Personality Characteristics of Androgynous and Sex-Typed Females

Personality characteristics of androgynous and sex-typed females identified by the gem Sex-Role Inventory were studied using the California Psychological Inventory. The results indicated that sex-typed females showed personality characteristics associated with traditional sex-role stereotypes while androgynous females showed both masculine nd feminine characteristics. There was an indication that androgynous and masculine females were better adjusted socially than feminine or undifferentiated females.     

Personality characteristics of androgynous and sex-typed females

Personality characteristics of androgynous and sex-typed females identified by the gem Sex-Role Inventory were studied using the California Psychological Inventory. The results indicated that sex-typed females showed personality characteristics associated with traditional sex-role stereotypes while androgynous females showed both masculine nd feminine characteristics. There was an indication that androgynous and masculine females were better adjusted socially than feminine or undifferentiated females.     

The effects of sex and sex-role concept on self-disclosure

Socialization into traditional sex-role concepts has been offered as an explanation of sex differences in self-disclosure. The present experiment tested a derivation of this hypothesis: Androgynous males would self-disclose more intimately than sex-typed males. A 2×2×2×2 factorial design was used with sex of subject, sex-role concept of subject, sex of target person, and disclosure level of target person as the independent variables. The results failed to demonstrate an overall difference between androgynous and sex-typed males, while significant sex differences and a strong reciprocity effect were obtained. With both male and female subjects, androgynous subjects did disclose more than sex-typed subjects when the target person had exhibited high disclosure. The findings are discussed in terms of two hypotheses: (1) compliance to a social norm regarding male disclosure to strangers; (2) flexibility of the disclosing behavior of androgynous subjects.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Washington, D.C., March 1978. The authors are indebted to two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions concerning this article.     

Sex-role and opposite-sex interpersonal attraction

Androgynous, traditional, and undifferentiated male and female subjects indicated their attraction to three opposite-sex strangers who were described as having an androgynous, traditional, and undifferentiated sex-role. Subjects' ability to describe the sex-roles of the strangers was also measured. Androgynous strangers were most preferred, undifferentiated strangers least preferred. The least preferred undifferentiated strangers' sex-role was most accurately described. Subjects were least successful in describing the androgynous sex-role.     

Sex, sex-role identification, and awareness of sex-role stereotypes

An experiment was run to determine if androgynous people have transcended traditional sex roles or merely incorporated both sex roles into their repertoire. Masculine sex-typed, feminine sex-typed, and androgynous people listed as many masculine and feminine stereotypes as they could think of in a time-limited task. Highly sex-typed individuals showed more awareness of their own sex's attributes than the other sex's stereotypes. Androgynous people showed greater awareness of both sexes' attributes as compared with sex-typed people, indicating support for the incorporation hypothesis rather than the transcendance hypothesis. However, the stereotypes androgynous people listed were somewhat less evaluative in tone compared with those of sex-typed people, Overall, subjects listed more stereotypes of females than males, and female stereotypes were more negative than male stereotypes.     

Self-disclosure: Intimate and nonintimate disclosures to parents and best friends as a function of bem sex-role category

Thirty-two androgynous, traditional, and undifferentiated males and females (N/it=192) completed a 6-item self-disclosure questionnaire containing 30 intimate and 30 nonintimate items. The targets were father, mother, and best male and female friends. Analyses of both intimate and nonintimate items indicated that amount of self-disclosure was related to sex role and not gender. Typical male-female differences in self-disclosure were not found because (a) androgynous males disclosed at significantly higher levels than traditional and undifferentiated males to most targets; (b) undifferentiated males and females disclosed significantly less than their androgynous and traditional counterparts. Intimate self-disclosure by androgynous males to father, and nonintimate disclosure by androgynous females to father, were particularly high. Both findings suggest a unique role for fathers in the development of androgynous persons. Androgynous females reported higher disclosure to best male friend than to mother. This is counter to the traditional female pattern and is interpreted as representing a greater degree of distancing from mother and openness to peers.The order of the authors' names was randomly determined. Both contributed equally.     

Hostility and sex guilt: Perceptions of self and others as a function of gender and sex-role orientation

Males and females indicated their perceptions of sex and hostility guilt for themselves and for typical males or typical females. Males were found to be less guilty than females. Both sexes perceived the typical female to be more guilty than the typical male, and both underestimated the actual level of female guilt. Subjects were also classified according to sex-role orientation. Masculine sex-typed people were less guilty than feminine sex-typed individuals, with androgynous groups falling between these two. Also, sex-consistent subjects and androgynous females perceived themselves as similar to others of their gender, while androgynous males perceived themselves as being similar to both males and females. Sex-reversed subjects evidenced conflict and inaccuracies in their perceptions of self versus others. Implications for future research are presented.The author wishes to thank Shari Sparling for her assistance in collecting and scoring the data for this study.     

College Adjustment Problems and Attitudes Toward Drinking Reported by Feminine, Androgynous, and Masculine College Women

Two studies compared attitudes toward various issues and adaptations to demands of college life that were reported by feminine, androgynous, and masculine sex-typed females. Study 1 showed that feminine sex-typed females reported lower involvement in academic competition, fewer difficulties with peer pressures, and less exclusion by fraternities and sororities from college social life than did androgynous and masculine females. Androgynous and masculine females gave similar responses, showing high involvement in academic competition, negative reactions to peer pressures, and resentment toward male friends who cancel plans. Study 2 compared attitudes of feminine, androgynous, and masculine female college students toward drinking. Discriminant analysis showed that over 99% of the subjects could be correctly classified according to sex type on the basis of two dimensions: (1) sociable drinking and (2) drinking due to peer pressure and social discomfort. Masculine arid androgynous females were significantly more likely than feminine females to endorse questions related to social drinking. Masculine females showed the greatest potential for problem drinking from social pressures and for escape from social discomfort. Results supported Kelly and Worell's (1977) argument that the adaptive values of different sex-role orientations depend on the demands of the environment.     

Sex,Sex Roles,and Emotional Expressiveness

Differences in emotional expressiveness between males and females have generally been attributed to sex-role socialization, but most studies have not included measures of sex-role orientation. We hypothesized that sex role would be a more salient factor than sex and that androgynous and feminine persons would be more expressive than masculine and undifferentiated individuals. Data were gathered from 230 college students using Bem's (1975) Sex-Role Inventory and Balswick's (1975) Expression of Emotion Scale. Both hypotheses were supported.     

Peer ratings of males and females possessing different sex-role identities

Two investigations were conducted to explore peer ratings of males and females exhibiting different sex roles. In the first study, 160 males and females representing four sex-role groups were rated by close, same sex friends on Gough's Adjective Check List. The results indicated that for both males and females, the four sex-role groups were perceived differently by their friends. I n the second investigation, peer rated adjectives which differentiated between the sex-role groups in Study I were evaluated on a positive/negative dimension; self-rated adjectives differentiating between the four sex-role groups in an earlier study (Baucom, 1980) were evaluated similarly. The findings showed that the peer-rated and self-rated adjectives which differentiated androgynous males and females from the other sex-role groups were viewed more positively than adjectives describing any other group: peer-rated and self-rated adjectives describing undifferentiated persons were consistently viewed negatively. Significant differences between the evaluations of the peer-rated and self-rated adjectives suggest that conclusions about the effects of sex roles are likely to vary, depending upon whether self-report inventories or peer ratings are investigated. Cautions are presented regarding generalizations from only one method of measurement.     

Psychological androgyny and personality adjustment in college and psychiatric populations

In two separate studies, 106 female and 84 male undergraduates and 48 female and 48 male psychiatric inpatients were administered the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Faschingbauer Abbreviated Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. The masculine, feminine, androgynous, and undifferentiated groups identified from the BSRI differed on a variety of personality scales in both normal and clinical populations. Androgynous females were significantly lower on the Depression (D) and Social Introversion (Si) scales than feminine females, and, in the college sample, were also lower on the Schizophrenia and Mania scales than masculine females. In the hospitalized male sample, this pattern was partially sustained, with androgynous and masculine subjects being significantly less deviant than feminine on the Si scale, and tending to score lower on the D scale. In the group of college males, androgynous males scored lower on the Si scale than feminine males. Hypotheses concerning the relationship of sex-role flexibility (androgyny) to mental health appear to be supported for females in both college and psychiatric populations by these results. These results also indicate that sex-role conformity may relate differently to personality development and psychological functioning for males and females.     

Sex-roles of ideal opposite sexed persons for college males and females

Relationships between sex-roles as measured by the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and the ideal sex-role of persons of the opposite sex as measured by a modified BSRI were investigated for 169 college males and 204 college females. The distributions of sex-roles were different for men and women, as were the distributions of ideal sex-roles of opposite sexed persons. Androgynous (A), feminine (F) and masculine (M) men identified F women as ideal, while undifferentiated (U) men identified U women as ideal. M women preferred M men, and U women preferred U men. Effects of ideal sex-role of the two sexes on sexual attraction were discussed.     

Sex-role identity as a moderator of the polarization effect in person perception

Male and female subjects with different sex-role identities (Androgynous, Masculine, Feminine, Undifferentiated) rated likability of male and female stimulus persons in the impression formation paradigm. Under certain conditions all the female subjects and feminine males manifested a polarization effect; that is, they made more polar ratings of opposite-sexed stimulus persons in contrast to same-sexed stimulus persons. On the other hand, under certain conditions Masculinetyped males rated male stimulus persons more negatively than female stimulus persons. Results were discussed in terms of moderating effects on the polarization phenomenon and possible explanatory mechanisms.     

The effect of sex and gender-schematic processing on sport participation

This study examined the extent to which an individual's overall experience with and personal commitment to athletic activities is constrained by the sex appropriateness of the sport, the sex of the individual, and the individual's classification on the Bem Sex Role Inventory. No sex differences were found for levels of participation for either measure of participation. For both measures, neutral sports were preferred, followed by sex-appropriate and then sex-inappropriate sports. Females' experience and commitment was greater than males' to feminine activities, whereas males' was greater than females' for masculine activities. Sex-typed males reported significantly less experience with and commitment to feminine sports than androgynous and undifferentiated males. When sex-typed females were compared with androgynous and cross-sex-typed females, they reported significantly less commitment to masculine sports.     

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 relationship of sex-role orientation to self-perceived health status in middle-aged males

The purpose of this study was to determine how sex-role orientation was related to self-perceived health status among a group of middle-aged males. A nonprobability sample of 237 male volunteers between the ages of 40 and 59, of whom 88.7% were engaged in professional occupations, completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and two separate measures employed to assess self-perceived health status. As predicted, the results indicated that on both measures of self-perceived health status, the middle-aged men with a traditional male sex-role orientation or those in the masculine classification reported lower self-perceived levels of health than did males considered to be androgynous. In this sample of professional middle-aged males, an androgynous sex-role orientation was, therefore, associated with higher levels of self-perceived health than was a traditional male sex-role orientation. Finally, an unhypothesized finding was that the men in the undifferentiated category also evidenced lower levels of self-perceived health than males who were androgynous.This research was part of a doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of Maryland, College Park.     

The relationship between sex-role identity and beliefs in personal control

Three hundred and ten college undergraduate students completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and Rotter's Internal-External Scale measuring locus of control. Males were significantly more internal than females. Both males and females who had high same-sex scale scores were significantly more internal than those with low same-sex scale scores. That is, males who were masculine or androgynous and females who were feminine or androgynous reported greater internal locus of control beliefs than did those males who were feminine or undifferentiated and those females who were masculine or undifferentiated. It was suggested that these findings result from different styles of power typically associated with sex-role stereotypes.     

Sex-role orientation,behavioral adaptability and personal adjustment

Bem's Sex-Role Inventory was used to classify 111 college men and women into masculine, feminine, androgynous, and undifferentiated sex-role categories. Subjects were tested for emotional expressivity (feminine task), assertiveness (masculine task), and personal integration. Sex typed and cross-sex typed subjects performed well only on those tasks which were congruent with their measured sex role. Androgynous subjects exhibited the greatest behavioral adaptability, performing well on both masculine and feminine tasks; undifferentiated subjects performed poorly on both tasks, but particularly so on sex-reversed tasks. Thus, behavioral flexibility was shown to derive from strong identifications with both masculine and feminine roles (androgyny) rather than from a simple lack of identification with either role. In addition, contrary to previous findings that masculine-typed women are better adjusted than feminine-typed women, androgynous and sex typed subjects both scored high in personal integration, with cross-sex typed subjects of both sexes scoring as low as undifferentiated subjects.