Measuring sex-role stereotypes: Attitudes among Hong Kong Chinese adolescents and the development of the Chinese sex-role inventory

A cross-cultural study of adolescent sex-role stereotypes illustrates possible methodological solutions to problems in measuring sex-role identification. A study was conducted with a sample of Hong Kong Chinese adolescents to develop a rating scale that would (1) define the sex-role stereotypes held by adolescents in Hong Kong and (2) serve as a measure of identification with sex-role stereotypes valid for use with Hong Kong samples. The Chinese Sex-Role Inventory (CSRI) was constructed, therefore, following the procedures of Bem in the creation of the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Creation of the CSRI illustrates the feasibility and value of using such procedures in research with adolescents in any society.This report is based on a doctoral dissertation submitted to the faculty of Harvard University. The research was supported by a National Research Service Award, National Institutes of Health Grant 5-T32-MH14088, awarded to Beatrice and John Whiting to support graduate research in cross-cultural child development.     

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.     

Intimacy and psychosocial adjustment in Hong Kong Chinese adolescents

This study examined the association between 8 aspects of friend intimacy and 3 measures of psychosocial adjustment (self-esteem, deviant behavior, and purpose in life) among Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. The respondents were 289 students between 16 and 19 years of age from a cross-sectional study in Hong Kong. Bivariate correlation and multiple regression analyses revealed (a) friend intimacy was positively associated with self-esteem and purpose in life, and (b) friend intimacy was negatively correlated with deviant behavior. Results indicated that friend intimacy is an important variable that affects some aspects of psychosocial adjustment. Moreover, results of multiple regression analyses indicated that different measures of friend intimacy are related to deviant behavior and purpose in life. Therefore, it is crucial to study the relationship between different aspects of friend intimacy and different aspects of psychosocial adjustment among adolescents.     

Sex, competitiveness, and intimacy in same-sex friendship in Hong Kong adolescents

One of the alleged reasons that males report lower intimacy in same-sex friendships than females is that males tend to be more competitive than females, but this assumption has not been empirically tested. In the current study, 121 Hong Kong adolescents filled out Chinese versions of the Intimate Friendship Scale and the Competitiveness Index. As predicted, females reported having more intimate same-sex relationships than males, and they scored lower on competitiveness than males. However, the correlations between scores on the Competitiveness Index and the Intimate Friendship subscales were small and nonsignificant, suggesting that the sex difference in intimacy was not a function of competitiveness.     

Persistence and change in sex-role stereotypes

Persistence and change in sex-role stereotypes were examined by replicating in 1978 a study of sex-role conceptions published by Sherriffs and McKee in 1957. Results suggested that in many particulars sex-role stereotypes have changed little over the intervening two decades. Respondents of both sexes continued to view men as more forceful, independent, stubborn, and reckless than women; and women continued to be viewed as more mannerly, giving, emotional, and submissive than men. On the other hand, many changes in sex-role conceptions were also found to have occurred. Especially for female respondents, results suggested that stereotypes have changed in the direction of greater favorability toward women and less favorability toward men. The relevance of these findings to the psychological understanding of social change is discussed.     

Sex-role self-perceptions and sex-role stereotypes

827 undergraduate students, 549 males and 278 females, responded to a set of 18 questions relating to individual self-perceptions. A second group of 35 males and 29 females responded to the questions in terms of population sex-role stereotypes for both sexes. It was hypothesized that the sexes would demonstrate convergence in self-perceptions when compared with their sex-role stereotypes. The results tended to support the hypothesis, with females demonstrating a greater deviation from the traditional sex-role stereotypes than males. The possible relationship to much publicized social movements was noted.     

Sex, sex-role identity, and cognitive style.

Two studies were conducted to test competing theoretical predictions concerning the relationships among sex, sex-role identity, and field independence: (1) Witkin and Vaught's positions that maleness and masculinity (regardless of biological sex) are associated with field independence and (2) the present author's contention sex reversed sex-role identity, irrespective of sex, would be predictive of field independence. Data collected from 110 high school males and 78 college females and males supported the latter prediction but only for males. No main effects due to sex were found.     

Sex differences,sex-role orientation,and reward allocations

In study 1, 52 male and 52 female undergraduates allocated rewards to pairs of children for their performances in team and competitive situations. Males allocated rewards more equitably, especially when allocating to boys in competition, while females allocated rewards more equally. Boys, but not girls, who did more work received more rewards than their partner; and children with greater work inputs under competitive conditions received more rewards than children in team conditions. In study 2, the sex-role orientation of 60 college students was found to be related to their reward allocations. Males and females with a masculine sex-role orientation allocated rewards equitably, while individuals with a feminine sex-role orientation allocated rewards equally. Results indicated that sex and situational differences in reward allocations are affected by sex-role orientation and differential socialization practices by adults.Portions of study 1 were presented at the Midwestern Psychological Association Meeting, Chicago, May 1978.     

Sex differences in the psychological well-being of Chinese adolescents

This study assessed sex differences affecting the psychological well-being of Chinese adolescents. Various instruments were used to measure psychiatric symptoms and positive mental health. The results showed that female adolescents displayed significantly more psychiatric as well as somatic symptoms and scored lower on scales reflecting positive mental health. The findings are generally consistent with those found in the Western literature, but suggest that, in the Chinese culture, sex differences in mental health begin to appear in adolescents.     

Psychometric properties of the Chinese Family Assessment Instrument in Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong

This paper reports evidence on the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Chinese Family Assessment Instrument (C-FAI), an instrument developed to assess family functioning in Chinese populations. A convenience sample of 1,462 adolescents from junior secondary schools completed the C-FAI and measures of parent-adolescent conflict. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that five factors were abstracted from the scale, a finding which was similar to those reported in previous validation studies. Results also showed that the C-FAI was internally consistent and its scores were moderately correlated with measures of conflict with parents, providing support for the convergent validity of the measure. Finally, females perceived family functioning to be better than did males and age was linearly related to perceived family dysfunction. In conjunction with the previous findings, the present study suggests that the C-FAI can be used to objectively assess family functioning in Chinese adolescents.     

The adaptation of Chinese adolescents in two societies: a comparison of Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong and Australia

This study aimed to compare the adaptation of two groups of migrant Chinese adolescents with their nonmigrant peers. The migrant adolescents included 55 Chinese migrant adolescents who migrated to Australia (Chinese‐Australian) and 111 China‐born adolescents who migrated to Hong Kong (Chinese‐Hong Kong). The nonmigrant adolescents included 157 Anglo‐Australian adolescents residing in Australia and 456 Hong Kong‐born Chinese adolescents residing in Hong Kong. There were three research questions in this study. First, would there be any differences in the adaptation of Chinese migrant adolescents in different societies of settlement? Second, would migrant adolescents experience more adaptation problems than nonmigrant adolescents? Third, would there be any differences in the adaptation of adolescents in the two societies, Australia and Hong Kong? It was hypothesized that: (1) mainland Chinese migrant adolescents in Hong Kong would experience more adaptation problems than Chinese migrant adolescents in Australia; (2) migrant adolescents would report better adaptation than nonmigrant adolescents; (3) adolescents in Hong Kong would report poorer adaptation than adolescents in Australia. The participants were requested to complete a questionnaire on various adaptation outcome measures including life satisfaction, self‐esteem, psychological symptoms, academic satisfaction, and behaviour problems. The results indicated that Chinese‐Australian adolescents reported better psychological adaptation but Chinese‐Hong Kong adolescents reported better sociocultural adaptation. Adolescents resident in Australia reported higher psychological adaptation but lower sociocultural adaptation than those in Hong Kong. Migrant adolescents reported better psychological and sociocultural adaptation than their nonmigrant counterparts. The results were discussed in relation to the social and educational systems of the two societies.     

More Than a Sex Machine: Accomplishing Masculinity Among Chinese Male Sex Workers in the Hong Kong Sex Industry

Situated in the masculinity and deviance literature, this article examines a “deviant” masculinity, that of the male sex worker, and presents the ways men who engage in sex work cope with the job. Based on in-depth interviews of Chinese male sex workers (n = 18) in the Hong Kong sex industry, I argue that the stigma management techniques these men employ are simultaneously gender strategies they use to accomplish masculinity. It is through this process that they negotiate a masculine identity within the hierarchy of masculinities in order to become “respectable” and “responsible” Chinese men.     

Sex and age differences in the sex-role stereotyping of third- and fifth-grade children

A four-part 85-item orally administered children's Sex-Role Expectations and Awareness Scale was developed. The four parts included measures of children's perceptions of (1) sex-associated behavior, (2) teacher expectations, (3) adult sex-role expectations, and (4) children's knowledge of the women's rights movement. The internally reliable scale was administered to 506 middle-class third- and fifth-grade children (259 females and 247 males) from eight schools in six states. Major results included the statistically significant findings that (1) although the absolute level of stereotyping was modest, males stereotyped significantly more often than females with regard to both male and female behavior traits and perceived teacher and adult sex-role expectation. (2) Third-grade students stereotyped more male behavior traits than fifth-grade students. (3) Females more often than males perceived teachers to expect traditional sex-role behavior from females. (4) Fifth-grade students knew more about the women's movement, but the absolute level of knowledge was quite low, with a comprehension rate around a third of the total number of items.     

Television viewing and the learning of sex-role stereotypes

This study was designed to determine the relationship between the amount of time children spend watching television and their knowledge of adult sex-role stereotypes. Males and females in grades 1, 3, 5, and 7 who were classified as heavy television viewers (25 or more hours per week) or light viewers (10 or less hours per week) both at the time of the study and 15 months previously were administered the Sex Stereotype Measure, an instrument designed to determine children's awareness of stereotyped sex-role perceptions held by adults. Heavy viewers were found to have more stereotyped perceptions than light viewers. A significant interaction effect indicated that among low viewers the perception of male stereotypes steadily declines with increasing age; among heavy viewers, stereotypic responses to male items are maintained with increasing age. No comparable interaction effect was obtained for perception of female stereotypes. The role of interaction with live models in breaking down stereotypic perceptions of males is discussed.A modified version of this paper was presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, April 1975.     

Sex differences and sex-role stereotyping in clinical psychologists' reports: a research note

This paper presents an empirical study of sex differences and sex-role stereotyping in clinical psychologists' reports. The results of numerous analyses showed no significant evidence at any point of sex differences or sex-role stereotyping in the form or the subject matter of the clinical reports.

     

Sex differences in interpretation bias in adolescents

Interpretation biases, in which ambiguous information is interpreted negatively, have been hypothesized to place adolescent females at greater risk of developing anxiety and mood disorders than same‐aged males. We tested the hypothesis that adolescent girls interpret ambiguous scenarios more negatively, and/or less positively, than same‐aged males using the Adolescent Interpretation and Belief Questionnaire (N = 67, 11–15 years old). We also tested whether adolescent girls and boys differed in judging positive or negative interpretations to be more believable and whether the scenario content (social vs. non‐social) affected any sex difference in interpretation bias. The results showed that girls had higher average negative interpretation scores than boys, with no sex differences in positive interpretation scores. Girls and boys did not differ on which interpretation they found to be most believable. Both sexes reported that positive interpretations were less likely to come to mind, and were less believable, for social than for non‐social scenarios. These results provide preliminary evidence for sex differences in interpretation biases in adolescence and support the hypothesis that social scenarios are a specific source of anxiety to this age group. A greater understanding of the aetiology of interpretation biases will potentially enhance sex‐ and age‐specific interventions for anxiety and mood disorders.     

Perceived parent-child relational qualities and parental behavioral and psychological control in Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong

Chinese secondary school students (N = 3,017) were asked to respond to instruments measuring their perceived parent-child relational qualities (parental trust of the child, child's trust of parents, child's readiness to communicate with parents, and child's satisfaction with parental control), parental behavioral control (including indicators of knowledge, expectation, monitoring, discipline, and demandingness), and parental psychological control. Results showed that parental trust of the child and child's trust of parents were positively related to child's readiness to communicate with the parents and satisfaction with parental control. While parental trust of the child and child's trust of parents were basically negatively related to different aspects of behavioral control (except parental knowledge), readiness to communicate with the parents and satisfaction with parental control were positively associated with parental control. Parent-child relational quality measures were negatively related to psychological control. Relative to measures of parental behavioral control, parental psychological control was a stronger predictor of parent-child relational qualities. The present findings clarify the parent-child relational quality correlates of parental behavioral and psychological control.