosexual practice is not necessarily masculine. Realities that conflict with the hegemonic realities are masked in the public world, for a variety of reasons. What we have called closet dynamics are the various discourses through which homosexuality is concealed and disclosed, and the various subject positions people take up in relation to those discourses.

Gender Identity↗
PubMed2003

Stereotypes and crossed-category evaluations: the case of gender and science education.

A sample of UK adolescents (n = 1140), grouped by sex and liking of science, evaluated themselves, and girl and boy targets who did or did not like science, on masculine, feminine and gender non-specific traits. Contrary to sociological concerns about the masculine image and appeal of science, those who liked science more rated themselves more positively on feminine and gender non-specific-but not masculine-traits. The girl target was rated lower on feminine traits if she liked science, but the boy was rated higher on feminine traits if he liked science. Target ratings also showed in-group enhancement based on liking of science, and a 'black sheep' effect: those who liked science less discriminated against the same-sex target who liked science, especially on gender in-group relevant traits. We argue that gender differences in science education should be attributed partly to subjective group dynamics and not solely to images of science.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Aging and attractiveness: marriage makes a difference.

In order to explore women's agreement with the double standard of aging, thirty-two women ranging in age from twenty-eight to sixty-three were asked to share their definitions of attractiveness, femininity, and sexual appeal. They were then asked if they had changed these definitions over time and if they perceived themselves as growing more or less attractive, feminine, and sexually appealing as they grew older. The findings showed that attractiveness was defined primarily by appearance, femininity by behavior and inferred traits, and sexual appeal by both. More single than married women had changed definitions of these terms, and more single women perceived themselves as having grown more attractive, feminine, and sexually appealing as they grew older. Age differences in these evaluations were found among the group of married women, but few age differences were found among single women. The findings suggest there may be qualitatively differing experiences between single and married women that are reflected in their evaluations of attractiveness and sexual appeal.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Sex differences and personality factors in responsivity to pain.

This study investigated the relationship between measured levels of masculinity-femininity, social desirability, and responsivity to pain in men and women. The literature suggests that the two personality variables might provide an explanation for the common findings of higher pain thresholds and tolerances in men than in women. A significant interaction was found between masculinity-femininity and sex for pain thresholds. Analysis of this interaction indicated that for men, but not women, there was a significant correlation between masculinity-femininity and pain, where higher masculinity was associated with higher pain thresholds. However, this finding did not account for the sex difference in pain threshold. The sex of the subject remained a significant predictor of both pain thresholds and tolerances after allowing for the influence of masculinity-femininity, social desirability, and their associated interactions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Rotary pursuit performance as a function of sex, sex-role, and intertrial interval.

Rotary pursuit performance (time on target) and reminiscence data were collected for 113 androgynous and feminine men and women under massed or distributed practice conditions. On the final (eighth) block of practice men performed better than women under conditions of massed practice; while no sex differences were found under distributed practice conditions. Under distributed practice conditions androgynous women performed better than feminine women. In addition, men performed better over-all than women, and subjects in the distributed practice condition performed better than subjects in the massed practice condition. Reminiscence data indicated that under massed practice feminine women obtained larger scores than did feminine men and androgynous women. For women sex-role as well as practice condition influenced performance and reminiscence.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Endorsements by Mexican-Americans of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory: cross-ethnic comparison.

Gender-related personality traits among Mexican-American men and women were examined. The sample consisted of 307 Mexican-Americans (150 women, 157 men) in a predominantly Mexican and Mexican-American community in South Texas. Mexican-American men scored significantly higher than the women on eight masculine items, whereas Mexican-American women scored higher than the men on four feminine items. A comparison between the scores of Mexican-Americans on the Bem Sex-Role Inventory with those of the original sample in the inventory's manual showed that the scores for the Masculinity and Femininity subscales for both Mexican-American men and women were not significantly different from those of the original sample. A significant difference, however, was found on some of the items of the inventory. Analysis also indicated that more Mexican-American men were categorized as Feminine and Androgynous than were non-Hispanic Euro-American males in the original sample. Among Mexican-American women there were more individuals classified as Masculine and Undifferentiated and a lower percentage as Feminine than among the original sample. Implications and recommendations based on the results are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

The relation of gender-role classifications to the prosocial and antisocial behavior of Chinese adolescents.

The author investigated the relation between gender-role classifications and prosocial and antisocial behavior for 505 Chinese adolescents in grades 7 to 12. The author found that (a) boys were more antisocial than girls were, (b) there was no significant gender difference in prosocial behavior, (c) prosocial behavior was associated positively with both masculinity and femininity, (d) delinquent behavior was associated positively with masculinity, (e) gender-role classification that was consistent with one's biological gender (e.g., femininity in girls) was more salient in predicting one's prosocial behavior than was a gender-role classification that was not consistent with one's gender (e.g., femininity in boys), (f) delinquent behavior in the feminine group was significantly lower than it was in the other 3 gender-role groups (masculine, androgynous, undifferentiated), and (g) adolescents in the undifferentiated group tended to be less prosocial and fairly antisocial, and their social behavioral pattern was the least favorable among the four gender-role classifications.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

A lack of autonomy in the contemporary nursing student: a comparative study.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not female nursing students are as autonomous as female students in both traditional female occupations and non-traditional occupations. The population included 1,046 undergraduate, female students enrolled in bachelor's degree programs at a state college. Students who participated in the study were from the schools of nursing, education, business and arts and sciences. The two instruments used to measure the characteristics of autonomy, masculinity, and femininity, were the Krutines Autonomy Scale and a modified Bem Sex-Role Inventory Scale. Students from the schools of nursing and education received the lowest scores on autonomy and masculinity and the highest scores on femininity. Students in the school of nursing scored significantly lower in autonomy and masculinity and significantly higher in femininity than the students from the School of Business and the School of Arts and Sciences. There was no significant difference between the scores of students in the School of Nursing and the School of Education. No significant correlation was found between the variables of parent's occupation. Grade Point Average (GPA), Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores or feminine scores and the autonomy scores. However, there was a strong correlation between masculinity and autonomy scores.

Cross-Sectional Studies↗
PubMed1999

Sex role charactersitics of males in nursing.

Sex role stereotypes are widely held concepts that attribute unique sets of characteristics to each sex. The feminine sex role stereotype coupled with the nature of nursing work, renders the profession more appropriate for females. Due to the pressures imposed by hegemonic masculinities, it is perceived that male nurses, as a consequence of their biological sex, are unable to possess the feminine sex role. A survey design was used to ascertain differences in sex role identity between male and female nurses in a contemporary Australian work force. The short form of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) was distributed to 98 nurses to determine their perceived sex role identity. There was no significant difference between male and female nurses in masculine and feminine scores, and sex type categories. The results of this preliminary investigation supports the view that a significant proportion of male nurses see themselves having the personal attributes synonymous with the feminine sex role.

Female↗
PubMed2001

[Gender identity and eating disorders].

BACKGROUND: A possible role of the feminine gender role in the genesis of eating disorders is possible, since most patients with these disorders are women. AIM: To compare some traits of gender identity between females with eating disorders and a control group. MATERIAL AND METHODS: An structured clinical interview based on the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for eating disorders and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) were administered to 63 patients that fulfilled the DSM-IV criteria for anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa (ED group) and 63 comparison subjects (C group). RESULTS: Forty three percent of patients in contrast with 23.8% of controls were classified within the feminine category. Likewise 19% of patients and 31.7% of controls were qualified as Androgynous; 27% of patients and 43% of controls were qualified as Undifferentiated. There were significant differences between patients and controls in 22 items of the BSRI (p < 0.01). Both groups rejected and were identified with some feminine, masculine and neutral qualities. DISCUSSION: Femininity emerged as the main trait of gender identity in patients suffering of eating disorders. In contrast, Androgyny showed by the control group could result in a better adaptability and flexibility to face difficult life circumstances.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

[Clinical characteristics and gender identity among eating disordered patients subtypes].

BACKGROUND: Gender identity is a relevant issue in the approach to eating disorders. AIM: To compare psychological and behavioural characteristics and traits of gender identity among women with eating disorders and its subtypes and non eating disordered female subjects. MATERIAL AND METHODS: An structured clinical interview based on the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for eating disorders, the EAT-40 (Eating Attitudes Test), the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI) and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (IBRS) were administered to 58 compulsive-purgative anorectics (AN/BN group), 15 restrictive anorectics (AN group), 33 patients suffering from eating disorder not otherwise identified, 33 purgative bulimics and to 82 female students without eating disorders. RESULTS: Patients with eating disorders ranked significantly higher on the EAT-40 and EDI and all its items (p < 0.001). The AN/BN group ranked significantly higher on the EDI (p < 0.001) and on Drive for thinness, Perfectionism and interpersonal distrust (p < 0.001). The AN group ranked higher on Maturity fears (p < 0.001). The BN group ranged higher on Body dissatisfaction, Ineffectiveness and Interoceptive awareness (p < 0.001). Patients with eating disorders were significantly identified with Feminine category and subjects without eating disorders with Androgynous and Undifferentiated categories on the IBRS (p = 0.002). The AN group showed the highest percentage on Feminine category and the lowest on Androgynous and Undifferentiated categories. All the groups rejected and approved feminine, masculine and neutral qualities. CONCLUSIONS: Femininity emerged as the main trait of gender identity in patients suffering from eating disorders, in contrast to androgyny, showed by healthy women.

Adult↗