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PubMed1976

Sex typing and androgyny: further explorations of the expressive domain.

Previous research by Bem has indicated that androgynous individuals of both sexes display "masculine" independence when under pressure to conform as well as "feminine" nurturance when interacting with a kitten. In contrast, sex-typed individuals were low in one or both of these behaviors. The two studies reported here were designed to replicate the low nurturance of the masculine male and to clarify the unexpected finding that feminine females were low in both independence and nurturance. In the first study subjects interacted with a human infant, and in the second study they listened to a lonely student. Taken together, the results of these two studies conceptually replicated the low nurturance of the masculine male and demonstrated that the low nurturance of the feminine female does not extend to her interaction with humans. Finally, evidence was presented in support of Spence, Helmreich, and Stapp's distinction between "androgynous" individuals, who are high in both masculinity and feminity, and "undifferentiated" individuals, who are low in both of these characteristics.

Female↗
PubMed1983

Sex role orientation and self-esteem: a critical meta-analytic review.

Research on the relation between sex role orientation and psychological well-being has been guided by one of three models. The traditional congruence model holds that psychological well-being is fostered only when one's sex role orientation is congruent with one's gender; the androgyny model proposes that well-being is maximized when one's sex role orientation incorporates a high degree of both masculinity and femininity regardless of one's gender; the masculinity model posits that well-being is a function of the extent to which one has a masculine sex role orientation. The adequacy of these three models was tested by means of a meta-analysis of 35 studies of the relation between sex role orientation and self-esteem, the indicator of psychological well-being most widely used in sex role studies. The results of the meta-analysis were most supportive of the masculinity model and showed that the strength of observed relations between sex role orientation and self-esteem varied as a function of both the sex role measure and the type of self-esteem measure used in the studies. In addition, a number of methodological issues was identified that should be taken into consideration in future research.

Female↗
PubMed1984

Sex role attributes, symptom distress, and defensive style among college men and women.

Eighty-four male and 90 female college students completed the PRF-Andro masculinity and femininity scales, a symptom checklist, and a defense mechanism inventory. Results indicated that interrelations among sex role attributes, defense preferences, and symptom distress differed for men and women. Cross-sex-typed persons mostly accounted for differences in symptom distress within each sex: Masculine women reported relatively low and feminine men reported relatively high degrees of symptom distress. In addition, sex roles interacted with sex in determining defense preferences. We also explored the possibility that defensive styles mediated between sex role attributes and symptom distress. Among women, an association between masculine attributes and a rejection of self-blaming defenses accounted for the negative relation between masculinity and symptom distress. Among men, sex role attributes and defensive styles, for the most part, contributed independently to symptom distress.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Beliefs about illness and quality of life among men with erectile dysfunction.

The objective of the study was to apply an illness representations framework to examine patients' beliefs about erectile dysfunction (ED) and the association between those beliefs and reported quality of life. A total of 41 patients attending two secondary care clinics at a teaching hospital completed questionnaires examining quality of life, sexual functioning, illness representations (cause, time-line, coherence, consequences, cure, control and emotion) and perceptions of masculinity. Masculinity, sexual function, emotions and beliefs about consequences were found to be significantly correlated with quality of life. Multiple regression analysis revealed a model that accounted for almost 35% of the variance in quality of life of ED patients. The strongest predictor of higher quality of life was better sexual functioning (beta = -0.342, P < 0.05) followed by more positive beliefs about the effects of ED on masculinity (beta = 0.323, P < 0.05). The results suggest that when assessing the quality of life of men with ED, patients' illness representations should be considered along with their level of sexual functioning and the effects of ED on masculinity. Patients may benefit from an intervention programme that includes an educational component, thereby providing patients with more information about treatment options and available support.

Adult↗
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↗
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↗
PubMed1996

Handedness and its association with gender-related psychological and physiological characteristics.

Prenatal exposure to a high level of testosterone is thought to result in sinistrality and increased masculinization in females. This paper seeks to determine whether sinistral females show more masculine characteristics relative to dextral females. Demonstration of such a relationship would support the proposition that testosterone affects laterality. Masculine and feminine personality characteristics, breast size, age at menarche, and regularity of menstruation were measured via a questionnaire administered to 40 dextral and 40 sinistral female university students. Sinistrals were found to score significantly higher on the masculine subscale and lower on the feminine subscale of the Bem Sex Role Inventory relative to their dextral counterparts. No differences were found between the groups for breast size, menstrual regularity, or age at menarche. These results demonstrate that hand preference is associated with gender-related psychological characteristics, but not the physiological characteristics measured. Thus, the possibility that the different sex roles adopted by sinistrals and dextrals is the result of socialisation rather than biological mechanisms, such as testosterone, cannot be ruled out.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Differential maternal-fetal response to androgenizing luteoma or hyperreactio luteinalis.

Lacl of masculinization in female infants whose virilized mothers have h. luteinalis is in contrast to the common finding of fetal masculinization when maternal virilization occurs with luteoma of pregnancy. From the data at hand, this variation in fetal response cannot be explained by differences in the quantity of androgen production nor by the stage of pregnancy when maternal virilization becomes evident. Steroid analysis from cases of h. luteinalis suggests that the placenta may serve as an androgen barrier by aromatizing steroids before they reach the fetus. Testosterone conversion by the placenta of an anencephalic fetus confirms that conversion to estrogens occurs even without significant fetal adrenal activity. Understanding of the breakdown of this mechanism, with resultant fetal masculinization, will require careful evaluation of the steroid milieu in conditions like luteoma in which fetal masculinization often occurs. Both cystic and solid ovarian hyperplasia are recognized as are complications of pregnancy which require proper identification and conservative management. The significant difference in patients at risk for luteoma and h. luteinalis and the pathological and hormonal differences clearly indicate that these are distinct and separate entities.

Androgens↗
PubMed2003

Does sexual dimorphism in human faces signal health?

Evolutionary psychologists suggest that a preference for sexually dimorphic traits in human faces is an adaptation for mate choice, because such traits reflect health during development. For male faces, this claim rests on the immunocompetence-handicap hypothesis, which states that the increased testosterone levels needed to develop large masculine traits stress the immune system. We examined whether masculine traits in adolescent male faces are associated with health during development, and also whether feminine traits in adolescent female faces signal health. Feminine traits are attractive, but it is less clear whether they should signal health. Rated masculinity in adolescent male faces correlated modestly with actual health, and was perceived as healthy, but not as attractive. Rated femininity in adolescent female faces did not correlate with actual health, although it was perceived as healthy and attractive. These results support the immunocompetence-handicap hypothesis for male faces in that masculine traits signalled health during adolescence. However, they suggest that any health-related evolutionary benefits obtained from preferences for attractive facial traits may be weak.

Facial Expression↗
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↗
PubMed1995

Traditional and evaluative aspects of flexibility in gender roles, social conventions, moral rules, and physical laws.

Traditional and evaluative aspects of flexibility regarding transgressions across several domains (masculine and feminine gender roles, moral rules, social etiquette, and physical law) were assessed in 24 4-year-olds, 40 8-year-olds, and 46 college undergraduates. Traditional and evaluative aspects of flexibility yielded distinctly different patterns of response. Data indicated an age-related increase in flexibility on traditional measures (i.e., traditional rule flexibility, cultural relativity) for transgressions in all domains, except physical laws. In contrast, subjects in all age groups were consistently negative in their evaluations of transgressions in moral rules, etiquette, and masculine gender roles. Female subjects viewed masculine gender role transgressions with greater flexibility and less negativity than did male subjects. Results demonstrate the multidimensional character of flexibility development in different social and physical domains. Results suggest that masculine and feminine gender roles and social etiquette may not fall within a common domain of social convention.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Sex-role attributes, perceived competence and the development of depression in adolescence.

Studies are described which investigated the relationship of sex-role traits to age trends and sex differences in depression in adolescents. Psychological masculinity was negatively related to the level of depression in males and females, and evidence which indicates that this relationship is mediated by a link between masculinity and perceived competence is presented. The level of masculinity was stable across the age ranges studied, but was related to an increasingly higher rate of depression in females than males. It is therefore argued that a sex difference in masculinity arises prior to adolescence, but interacts with other factors which influence vulnerability to depression during the teenage years, thus bringing about the sex difference in depression.

Achievement↗
PubMed2004

How are sociosexuality, sex drive, and lifetime number of sexual partners related?

In two studies (ns = 277 and 221), the authors examined the relationships among sex drive, sociosexuality, lifetime number of sex partners, and gender identity. They found that sex drive is highly and positively correlated with sociosexual orientation, and that both sex drive and sociosexual orientation are positively correlated with lifetime number of sex partners. However, partial correlations revealed that sociosexual orientation is an independent predictor of lifetime number of sex partners, whereas sex drive is not. The authors were also able to replicate and extend Mikach and Bailey's (1999) finding that gender identity is related to women's lifetime number of sex partners. More masculine women had more sex partners and had a less restricted sociosexual orientation than did less masculine women; less masculine men had a higher sex drive than did more masculine men. The findings are discussed with regard to theory and research on sex drive and sociosexuality.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Temperature requirements for altering the morphology of osteoarthritic and nonarthritic articular cartilage: in vitro thermal alteration of articular cartilage.

BACKGROUND: Radiofrequency and laser thermal chondroplasty procedures are performed to debride and smooth fibrillated, articular cartilage. HYPOTHESIS: Temperature requirements necessary to achieve morphological change will be lower in fibrillated arthritic cartilage as compared with nonarthritic articular cartilage. STUDY DESIGN: Controlled laboratory study. METHODS: A thermal cell-culture chamber was mounted on a stereoscopic microscope and coordinated with a custom temperature-control program. Nonarthritic and osteoarthritic articular cartilage specimens were sectioned into full-thickness slices. The articular sections were exposed to temperatures incrementally from 37 masculine C to 75 masculine C. Real-time, digital capture microscopy was used to visualize and analyze the morphological changes undergone by the articular cartilage specimens. RESULTS: Arthritic articular cartilage displayed morphological change at 56.5 +/- 1.7 masculine C. Loss of fibrillation was the initial morphological change visualized. Continued thermal exposure caused a shrinkage effect of the entire tissue section that was similar to the change seen in nonarthritic sections. Nonarthritic cartilage displayed morphological change at 60.9 +/- 1.9 masculine C. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent characteristic morphological changes were found at distinct temperatures in osteoarthritic and nonarthritic articular cartilage. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This information begins to establish the thermal parameters required for morphological change of osteoarthritic articular cartilage.

Cartilage, Articular↗
PubMed2003

Patients' perceptions of quality of life after treatment for early prostate cancer.

PURPOSE: Treatment for early prostate cancer produces problematic physical side effects, but prior studies have found little influence on patients' perceived health status. We examined psychosocial outcomes of treatment for early prostate cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with previously treated prostate cancer and a reference group of men with a normal prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level and no history of prostate cancer completed questionnaires. Innovative scales assessed behavioral consequences of urinary dysfunction, sexuality, health worry, PSA concern, perceived cancer control, treatment decision making, decision regret, and cancer-related outlook. Urinary, bowel, and sexual dysfunction were assessed with symptom indexes; health status was assessed by the Physical and Mental Summaries of the Short Form (SF-12) Health Survey. RESULTS: Compared with men without prostate cancer, prostate cancer patients reported greater urinary, bowel, and sexual dysfunction, but similar health status. They reported worse problems of urinary control, sexual intimacy and confidence, and masculinity, and greater PSA concern. Perceptions of cancer control and treatment decisions were positive, but varied by treatment: prostatectomy patients indicated the highest and observation patients indicated the lowest cancer control. Bowel and sexual dysfunction were associated with poorer sexual intimacy, masculinity, and perceived cancer control; masculinity and PSA concern were associated with greater confidence in treatment choice; and diminished sexual intimacy and less interest in PSA were associated with greater regret. CONCLUSION: The lack of change in global measures of health status after treatment for early prostate cancer obscures important influences in men's lives; cancer diagnosis and treatment complications may result in complex outcomes. Aggressive treatment may confer confidence in cancer control, yet be countered by diminished intimate relationships and masculinity, which accompany sexual dysfunction.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Androgens and environmental antiandrogens affect reproductive development and play behavior in the Sprague-Dawley rat.

In mammals, exposure to androgens early in development is essential for masculinization of the male reproductive phenotype. Male fetuses exposed to antiandrogens during perinatal life are permanently demasculinized in their morphology and physiology, whereas exposure to exogenous androgens permanently masculinizes females. In some litter-bearing species, proximity(italic) in utero(/italic) of females to males can partially masculinize female siblings and alter their responsiveness to endocrine-disrupting compounds. However, in our strain of rat (CD-SD Charles River), intrauterine position does not significantly influence testosterone concentrations and anogenital distance of fetuses. In comparison, administration of testosterone propionate to pregnant females, at doses that doubled fetal female testosterone levels, did masculinize the reproductive system. Discovery of androgen-active chemicals in the environment has placed increased emphasis on describing the reproductive and behavioral effects of both natural and environmental androgens and antiandrogens. Recently, the effects of an antiandrogen, vinclozolin, on the brain and behavior were cited as a special concern by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in its risk assessment of this pesticide. In rats, one such behavior that is perinatally organized by androgens is social play. Males play more than females, and administration of exogenous androgens during the neonatal period alters the juvenile expression of this sexually dimorphic behavior. Vinclozolin is an androgen receptor antagonist that inhibits androgen-dependent tissue growth in vivo. We were interested in whether developmental exposure to vinclozolin could also alter androgen-dependent behaviors such as play. Neonatal male rats were injected on postnatal days (PNDs) 2 and 3 with corn oil, the pharmacologic antiandrogen flutamide (50 mg/kg), or vinclozolin (200 mg/kg). On PNDs 36-37 animals were observed for social play. Behaviors associated with general social activity such as sniffing and dorsal contact were unaffected by treatment. However, play behavior in males treated with flutamide or vinclozolin was significantly reduced, resembling levels of play characteristic of females rather than untreated males. Therefore, this study demonstrates that perinatal exposure to vinclozolin, an environmental antiandrogen, can alter androgen-dependent play behavior in the male rat.

Androgen Antagonists↗
PubMed1978

Attitudes toward homosexuality and femininity in men.

College students were asked to express their liking for a male stimulus person who was described as either heterosexual or homosexual and as masculine or feminine. Subjects disliked the homosexual man more than the heterosexual man, regardless of his gender attributes. Subjects did not, however, consistently dislike the feminine man more than the masculine man. The feminine heterosexual man was liked less than the masculine heterosexual man, but the feminine homosexual man was liked more than the masculine homosexual man. These results cast doubt on earlier notions that homosexual people are disliked because of their presumed inappropriate gender attributes. Instead, it appears that homosexual men are disliked even more if they violate the feminine stereotype. Reasons for this effect are proposed.

Attitude↗
PubMed1993

Sex-role orientation and self-esteem in alcoholic and nonalcoholic women.

Theory and research on alcoholism suggest that psychological masculinity and femininity and self-esteem are related to drinking problems in women. In a sample of 60 alcoholic and 60 nonalcoholic women, hypotheses derived from contemporary sex-role theory were contrasted with predictions from a copying styles perspective. Support was found only for the sex-role theory hypotheses. The two groups differed in levels of masculinity, femininity and self-esteem. These differences were reflected in the clustering of the low self-esteem, alcoholic women in the undifferentiated sex-role orientation category. The high self-esteem, nonalcoholic women were predominantly androgynous and masculine sex-typed. Psychological masculinity was the major factor distinguishing alcoholic from non-alcoholic women, as well as a better predictor of self-esteem than alcoholism.

Adult↗