Masculinity,femininity, academic performance,and health: Further evidence concerning the androgyny controversy1

Spence and Helmreich's (1978) claim that individual differences in four components of achievement motivation (mastery, work, competitiveness, and personal unconcern) are attributable to masculinity and femininity rather than to gender was generally supported, with one exception: Masculinity was associated with competitiveness for males but not for females. Furthermore, competitive women were more likely than noncompetitive women to have mental and physical health problems, but there was no such difference for males. In general, masculinity emerged as a beneficial constellation of traits for both males and females, correlating negatively with achievement conflicts and stress symptoms, and positively with mastery and work. Femininity, on the other hand, appeared to be a detrimental cluster of traits for both sexes, at least in terms of academic performance and health. Implications for the controversial concept of androgyny were discussed, and it was suggested that, in the future, research inspired by an ideal conception of adult behavior confront the ideal directly rather than describe it in terms of the traditional concepts of masculinity and femininity. Any such research effort will have to deal with the pivotal role of competitiveness.     

Gender Role Orientation and Anxiety Symptoms Among African American Adolescents

The present study evaluated gender role theory as an explanation for the observed gender differences in anxiety symptoms among adolescents. Specifically, the relation between gender, gender role orientation (i.e., masculinity and femininity), self-esteem, and anxiety symptoms was examined in a community sample of 114 African Americans aged 14 to 19 (mean age 15.77; 57 girls). Results revealed that masculinity was negatively associated with anxiety symptoms whereas femininity was positively associated with anxiety symptoms. Gender role orientation accounted for unique variance in anxiety scores above biological gender and self-esteem, and self-esteem moderated the relation between femininity (but not masculinity) and overall anxiety symptoms. Consistent with research on children and Caucasians, findings supported gender role theory as a partial explanation for the observed gender disparity in anxiety symptoms among African American adolescents.     

Self-Objectification, Self-Esteem, and Gender: Testing a Moderated Mediation Model

The purpose of the present research was to test the mediating roles of body shame and appearance anxiety in the relation between self-surveillance and self-esteem; and to investigate whether gender (male, female) and stereotypical gender roles (masculinity, femininity) moderated the proposed mediation model. Canadian undergraduate university men and women (n?=?198) completed measures of self-surveillance, gender, gender roles, body shame, appearance anxiety, and self-esteem. Regression analyses demonstrated that greater self-surveillance predicted lower self-esteem, and this relation was fully mediated by body shame and appearance anxiety. With the exception of masculinity interacting with self-surveillance to predict body shame and appearance anxiety, neither gender nor stereotypical gender roles moderated the proposed paths. Implications are discussed.     

Gender role and personality disorders

Many researchers have hypothesized relationships between personality disorders and gender role (i.e., masculinity and femininity). However, research has not addressed if people who are masculine or feminine more often meet the criteria for personality disorders. The present study examined whether college students (N = 665, 60% women) higher in masculinity or femininity more often exhibited features of the 10 DSM-IV personality disorders. Feminine men exhibited more features of all the personality disorders except antisocial. Dependent traits were associated with higher femininity and lower masculinity. Antisocial traits were associated with masculinity. Both men and women who typically behaved consistent with their gender had more narcissistic and histrionic features, whereas participants who typically behaved unlike their gender had more features of the Cluster A personality disorders.     

Sex role orientation and dimensions of self-esteem among middle adolescents

A questionnaire study of 229 high-school students examined the relationship between sex role orientation and various dimensions of self-esteem. The results provide strong support for the masculinity model self-esteem, especially for females. Multivariate analyses of variance revealed the following: (a) females perceived themselves to be significantly more socially competent than males; (b) males perceived themselves to be more physically competent than females; (c) adolescents high on masculinity perceived themselves to be significantly more socially competent, physically competent, and to have higher general self-esteem than those low on masculinity; (d) males and females high on masculinity perceived themselves to be significantly more physically competent and to have higher general self-esteem than females low on masculinity, although males low on masculinity did not differ significantly from any of the other interaction groups. Regression analyses by gender revealed the following: (a) the contribution of masculinity to social competence was much greater for females than for males, (b) the contribution of masculinity to physical competence was much greater for females than for males, and (c) the contribution of masculinity to general self-esteem was much greater for females than for males. In summary, for males, gender may override the impact of sex role orientation, while among females the impact of sex role orientation may be accentuated.     

Extraversion predicts individual differences in women’s face preferences

Extraversion is positively associated with various indices of women’s mate quality (e.g., facial symmetry and attractiveness). Since such indices are thought to predict variation in women’s preferences for masculine men, we investigated the relationships between each of the ‘Big 5’ personality factors and women’s preferences for facial masculinity. Extraversion, but not the other four personality factors, was positively correlated with women’s preferences for masculinity in men’s, but not women’s, faces. Additionally, extraversion mediated the positive relationship between women’s self-rated attractiveness and their preferences for masculinity in men’s faces, suggesting that extraversion may play a role in condition-dependent mate preferences. Unexpectedly, openness to experience was associated with women’s preferences for femininity in faces of both sexes and this association was independent of that between extraversion and women’s preferences for masculine men. This is the first study that we know of to implicate personality traits in individual differences in women’s preferences for masculine men.     

Gender-role identity after heart attack: Links with sex and subjective health status

Abstract

This paper compares the health status of 60 women and 60 men six months after suffering a myocardial infarction. Findings confirm previous reports of women having a poorer outcome compared with men at this period of rehabilitation. However, using a measure of gender-role orientation, it was found that masculinity was a better discriminator of outcome measures than sex alone. Higher levels of masculinity were associated with better health status for both women and men. Femininity was not related to differences in health status but was related to age in the total patient sample. On the assumption that gender-role orientation is a portrayal by the individual rather than a trait, the argument is made that women and men display masculinity through different articulations of fitness. The better or worse outcomes following heart attack variously affect the ability of men and women to signify in gender terms.     

The association between gender role stereotypes,resistance training motivation,and participation

ObjectivesTest the relationships between implicit gender stereotypes and perceptions of resistance training pleasantness, resistance training motivation, and participation among men and women. Test whether gender role moderates the effect of stereotypes on resistance training participation in men and women.DesignImplicit associations between resistance training and masculinity and pleasantness were measured using an Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP). Moderated mediation analyses were conducted to test motivation as a mediator of the relationship between implicit associations and behavior.MethodParticipants (n = 170; 46% male) completed an AMP and measures of motivation for and participation in resistance training.ResultsWomen's implicit associations between exercise and masculinity were not associated with their motivation for or participation in resistance training. The strength of men's implicit masculinity-resistance training association was negatively related to minutes of resistance training per week, mediated by lower autonomous motivation, 95%CI [−419.15 to −11.10]. The association between implicit resistance training pleasantness and behavior was mediated by autonomous motivation in women, 95%CI [2.54 to 313.55], with similar trends in men 95%CI_men [−3.00 to 320.38].ConclusionBased on these findings, implicit associations with masculinity are not associated with women's participation in exercise. However, implicitly endorsing gender-stereotypes for resistance training is associated with lower participation rates in men.     

Are Traditional Gender Role Attitudes Associated With Risky Sexual Behavior and Condom-related Beliefs?

Traditional gender role attitudes, which emphasize an unequal distribution of power in the family and stereotypical norms about masculinity, may be associated with unsafe sexual behavior and beliefs in young men and women. This study was designed to examine associations between gender role attitudes including gender-based family role attitudes and masculinity ideology, sexual behaviors, and condom-related beliefs in a sample of sexually active college students (N = 154). Family role attitudes were related to risky condom-related beliefs but not to risky sexual behavior. Masculinity ideology was related to both sexual behaviors and condom-related beliefs but, in some cases, in a direction opposite to that predicted. These unexpected findings and the utility of examining masculinity ideology among women are discussed.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2002 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, New Orleans, Louisiana.     

Negative and positive components of psychological masculinity and femininity and their relationships to self-reports of neurotic and acting out behaviors

Negatively valued masculinity (M-) and femininity (F-) personality scales were developed to supplement the positively valued Masculinity (M+) and Femininity (F+) scales of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ; Spence & Helmreich). M- consisted of traits that had been judged to be (a) more typical of males than females, (b) undesirable in both sexes, and (c ) agentic or instrumental in content. Two F- scales were developed, both containing stereotypically feminine, undesirable traits, one set of traits referring to communionlike characteristics (Fc-) and the other to verbal passive-aggressive qualities (FVA-). Significant sex differences in the predicted direction were found on all scales. In both sexes, low and typically nonsignificant correlations were found between parallel positive and negative scales, but highly significant negative correlations were found between positive and negative cross-sex scales. These findings provide additional evidence for the multidimentionslity of masculinity and femininity. Scores on a self-esteem measure were positively correlated with M+ and F+, uncorrelated with M-, and negatively correlated with the F- scales. Different patterns of scores were associated with two types of problem behaviors. In both sexes, neuroticism was most highly correlated (in a negative direction) with M+, and acting out behavoir was most strongly correlated (in a positive direction) with M-. The next highest correlation in both instances was with FVA-.     

The Impact of Parental Status and Gender Role Orientation on Caring and Postconventional Reasoning in Young Marrieds

This study was designed to examine the influence of sex and gender role orientation on adoption of the ethic of care and on postconventional reasoning in married men and women, with and without children. Parental status was unrelated to gender role orientation in men but was associated with masculinity in women, such that women with children had lower masculinity scores. Adoption of an ethic of care in men was a function of gender role orientation, such that only androgynous men did not evidence lower caring scores when they had children. Caring scores in women were a function of both parental status and masculinity, such that women with children who were high in masculinity evidenced lower caring scores. Postconventional reasoning as assessed by P scores on three dilemmas from the Defining Issues Test (DIT) were only influenced by sex and age but not by gender role orientation. Postconventional reasoning as assessed by ratings of all postconventional statements (R scores) was influenced by both sex and gender role orientation; in men, masculinity and femininity interacted such that androgynous and undifferentiated men evidenced higher R scores when they had no children, but only androgynous men with children evidenced high R scores. In women, gender role orientation did not impact R scores and neither did parental status. Multiple regressions indicated that for women, the interaction of masculinity and femininity, and caring scores, accounted for a significant amount of the variance in R scores. In men, none of the variables entered the equation. The implications for both Gilligan’s and Bem’s theories are discussed.     

Jealousy and infidelity: The role of gender identity and culture of honour

Abstract

This research is aimed at examining whether gender and the culture of honour were associated with the type of infidelity (sexual or emotional) that is perceived as most disturbing. A total of 748 Spanish university students (336 men and 412 women), answered to six dilemmas which raised the type of infidelity that had greater impact on them (sexual or emotional), a scale of gender identity and a scale of culture of honour. The results showed that both men and women were more affected by emotional infidelity. In addition it was found that the effect of sex on the type of infidelity that stresses the participants more was moderated by sociocultural variables such as the culture of honour, masculinity and femininity.     

Gender Roles and Self-Esteem: A Consideration of Environmental Factors

Much empirical research has examined the psychological well-being of individuals with varying gender role orientations. This research has typically shown masculinity to be a strong correlate of self-esteem and femininity to be relatively unrelated to self-esteem. This research has often failed to consider the relative environmental influences impacting this process. This study examines the relationships of masculinity and femininity to self-esteem and environmental presses for each of these sets of behavioral characteristics. Results indicate a stronger press for masculine characteristics than feminine characteristics. The person-environment interaction suggests that a masculine environment may place women who are low in masculinity at particular risk for low self-esteem. Implications for both research and practice are discussed.     

Effects of gender role self-discrepancies and self-perceived attractiveness on social anxiety for women across social situations

Background and objectives: Psychosocial factors, such as gender role norms, may impact how social anxiety disorder (SAD) is experienced and expressed in different social contexts for women. However to date, these factors have not been examined via experimental methodology. Design: This was a cross-sectional, quasi-experimental controlled study. Methods: The current study included 48 highly socially anxious (HSA) women (70.9% meeting criteria for SAD) and examined the relationships among psychosocial factors (i.e. gender role self-discrepancies and self-perceived physical attractiveness), self-perceived social performance, and state anxiety, across two in vivo social tasks (i.e. conversation and opinion speech). Results: On average, participants reported belief that they ought to be less feminine for the speech task and more masculine for both the conversation and speech tasks. Also, for the conversation task, only lower self-rated attractiveness predicted poorer self-perceived performance and greater post-task state anxiety, above gender role self-discrepancies and confederate gender. For the speech task, only greater self-discrepancy in prototypical masculine traits predicted poorer performance ratings, and it was related to greater state anxiety in anticipation of the task. Conclusion: For HSA women, psychosocial factors may play different roles in social anxiety across social contexts.     

Parental antecedents of sex-role orientation in college men and women

Parental modeling and reinforcement antecedents of masculine, feminine, androgynous, and undifferentiated sex-role orientation were tested for 228 college men and women using self and parent versions of the Bem Sex Role Inventory and the Parent Behavior Form. Parent scale differences indicated that psychological androgyny is associated with high levels of masculinity and femininity in both parents, with high levels of warmth and involvement, particularly with the same-sex parent, and, in females, with maternal cognitive/achievement encouragement. Sex typing occurred where both parents modeled traditional sex-role attributes and, for females, with extreme closeness with father in the absence of maternal cognitive/intellectual encouragement. An undifferentiated sex-role orientation was associated with low emotional and cognitive involvement with father in males and with an undifferentiated but emotionally involved mother in females. Finally, cross-sex typing in both sexes was associated with parental rejection, low feminity in both parents, and an absence of warmth or cognitive encouragement from either parent. These findings confirm and expand those of an earlier study for androgynous subjects, but differ markedly for cross-sex-typed subjects.     

The Relation Between Childhood Gender Nonconformity and Adult Masculinity–Femininity and Anxiety in Heterosexual and Homosexual Men and Women

Recalled childhood gender nonconformity (CGN) and adult traits—e.g., masculinity–femininity of occupational preferences (MF-Occ), self-ascribed masculinity–femininity (Self-MF), self-reported anxiety—were assessed in an ethnically diverse US convenience sample of California college students and gay pride attendees, including 238 heterosexual men, 127 gay men, 343 heterosexual women, and 197 lesbian women. CGN showed large heterosexual–homosexual and gender differences, with homosexual individuals higher than heterosexual individuals and women higher than men. CGN was significantly associated with both men’s and women’s MF-Occ and Self-MF, both within and across sexual orientations. CGN was associated with self-reported anxiety for men but not for women, a finding true for both heterosexual and gay men, suggesting that CGN had a more negative impact on men than women.     

Use of Social Support: Gender and Personality Differences

Sex differences in social support have been explained in terms of gender differences in socialization and personality. The current research focused directly on the link between social support and gender variables. An adult, largely Caucasian sample of both sexes reported an experience in which they had received support, and were assessed on masculinity, femininity, nurturance, affiliation, autonomy, and self-confidence. The results revealed that gender, but not sex, was significantly correlated with patterns of social support. Femininity (in both sexes) was associated with seeking and receiving emotional support, and with seeking and receiving support from women. Masculinity (in both sexes) was linked only with receiving tangible support. These findings argue for the significance of femininity in promoting a more social form of well-being, and underscore the importance of studying gender directly rather than relying on sex as a proxy variable.     

Sex differences in the nature,realism, and correlates of body image

The present study examined sex differences in the nature and realism of body-image satisfaction, and the extent to which sex and sex role ideology moderated the relationships of body image to other indices of self-esteem and well-being. Accordingly, scales assessing body cathexis, self-esteem, depression proneness, and sex role ideology, as well as a questionnaire assessing perceptions of weight and dieting activities, were completed by 135 college women and 129 college men. As expected, women indicated significantly greater dissatisfaction with their bodies than did men. Women were likely to perceive themselves as overweight or slightly overweight, regardless of their actual weight, and most wanted to lose weight. Men who were dissatisfied tended to perceive themselves as underweight and wanted to gain rather than to lose weight. For both sexes, less positive attitudes to ward one's body were related to lower levels of self-esteem, although the relationship was significantly stronger for women than for men. The relationship between body attitudes and self-esteem was of approximately equal magnitude among traditional vs feminist women. For both sexes, more negative attitudes towards one's body were related to greater proneness to depression. Implications for further research are discussed.     

Gender differences in ego defenses in adolescence: sex roles as one way to understand the differences.

Gender differences in ego defenses were hypothesized in adolescence, with greater internalization by girls and greater externalization by boys. Through the inclusion of sex role constructs (masculinity and feminity, agency and communion, and passivity-dependency), relational models as well as psychoanalytic theory were investigated as bases for sex differences. The Berm Sex Role Inventory and the Defense Mechanism Inventory were administered to 66 high school students (31 boys and 25 girls), ages 14-19. As expected, boys scored higher on projection and aggression-outward defenses and girls scored higher on turning against the self, but girls failed to exceed boys on reversal. Multiple regression supported sex roles as moderating variables in gender differences in defenses. Alternative reconceptualizations of sex roles supported aspects of both psychoanalytic and relational models as explanation of gender differences in defenses.     

Gender,g, Gender Identity Concepts,and Self-Constructs as Predictors of the Self-Estimated IQ

In all 102 participants completed 2 intelligence tests, a self-estimated domain-masculine (DMIQ) intelligence rating (which is a composite of self-rated mathematical–logical and spatial intelligence), a measure of self-esteem, and of self-control. The aim was to confirm and extend previous findings about the role of general intelligence and gender identity in self-assessed intelligence. It aimed to examine further correlates of the Hubris-Humility Effect that shows men believe they are more intelligent than women. The DMIQ scores were correlated significantly with gender, psychometrically assessed IQ, and masculinity but not self-esteem or self-control. Stepwise regressions indicated that gender and gender role were the strongest predictors of DMIQ accounting for a third of the variance.