Sports ideology,attitudes toward women,and anti-homosexual attitudes

The present work tests the associations of sports ideology with sexist and anti-homosexual attitudes in a sample of 304 college students. It was found that sports ideology is positively associated with sexist and anti-homosexual attitudes, but only among males. Among females only sexist attitudes were associated with negative attitudes toward gays and lesbians. Among males, the link of sports ideology to anti-homosexual attitudes was independent of sexist beliefs. Reciprocal causal influences between sexist attitudes and sports ideology are discussed.     

Hispanic and majority student attitudes toward forcible date rape as a function of differences in attitudes toward women

Less rejecting attitudes toward forcible date rape are related to more traditional attitudes toward women, as measured by the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (G. J. Fischer, “College Student Attitudes Toward Forcible Date Rape. I. Cognitive Predictors,” Archives of Sexual Behavior, 1986, 15, 457–466). Does this relation reflect more traditional or more negative attitudes toward women? If the former, then an ethnic minority having still more traditional attitudes toward women (than the nonethnic majority), also should be less rejecting of forcible date rape. This hypothesis was assessed by surveying attitudes of bicultural and bilingual Hispanic, other self-reported Hispanics, and nonethnic majority college students from a large introductory sociology class in a large Southwestern university. Results showed that Hispanics, overall, (1) had more traditional attitudes toward women than nonethnic majority and (2) as hypothesized, had less rejecting attitudes toward forcible date rape. However, these effects were not a simple function of ethnicity, at least not for males. For example, bicultural and bilingual Hispanic males were least likely to blame the male for the forcible date rape, but were no less rejecting of such behavior than other Hispanic males and had no more traditional attitudes toward women than other Hispanic or majority males. Bicultural and bilingual Hispanic females, on the other hand, were most likely to blame the male, had the least rejecting attitudes toward date rape, and had the most traditional attitudes toward women. one interpretation is that exposure to less restrictive sex roles of the majority culture is a liberating influence on Hispanic females, but not on Hispanic males who, perhaps, see more liberal attitudes toward women as having no or even negative payoff. Differences found between Hispanics who are bicultural and bilingual and other self-reported Hispanics suggest that these groups should not be combined, and that a research sample needs to be defined more specifically than “Hispanic.”     

Female aggression as a function of attitudes toward women

The aggressive behavior of female subjects who held either liberal or traditional beliefs concerning the role of women in modern society was investigated as a function of provocation by traditional or liberal male opponents. Traditional female subjects responded more aggressively than liberal females. The male opponent's attitude had no effect on female aggression.This article is based on an honors thesis submitted to the Honors and Experimental College of Kent State University by the second author.     

Using implicit bias training to improve attitudes toward women in STEM

Implicit biases can foster negative attitudes and lead to damaging stereotypical behaviors. Stereotypes can negatively affect the education, hiring, promotion, and retention of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This study evaluated the impact of diversity training on university faculty ( \(N = 234\) ) by assessing changes in implicit associations and explicit attitudes toward women in STEM. Personal implicit associations about women in STEM improved for men, but not for women who already tended toward more positive implicit associations at pre-test. Men were more likely than women to explicitly endorse stereotypes about women in STEM at both pre- and post-test, and these attitudes did not change as a result of the diversity training. These findings suggest that participation in a brief diversity training can improve implicit associations about women in STEM.     

The attitudes toward work in career transitions

The development of general attitudes toward work was investigated in career transitions of people at various career stages, belonging to various socioeconomic paths. It was assumed that general attitudes toward work, consisting of the affective meaning of work and of its centrality to the subject, are developed in an anticipatory manner on the basis of expectations, integrating occupational information with aspirations. Samples of junior and senior high school students, undergraduate university students, vocational trainees for skilled work, and persons trained for higher executive positions participated in the research. The results confirmed the role of expectations in attitude formation. Similar expectations as to status and advancement lead to similar attitudes regardless of differences in age or cultural background.     

Changes in sexist attitudes toward women during introductory women's and men's studies courses

Sexism toward women scores of university students at the beginning of an introductory women's and men's studies (gender studies) course were compared with sexism levels of the same students at the end of the course and with sexism levels of controls. Differences in sexism levels associated with Bem's sex role categories were investigated. Sexism levels among students in every category, except undifferentiated, were significantly lower at the end of the course, while controls showed no pre/post differences. As expected, males were higher than females both at pretest and at posttest, and sexism in both sex groups decreased significantly by equivalent amounts; but androgynous males in the introductory course were lower in sexism than sex-typed males and androgynous females were lower than sex-typed females. Undifferentiated subjects decreased in sexism least during the course, and cross-typed and androgynous males decreased most. The relationship of sexism to several additional variables not included in formal hypotheses also is discussed. These variables were age, religion, ethnicity, SES, and grade earned in the gender studies course.     

Personality correlates of attitudes toward the role and status of women in Ireland1

The purpose of the present study was to examine the possible relationships between personality and related social-psychological characteristics, on the one hand, and attitudes toward sex-roles and issues relevant to the status of women, on the other. The sample consisted of 420 male and female Dublin adults aged 18 to 65, who were randomly selected within stratification categories. Factor analytically derived measures of personality and related social-psychological characteristics were developed as well as similarly derived measures of attitudes toward the role and status of women. Composite scores on these two sets of factors were intercorrelated for the total sample and for males and females separately. The correlational analyses revealed that traditional sex-role attitudes and less favorable attitudes to equal pay, contraception, and maternal employment were significantly correlated with measures of religiosity. Traditional attitudes and opposition to social change in the area of sex-role behavior were also found to be positively correlated with less trust in people, feelings of self-deprecation and powerlessness, and a need for order and predictability. Analysis of variance and path analysis were used to explore the possible mediating role played by demographic characteristics, such as age and socioeconomic status, in these relationships.     

A mediation model of individual differences in attitudes toward affirmative actions for women

A mediation model of the relation between gender and attitudes toward affirmative action in favor of working women was tested. Four mediation variables were considered: perceived unfairness in the situation of working women, perceived threat to the non-designated group (men), self-esteem, and gender self-concept (masculinity and femininity). 192 women and 128 men, with differing occupations, participated. Gender affects individuals' attitudes toward affirmative actions for women, mediated by perceived unfairness in the situation of working women, perceived threat to the non-designated group, and feminine self-concept. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Increasing nontraditional career choices in women: Relation of attitudes toward women and responses to a career intervention

This study examined whether 80 college women, grouped according to their scores on the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS; J. T. Spence, R. Helmreich, & J. Stapp 1973 Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 2, 219–220), were differentially affected by a videotape career intervention. The videotape was entitled “Women: Choices and Changes,” and it focused on career development, broadly defined. It was developed as part of Project Born Free. A variety of outcome measures were used, including a brief measure of career decidedness, a measure of the traditionality of the women's own career choices and of the career choices they selected for their hypothetical daughters. In addition, two measures of self-efficacy were used, the Vocational Self-Efficacy Scale (Hackett & Betz 1981) and the Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy Scale (K. M. Taylor & N. E. Betz 1983 Journal of Vocational Behavior, 22, 63–81). The results indicated that AWS scores were related to the traditionality of the careers chosen for the subjects' hypothetical daughters and to self-efficacy. Increases were found for the Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy Scale and on career decidedness. Careers chosen by the women for themselves and for their daughters were more non-traditional after the videotape intervention. These results are discussed and their implications for career counseling and future research are examined.     

Acculturation and young Iranian women: attitudes toward sex roles and intimate relationships

This study examined the nature and extent of acculturation of Iranian women into the American culture of Los Angeles, California, their attitude toward the role of women, and their attitude toward intimate relationships. It was expected that acculturation level would be related negatively to participants' age at migration and positively related to the length of time away from Iran. Data were obtained from a sample of 77 Iranian women aged 17-32 years living in Los Angeles. Acculturation level was measured by a modified version of one designed by Cuellar, Harris, and Jasso (1980). The Sexual and Premarital Attitude Inventory designed by Schofield (1965) was used to gauge attitudes about intimate relationships. The short version of the Attitude Toward Women Scale designed by Spence, Helmreich, and Staff (1973) was used to assess differences in ideology about the role of women in society and the family. Findings indicate that acculturation level was positively associated with premarital sexual attitudes, a sex role attitude, and sex role attitudes specific to Iranians. Greater acculturation was associated with more liberal sex roles. The age at which Iranian women left Iran was negatively correlated with acculturation. Younger age was associated with a higher score. The number of years away from Iran was associated with a higher acculturation score. Educational level was not significantly related to acculturation. The author proposes that conflict between the pressure to assimilate and attachment to cultural identity may be an adaptive solution in itself. One caveat was the higher socioeconomic status of this sample population.     

An examination of how one's attitudes toward women are reflected in one's defensiveness and self-esteem

The Berger Self-Esteem Measure, the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, and Spence's (1972) Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS) were used to test 96 undergraduates. Subjects were divided according to sex and median split scores on the personality measures. Analysis of variance revealed a significant main effect for sex and defensiveness and approached significance for the sex × self-esteem effect (p<.10). Males and females were found to respond significantly differently on the AWS scale. Highly defensive males were more discriminating toward women and self-concept appeared to be an influential variable. However, self-esteem alone did not seem to have any significant effects.     

Age and gender differences in college students' attitudes toward women: A replication and extension

This study replicates and extends earlier research on the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (J. T. Spence and R. L. Helmreich, The Attitudes Towards Women Scale: An Objective Instrument to Measure Attitudes Towards the Rights and Roles of Women in Contemporary Society, JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 1972, 2, 66). The scale was administered to 382 college students to assess the reliability of the scale, gender and age differences in responses to the scale, and to make comparisons to past research with different samples. Age was positively associated with more liberal attitudes toward women. Females were more liberal overall than males; however, this depended on the particular item.     

Measurement of attitudes toward obese people among a Canadian sample of men and women

A new scale for examining attitudes toward obese people had 44 items selected from previously published scales designed to indicate attitudes toward obese people. Reliability analysis yielded a Cronbach coefficient alpha of .92 for the total sample. A factor analysis yielded four factors. Employing the Body Mass Index as an indicator of obesity, the attitudes of 239 men and women were examined. Women were significantly more positive than men in their attitude toward obese people. When examining Body Mass Index as a factor, comparisons of obese and nonobese women indicated obese women were more positive on the Diet and Exercise factor of the scale. Suggestions for improvement and research are offered.     

The development of attitudes toward dialect in Italian children

In the Italian public school system, local dialects are explicitly discouraged and children are pressured to master standard Italian. In this study, 95 southern Italian children were given a series of tasks to determine their level of dialect production and their attitudes toward their local dialect. Production of dialect decreases sharply from the first to the third grade, but then tends to stabilize, with a slight increase in dialect use by fourth and fifth grade boys. Hence the schools have not been entirely successful in eradicating dialect. However, attitude measures indicate that by the third grade children prefer Italian over the dialect at close to the 100% level. The schools have placed many children in a conflict situation, in which they have learned negative attitudes toward their own code but cannot completely master standard Italian. Sex differences may be related to a tendency to view dialect as more masculine. Implications of this study for bidialectical school programs in Italy and the United States are discussed.