Assessing the Current Validity of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory

The Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) is a widelyused instrument in measuring gender role perceptions.Recent concerns regarding the validity of the adjectiveshave arisen as changes in the roles of men and women have occurred in American society sincethe 1970's. A partial replication of the method that Bem(1974) used to validate the masculine and feminineadjectives comprising the instrument was conducted. All but two of the adjectives were validatedusing Bem's criteria. These findings suggest that theBSRI may still be a valid instrument for assessing genderroles. However, evidence was revealed that traditional masculine and feminine gender role perceptionsmay be weakening. Future validation of the BSRI iswarranted in light of these patterns.     

Desirability of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory Items for Women and Men: A Comparison Between African Americans and European Americans

The Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) is a widely used instrument for measuring gender role perceptions, but questions have been raised regarding whether its items reflect contemporary views on gender. A recent study (Holt & Ellis, 1998) revalidated all but 2 of the 40 adjectives included in the masculine and feminine BSRI indices for a predominantly European American undergraduate sample in a rural Southern town. We examined whether European Americans in a different geographical area and 2 samples of African Americans would show similar findings. Study participants were recruited in undergraduate management courses in 2 universities and included 62 European American women, 69 European American men, 40 African American women, and 31 African American men in a large Northeastern city and 56 African American women and 33 African American men in a small Southern city. Findings indicated that European American men in the urban Northeast and African American men in the South gave the most traditional ratings, whereas European American women in the urban Northeast expressed the most liberal views. European American women considered only 4 of the 40 BSRI items to be differentially desirable for women and men, a considerable departure from the findings of Holt and Ellis (1998) as well as Bem (1974).     

The Relationships Between Sensation Seeking and Gender Role Orientations Among Turkish University Students

The relationships between sensation seeking and gender role orientation were examined among 325 Turkish university students. The Sensation Seeking Scale Form V (SSS-V; Zuckerman, Behavioral expressions and biosocial bases of sensation seeking. Cambridge University Press, New York, 1994) and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, 42:155–162, 1974) were used for data collection. The dimensions of the SSS-V were Thrill and Adventure Seeking, Disinhibition, Experience Seeking, and Boredom Susceptibility. The ANOVA and MANOVA revealed main effects for gender and gender role orientation. As predicted, men reported higher levels of overall sensation seeking and Disinhibition than women did. Androgynous and masculine groups reported higher levels of overall sensation seeking, Disinhibition and Experience Seeking than the feminine group did. The effect of gender role orientation on Thrill and Adventure Seeking and Boredom Susceptibility was insignificant.     

Measuring Gender Orientation with the Bem Sex Role Inventory in Chinese Culture

To test the validity of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and its application in Chinese culture, the instrument was administered to 302 American (101 males and 201 females) and 273 Chinese (120 males and 153 females) college students. Factor analyses and analysis by gender yielded different patterns across cultures. Subsequent results yielded a short form of eight male-oriented items and eight female-oriented items that were equivalent across cultures. The short form constructed in this study is expected to apply to future cross-cultural research on gender orientation. The study supports previous findings that masculine and feminine do not load on the major factors, and therefore it is misleading to name the two shortened scales as such. Further, a comparison of the BSRI scores across samples revealed that Chinese scores are generally lower than those of Americans, and explanations are made in light of Chinese culture.     

Clinical utility of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) in the Spanish transsexual and nontranssexual population

The aim of the study is to evaluate the usefulness of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974), an overall measurement of the cultural construct of masculinity and femininity, in the psychological assessment of Spanish transsexuals. Seventy male-to-female transsexuals (MF), 51 female-to-male transsexuals (FM), 77 control men, and 79 control women completed the Spanish version of the BSRI. Statistically significant differences between groups were only found on the femininity scale, on which MF transsexuals and control women scored significantly higher than FM transsexuals and control men. The results indicate that (a) only the femininity scale of the BSRI appears to be useful today for evaluating differences in the sex-role identification in Spanish controls and transsexuals; and (b) MF and FM transsexuals score as a function of their gender identity instead of their anatomical sex on the BSRI femininity scale.     

Clinical Utility of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) in the Spanish Transsexual and Nontranssexual Population

The aim of the study is to evaluate the usefulness of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974), an overall measurement of the cultural construct of masculinity and femininity, in the psychological assessment of Spanish transsexuals. Seventy male-to-female transsexuals (MF), 51 female-to-male transsexuals (FM), 77 control men, and 79 control women completed the Spanish version of the BSRI. Statistically significant differences between groups were only found on the femininity scale, on which MF transsexuals and control women scored significantly higher than FM transsexuals and control men. The results indicate that (a) only the femininity scale of the BSRI appears to be useful today for evaluating differences in the sex-role identification in Spanish controls and transsexuals; and (b) MF and FM transsexuals score as a function of their gender identity instead of their anatomical sex on the BSRI femininity scale.     

Gender orientation and the Bem Sex Role Inventory: A psychological construct revisited

In 1973, Constantinople revolutionized the conceptualization of male and female sex roles when she advanced that masculinity and femininity were not opposite ends of a unidimensional continuum but rather independent constructs. This gave rise to androgyny theory, which advanced that individuals could be both masculine and feminine, and that in fact, the most healthy gender orientation was one containing elements of both. Nearly two decades after the development of the androgyny theory and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), one of its most popular measures, it seems prudent to reexamine the androgyny construct and its measurement. This paper does just that. Within the context of a predominantly middle-class, Caucasian population, this study uses factor analysis, reliability estimates, and measures of population agreement to assess the continuing validity and reliability of the BSRI and androgyny theory. While reinforcing the reliability of the BSRI, results raise both methodological and conceptual questions regarding the BSRI and the operationalization of androgyny.     

More of a (wo)man offline? Gender roles measured in online and offline environments

The increased availability of and access to the Internet has resulted in online psychological assessment becoming an attractive mode of collecting data. However, equivalence between online measures and their offline counterpart cannot be assumed. The aim of the current study was to examine for the first time the online and offline equivalence of a commonly employed measure of gender role orientation: the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) short-form. Participants (N = 372) completed the BSRI short-form either online (n = 244) or offline (n = 128). Equivalence was assessed through reliability measures and mean differences. Reliability analyses indicated good and comparable levels of internal consistency. There was no significant difference between femininity scores depending on mode of administration. However, masculinity scores were significantly higher when the BSRI short-form was administered offline. An additional and unexpected finding was that there was no significant difference between men and women’s masculinity scores. Explanations for the pattern of results seen are considered, including the possible role of social desirability. Future research should further consider conceptualisations of gender in the online environment. Given the findings reported here, it is recommended that researchers collecting gender role data online interpret their findings mindful of possible administration mode effects.     

Acquiescence and the Bem Sex-Role Inventory

The Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Couch and Keniston Agreement Response Scale (ARS) were administered to 70 male and 72 female undergraduate students. Using the ARS scores as the dependent variable in a 2 (gender) X3 (sex-role identification) unweightedmeans factorial analysis of variance, the results showed that the two main effects and the interaction. effect were not statistically significant (F< I in each instance) indicating the lack of relationship between the BSRI and acquiescent responding.     

Construct validity of the bem sex role inventory (BSRI): Does the BSRI distinguish between gender-schematic and gender-aschematic individuals?

Factor analyses were performed on the masculine, feminine, and neutral items of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) for gender-schematic and gender-aschematic individuals separately. The analyses revealed bipolar masculinity/femininity factors for the gender-schematic group and two unipolar “aschematicity” factors for the gender-aschematic group. The results support gender schema theory's claim that the two types of individuals respond differently to the items of the BSRI. Thus, the BSRI is a valid measure for distinguishing gender-schematic from gender-schematic individuals.     

Dimensionality of the bem sex role inventory: A multidimensional analysis

Bem has criticized psychological scales which categorize individuals as masculine or feminine and has developed the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) to measure androgyny as well as femininity and masculinity. Bem's work on androgyny has stimulated not only a growing research tradition on androgyny but also methodological critiques of the BSRI instrument and scoring procedure. The purpose of this research is to replicate in part a study done by Pedhazur and Tetenbaum which raises serious questions about the unidimensionality of the feminine and masculine subscales in the BSRI. The alternative multidimensional techniques of factor analysis (the method used by Pedhazur and Tetenbaum) and smallest space analysis are applied to the BSRI data set. Both techniques indicate that the feminine and masculine subsets are not unidimensional, but they yield quite different results concerning the actual nature of the dimensions in the BSRI. The results of the factor analysis, but not the smallest space analysis, are consistent with the findings of Pedhazur and Tetenbaum, thus yielding mixed evidence about the validity of their conclusions based solely on factor-analyzed data.The author wishes to acknowledge the constructive comments by Professors Milton Bloombaum, John Gartrell, Louis Guttman, and Martha Mednick during various stages of this research, and the assistance of Dr. Jerry Brennan with the data analysis. Support for this project was provided by the Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii.     

Is sexual attraction independent of the instrumental and expressive traits?

Sexual attraction is an essential part of sex, just as the instrumental and expressive traits are the mainstay of gender. Various hypotheses concerning the dimensionality and independence versus dependence/overlapping of these core entities were tested. A group of 423 university students completed the Sexual Attraction Questionnaire (SAQ; Fernández, Quiroga, and Rodríguez, 2006) and the 12-item Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974). Internal consistency and factor analyses (PAF) were conducted. The results support the dimensionality established for the SAQ and reveal some psychometric and conceptual weaknesses of the 12-item BSRI. The results also support the independence of the two cores: sexual attraction and the instrumental and expressive traits. The logical implications for the different viewpoints of the relations between sex and gender are discussed.     

DO THE BSRI AND PAQ MEASURE THE SAME OR DIFFERENT CONCEPTS?

The present article assesses Frable's (1989) contention that the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) measures only desirable instrumental and expressive characteristics, whereas the Bem Sex Role inventory (BSRI) measures gender schema and related gender concepts. Comparison of the two instruments indicates, first, that they are similar in content and that the parallel M and F scales are substantially correlated. Further, the results obtained with the two instruments in three areas (self-esteem, sex-role attitudes, and gender-schematic processing) suggest that both are valid measures of desirable instrumental and expressive traits. Sexrole attitudes, however, tend to have small and typically nonsignificant relationships with both sets of scales, whereas few studies of gender schematic processing have produced replicable results even with the BSRI. However, Bem and her associates have reported positive results using other designs that have yet to be replicated using either the BSRI or the PAQ. Thus, in response to Frable's (1989) assertion, it seems at best premature to come to any conclusion about whether one, both, or neither of the questionnaires measure broad gender constructs.     

Appraising gender role portrayals in TV commercials

The Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) was used to appraise the gender role orientations of characters appearing in prime-time television advertisements. Four hundred twenty-six college students (primarily Caucasian) rated major ad characters on the BSRI and provided perceptual judgments about the character and ad presentation. The confirmatory analysis of the psychometric properties of the BSRI indicated the appropriateness of the scale for self- and person-perception ratings. BSRI Femininity and Masculinity subscale scores for the ad characters were analyzed as continuous variables. Counterstereotypic female characters had significantly higher Masculinity scores than stereotypic female characters and counterstereotypic male characters had significantly higher Femininity scores than stereotypic male characters. The BSRI was also a significant predictor of character and ad perceptions. A new direction for gender role research is presented.     

Gender Role Orientation and Performance on Stereotypically Feminine and Masculine Cognitive Tasks

Nash (1979) argued that people tend to perform better on cognitive tasks when their gender-related self-concept is consistent with the stereotyping of the tasks. In order to evaluate Nash's hypothesis, participants were administered the S&M Mental Rotation Task, the Controlled Word Association Test, and the Bem (1974) Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). In men gender role orientation was significantly related to performance on the verbal task, with the critical factor being androgyny. When femininity and masculinity were assessed individually, femininity was found to be significantly related to the verbal task in men only. In women there was no significant variability across the gender role types in relation to performance on either task. These findings suggest that the importance of gender is dependent on the task and participants' sex. Nash's hypothesis was not supported for the mental rotation task.     

Gender differences in self‐estimated intelligence and their relation to gender‐role orientation

Previous research has demonstrated that gender differences in self‐estimated intelligence are domain specific: Males estimate their mathematical, logical and spatial abilities significantly higher than females. It has been frequently hypothesized that these differences are moderated by the individual's degree of gender‐role orientation. However, studies investigating the effect of gender‐role orientation on self‐estimated intelligence revealed highly inconsistent results. In the present study, 267 participants estimated their own abilities in 11 intelligence domains and completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). Factor analysis of the 11 intelligence domains yielded four interpretable factors. Gender differences were identified for the mathematical–logical and the artistic intelligence factor. Additional analyses revealed a moderating effect of gender‐role orientation on gender differences in factor scores. Thus, the present study provided direct evidence for the notion that in male, but not in female individuals, self‐estimates of specific aspects of intelligence are markedly influenced by gender‐role orientation. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

RELATIONSHIPS AMONG FEAR OF SUCCESS, FEAR OF FAILURE, AND ANDROGYNY

Fear of success, fear of failure, and sex role orientation were examined in engineering undergraduates using the Fear of Success Scale (FOSS; Zuckerman & Allison, 1976), the Debilitating Anxiety Scale (DAS; Alpert & Haber, 1960), and the Bern Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974), respectively. The correlation (r = 45) between fear of success and fear of failure supported the finding of Criffore (1977). BSRI subscale scores rather than BSRI sex role category scores increased the predictability of FOSS and DAS. Fear of success was found to be a sex-role-related construct whereas fear of failure was found to be a gender-related construct.     

Some psychometric characteristics of gender diagnosticity measures: reliability, validity, consistency across domains, and relationship to the big five.

Preferences for various occupations, school subjects, everyday activities, and hobbies and amusements were rated by 119 male and 145 female Ss. Discriminant analyses were conducted to compute gender diagnostic probabilities. Ss also rated themselves on Big Five traits and completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ). Results indicated that (a) gender diagnosticity measures showed high reliability, (b) gender diagnosticity predicted sex of S and self-ascribed masculinity (M) and femininity (F) better than contrasted-groups M-F scales, (c) gender diagnosticity measures displayed substantial consistency across domains both within and across the sexes, and (d) gender diagnosticity measures were independent of the Big Five and PAQ and BSRI scales both within and across the sexes, whereas PAQ and BSRI scales loaded highly on Big Five dimensions.     

SEX ROLE ORIENTATION AND TYPE A BEHAVIOR PATTERN

Male and female college students completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Jenkins Activity Survey, a part of which is the Type A Scale. Correlational results showed that as Type A scores increased, BSRI scores decreased (more masculine sex role orientation). Analysis of variance showed that males and females with masculine sex role orientations (SROs) had significantly higher Type A scores than those with androgynous SROs, who in turn had significantly higher Type A scores than those with feminine SROs.