Gender,sex roles,and attitudes toward war and nuclear weapons

The observation that men are usually more supportive of war than women had led several authors to suggest that masculinity plays a causal role in the decision to make war and stockpile nuclear arms. In order to examine the relationship between sex role orientation and attitudes towards war and nuclear weapons, gender and measures of sex role orientation were used to predict three attitudes about nuclear weapons and the use of military force. Two specific and two classes of hypotheses regarding the possible relationships among these variables were tested: masculinity, femininity, Masculinity × Femininity interaction, and Gender × Sex Role Orientation hypotheses. The results provided limited support only for the femininity hypothesis—that attitudes toward war are associated with feminine traits. However, neither masculinity nor femininity was found to be the only mediators of the gender/war attitude relationship, indicating that sex role orientation (and especially masculinity) should be given less emphasis when trying to explain the relationship between gender and attitudes toward war.The author gratefully acknowledges the helpful comments of Douglas Kenrick, Nancy Russo, and an anonymous reviewer on a earlier version of this paper.     

A Qualitative Investigation of Women's and Men's Body Image Concerns and Their Attitudes Toward Aging

In-depth interviews were conducted with 42 women and men (aged 22–62 years) to explore their relationships with their bodies. The particular focus was age-related changes in body image and attitudes toward the body aging, an area that has received little research attention to date. Thematic analysis revealed distinctive gender differences. Men commonly conceptualized their bodies as a holistic entity, whereas women commonly had compartmentalized conceptualizations. They also construed the importance of their bodies differently: men tended to focus on functionality, and women tended to focus on display. These findings may help to explain gendered consequences of body dissatisfaction. Accounts about the aging of the body support a “double standard of aging.” Women viewed aging most negatively in terms of its impact on appearance, whereas men reported a neutral or even positive impact on appearance.     

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.     

Growing Older and Staying Positive: Associations Between Diverse Aging Women’s Perceptions of Age and Body Satisfaction

As women grow older, physical changes accompanying the aging process may impact self-perceptions of body image and age. To assess these perceptions, survey data were collected from 115 European American and 100 African American aging 65+ to assess whether patterns of association between age, age discrepancy, and body satisfaction vary by ethnic group. African American women reported higher average satisfaction for all body perceptions except weight, for which there was no difference between the groups. Ethnic group moderated the association between age discrepancy and two aspects of body satisfaction: cosmetic features and overall appearance. For African American aging women, perceptions of the body were not as strongly linked to perceptions of aging. For European American women, feeling older than one’s age was associated with lower body satisfaction, and women in this group may be more vulnerable to the negative impacts of the aging process on the body.     

Influence of sport participation upon sex role orientation of caucasian males and their attitudes toward women

Differences in psychological androgyny and attitudes toward women were examined in male Caucasian intercollegiate contact and noncontact sport athletes and male Caucasian college nonathletes. Contact athletes in the sports of football and wrestling, noncontact athletes in the sports of baseball and track and field, and nonathletes completed the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (ATWS) and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) to assess egalitarian attitudes toward women and sex role orientation. Results of analyses of variance (ANOVAs) on the ATWS indicate that athletes as a group possessed more conservative, traditional attitudes toward women than did nonathletes, but that no differences existed between contact sport athletes and noncontact sport athletes. Results of ANOVAs and chi-square analyses on the BSRI indicated no differences between groups regarding sex role orientation based upon self-perceptions of masculinity and femininity.     

Gender roles, eating pathology, and body dissatisfaction in men: a meta-analysis

The current study reviewed relationships between gender roles and (a) eating pathology, (b) body dissatisfaction, and (c) muscle dissatisfaction among men via meta-analysis. Moderators of sexual orientation and type of gender role measure were also investigated. Results revealed the relationship between femininity and eating and body-related variables did not significantly differ from zero. Sexual orientation moderated the relationship between femininity and muscle dissatisfaction (i.e., femininity was negatively related to muscle dissatisfaction for heterosexual but not gay men). Masculinity was negatively associated with eating pathology and body dissatisfaction. Type of masculinity measure moderated the relationship between masculinity and body dissatisfaction (i.e., trait-based measures produced a negative association, multidimensional measures yielded nonsignificant relationships). Type of masculinity measure produced a cross-over interaction when examining muscle dissatisfaction (i.e., trait-based instruments yielded a negative association and multidimensional instruments revealed a positive relationship). Findings highlight the salience of masculinity in men's eating and body concerns.     

Is There a Double Standard of Aging?1

Elderly and college-aged subjects rated photographs of both sexes at three different ages on 10 adjective rating scales. Evidence for a double standard of aging was obtained. Although both men and women were perceived to diminish in attractiveness as they aged, the decline for women was greater. Moreover, ratings of women's femininity decreased with increasing age, whereas evaluations of men's masculinity were unaffected by age. Unexpectedly, elderly subjects, as compared to college students, discriminated less on the basis of sex and evaluated women more positively. Changes in the gender roles of the elderly were invoked to explain their more favorable conceptions of women.     

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 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.     

Does Masculinity Thwart Being Religious? An Examination of Older Men’sReligiousness

Previous work shows a significant relationship between gender orientation and being religious in samples of college–age and adult men. Before entering later life, men with a feminine orientation have greater religious involvement than other men. In a sample of older men from three Massachusetts counties, this study assessed the bearing of men'sgender orientation and gender ideology on their religious involvement. Gender orientation more than masculinity ideology was found to be a reliable predictor of older men'sreligiousness. Similar to studies of younger men, a feminine orientation was a significant determinant of the older men's religious participation, commitment, and intrinsic orientation. Older men who define self in very masculine terms, however, engaged in a quest religiosity. When the masculinity ideology contains norms that prescribe the virtues of a traditional masculinity and acquiring status, men's religious orientation was extrinsic (or means) oriented. These important findings are discussed in terms of how masculinity is at times a barrier to men's private devotion and at other times can be a trigger to questing.     

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.     

ATTITUDES TOWARD COSMETIC SURGERY IN MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN: BODY IMAGE, AGING ANXIETY, AND THE MEDIA

Our study investigated factors that influence attitudes toward cosmetic surgery in middle-aged women. A sample of 108 women, aged between 35 and 55 years, completed questionnaire measures of body dissatisfaction, appearance investment, aging anxiety, media exposure (television and magazine), and attitudes toward cosmetic surgery (delineated in terms of general attitudes, social motivations, and actual consideration). Body dissatisfaction, appearance investment, aging anxiety, and both media variables predicted some facet of attitudes toward cosmetic surgery. Specifically, appearance investment, aging anxiety, and television exposure were unique predictors of endorsement of social motivations for cosmetic surgery, whereas body dissatisfaction, appearance investment, and television exposure were unique predictors of actual consideration of cosmetic surgery. Regression analysis revealed that the effects of media on cosmetic surgery attitudes were primarily direct. We concluded that there are multiple influences on attitudes toward cosmetic surgery for women of middle age.     

Gender Conceptualizations in Female High School Seniors: Relationships with Global Self-Worth and Multiple Measures of Body Image

This study was conducted to determine if gender-role conceptualizations in adolescent girls were related to their global self-worth and several dimensions of their body image. Self-report surveys were administered to 335 predominantly Caucasian Grade 12 girls from religiously-based high schools in the midwestern part of the United States. It was hypothesized that adolescent females?? gender-typing of themselves as well as their gender-related attitudes towards others would be significantly, and possibly divergently, related to their perceptions of themselves and their physical bodies. Obtained data were analyzed using multivariate canonical correlation procedures. The results of these analyses revealed support for the predicted overall relationship between gender conceptualizations and self-perceptions, but also indicated some differences in the way in which the two dimensions of gender-role conceptualizations (personal and attitudes towards others) were associated with adolescents?? perceptions of themselves. Specifically, girls exhibiting more egalitarian gender-related attitudes towards others scored higher on global self-worth and lower in body appearance orientation. In addition, higher self-endorsement on the masculine subscales was linked with higher global self-worth, lower social physique anxiety, and higher use of competence to evaluate the physical body. In contrast, high self-endorsement on the feminine subscales exhibited mixed links to the set of self-perceptual variables.     

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.     

Looking Good Versus Feeling Good: An Investigation of Media Frames of Health Advice and Their Effects on Women’s Body-related Self-perceptions

The present research had two goals: (1) to document how health advice is framed on the covers of women’s health magazines, and (2) to investigate whether exposure to appearance frames (i.e., do something in order to look better) affected women’s body-related self-perceptions compared to health frames (i.e., to do something in order to feel better). Study 1, a content analysis of 426 cover headlines on the five highest-circulating women’s health magazines in the United States, revealed that appearance frames were just as prevalent as health frames. Study 2, an experiment conducted on 103 U.S. undergraduate women, showed that those assigned to appearance frames reported more body shame and appearance-related motivation to exercise than women assigned to health frames.     

Men and masculinities: Scales for masculinity ideology and masculinity-related constructs

11 instruments for assessing beliefs and attitudes about men or masculinity standards (masculinity ideology) and 6 instruments that assess first-person accounts of gender role conflict, stress, or conformity to masculinity ideology are evaluated in this review. The 17 instruments were all developed in the past 2 decades and peer reviewed, and are readily accessible. An introductory section distinguishes between gender ideology and gender orientation and defines the scope of the first set of 11 scales as indexing the extent to which subjects accept the ideas and beliefs used to justify gender roles and relations. The second set of 6 scales focus on how men individually experience their gender. All scales were systematically evaluated according to whether they include items comparing the sexes or concerning gender relations or items assessing attitudes and beliefs about women. Inclusion of these types of items is noted in a table, along with information on whether the authors assumed one dominant form of masculinity, whether subscales were identified, and the psychometric properties of the scale and subscale. The review suggests that measures of gender orientation and measures of gender ideologies are independent and have differential correlates. Evidence also suggests that gender ideologies about men are distinct from and have differential correlates from gender ideologies about women or about gender relations in general. Items comparing genders should thus be avoided in measures of attitude toward masculinities. Several of the measures have too narrow a definition of masculinity.     

Gender-role conflict and gender-role orientation in a sample of gay men

This exploratory study was designed to examine the relationship between gender role dimensions derived from the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and the 4 dimensions of gender role conflict represented on the Gender Role Conflict Scale (GRCS) using a sample (N = 400) composed of exclusively gay men. Results from regression of 3 BSRI scores (femininity, social masculinity, personal masculinity) on the 4 subscale scores of the GRCS indicated that gender role conflict was most strongly and positively associated with the negative aspect of masculinity (social masculinity), accounting for about 11% of variability in social masculinity scores. In particular, the success-power-competition dimension of the GRCS was the major predictor of social masculinity in gay men. Gender role conflict was also strongly but negatively associated with femininity, accounting for approximately 10% of the variance in femininity scores among the men in the sample. Implications and recommendations for further studies are discussed.     

What's Gender Got To Do With It: Perceptions of Sexual Coercion in a University Community

This study examines gender differences in attitudes toward sexual coercion among collegians (n =325: 89.0% Caucasian, 6.8% Afican-American, 3.0% Asian,1.0% Hispanic, and .2% Native American) at a state-supported, midwestern university. Undergraduates (64.0% female and 36.0% male) were queried about the degree of their support for the use of sexual coercion across a range of dating-type encounters which varied by relational familiarity and sexual intensity.Their attitudes toward appearance as a sexual cue and traditional versus non-traditonal gender role orientations were also examined in relationship to these scenerios. The results indicate significant gender differences in attitudes regarding the use of sexual coercion in dating encounters across all situations, and in the interpretation of sexual cues in the context of interpersonal interactions. Gender differences were also found in gender role orientations.However, while the results provide support for the contribution of gender to attitudes toward sexual coercion, they also indicate that sexual semitotics and gender role orientations qualify that relationship; both variables are significant predictors of attitudes toward sexual coercion. The results are discussed in terms of the evidence provided for the role of interpretive schemas in the construction of attitudes toward sexual coercion for both men and women.     

Gender-Role Identity,Attitudes Toward Marriage,and Gender-Segregated School Backgrounds

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to investigate the relationship between gender-role identity and attitudes toward marriage by comparing Bem's gender schema theory and Spence's multifactorial model of gender identity; (2) to examine the effects of gender-segregated school backgrounds on gender-role identity and attitudes toward marriage. A total of 524 male and 696 female Japanese college students completed the Japanese version of the Bem Sex Role Inventory and a series of questions regarding attitudes toward marriage. Overall results were more supportive of Spence's multifactorial model. The effect of school background was found only in women; women without any coeducational school background had relatively strong masculinity and desired to marry at an older age, but tended to have a conservative opinion about men taking nontraditional roles.