A Comparison of Androgynous, Feminine, Masculine, and Undifferentiated Women on Self-Esteem, Body Satisfaction, and Sexual Satisfaction

Unmarried female undergraduates (n = 204) completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory and measures of body image and self-esteem. Androgyny and masculinity were associated with self-esteem, body satisfaction, and sexual satisfaction. Androgynous and masculine subjects were generally similar and well adjusted; whereas feminine and Undifferentiated subjects were similar and less well adjusted. Results are interpreted as evidence for the adaptive nature of changing female sex roles.     

Masculine Instrumentality and Feminine Expressiveness: Their Relationships with Sex Role Attitudes and Behaviors

Data from the Bern Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) Masculinity and Femininity scales have led to the hypothesis that androgynous individuals are more "behaviorally flexible" than others, manifesting both masculine and feminine role behaviors. Sex-role androgyny is also said to have other beneficial consequences such as high self esteem. The content of these instruments, however, is largely confined to socially desirable instrumental (masculine) and expressive (feminine) personality traits. A review of the literature indicates that these abstract trait dimensions have only minimal relationships with sex-role attitudes and sex-role behaviors not tapping instrumentality and expressiveness, and provide little support for the general behavioral flexibility hypothesis. Although PAQ and BSRI findings cannot be generalized to sex-role behaviors in general, the literature suggests that instrumentality and expressiveness per se have important implications. Appreciation of their contributions may be advanced more rapidly if these trait dimensions are disentangled from global concepts of sex-roles or masculinity, femininity, and androgyny.     

Turkish College Students' Attitudes Toward Women Managers: The Effects of Patriarchy,Sexism, and Gender Differences

The authors examined how patriarchy, sexism, and gender influence Turkish college students' attitudes toward women managers. Turkish undergraduate students (N = 183) from Middle East Technical University completed questionnaires measuring attitudes toward women managers as well as attitudes toward the concepts of hostile and benevolent sexism and support for patriarchy. Participants were of upper- or middle-class Turkish backgrounds. The results showed that male participants exhibited less positive attitudes toward women managers than did female participants. In addition, participants who held more favorable attitudes toward patriarchy and who scored high on hostile sexism also held less positive attitudes toward women managers than those who held less favorable attitudes toward patriarchy and who scored low on hostile sexism. A regression analysis showed that support for patriarchy and hostile sexism was more important for explaining less favorable attitudes toward women managers than was benevolent sexism.     

Military and Civilian Undergraduates: Attitudes Toward Women,Masculinity, and Authoritarianism

The influence of civilian and military college environments and undergraduates' sex on gender role attitudes and authoritarianism was investigated. Three hundred thirteen male and 69 female, primarily white middle-class students at the United States Naval Academy, United States Air Force Academy, Reserve Officer Training Corps, and a civilian university participated. Approximately 7% were Hispanic, 6% African-American, and 5% Asian-American. Military students had the most traditional authoritarian beliefs and gender role attitudes. When men only were analyzed, USNA males were the most traditional in their attitudes toward women and in antifemininity attitudes. ROTC men were the most traditional in authoritarianism and in status beliefs. All military-affiliated men held more traditional toughness attitudes than did civilian men. USNA men had the most traditional attitudes toward women as compared to the USNA females and civilian females and males.     

Posture and Prediction on the Attitudes Toward Women Scale

A study was performed investigating the relationship between stated attitudes toward the feminist movement and willingness to help that movement. Results suggested that Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS) measures of feminist commitment may be limited by a social desirability variable and that high scores on the AWS do not correlate with a behavioral measure of commitment.     

Work Attitudes and Values of College Women

Despite woman's fast emergence into the working world, few studies have focused on individual changing attitudes and values that become initially responsible for setting future employment trends in our society. Following a historical perspective, a survey is presented that samples the inner feelings of young college women and their personal stand on the world of work. The results indicate a general rejection of much of the traditional work ethic. Although the attitudes expressed in this survey are simply contemporary, their hidden strength hints to the shape of a future American society that will potentially change the life-style of every individual.     

I Enjoy Being a Girl: Collective Self-Esteem,Feminism, and Attitudes Toward Women

This article examines the self-esteem thatfeminists, anti-feminists, and those who labelthemselves as mixed receive from their gender group.Feminists and anti-feminists were expected to havesimilarly high levels of gender collective self-esteem(CSE) on three of the four CSE subscales: Private, one'sjudgments of the goodness of one's group; Identity, theimportance of one's group to one's self-concept; and Membership, personal evaluation of oneselfas a group member. Similar levels on CSE subscales forfeminists and anti-feminists were expected as a resultof differing levels of adherance to traditional attitudes toward women. Anti-feminists wereexpected to have higher means than feminists on PublicCSE, which measures judgment of how other's evaluateone's group. Participants were undergraduate women (91.4% white, 5.6% Black, 1.3% Hispanic, .4%Asian, .9% biracial) who selflabeled as feminist,anti-feminist or mixed. Feminists and anti-feminists didhave similarly high levels of Membership CSE, higher than those who were more non-committal.Feminists were the highest in Identity CSE, whileantifeminists had the highest overall Public CSE. Thesefindings are relevant to those who work with bothfeminists and those who reject feminism, as they suggesta need to recognize the amount of self-esteem women getfrom their gender.     

Male Narcissism and Attitudes Toward Heterosexual Women and Men, Lesbian Women, and Gay Men: Hostility toward Heterosexual Women Most of All

The present study investigated links between heterosexual men’s narcissism and attitudes toward heterosexual and non-heterosexual women and men. Male narcissism was predicted to be associated with hostility toward heterosexual women more than toward other groups, indicating investment in patriarchal power more than in conservative gender ideology or nonspecific disdain toward all people. Hierarchical regression analyses of responses from 104 male undergraduates (95% Caucasian) from Ohio in the U.S. supported the hypothesis that men’s narcissism is related most robustly to hostility toward women, rather than to equivalent derogation of all groups. Moreover, men’s narcissism is not merely a maker of traditional gender ideology, but instead is associated with favorable attitudes toward lesbian women and is unrelated to attitudes toward gay men.     

High School and College Athletes' Attitudes Toward Sport Psychology Consulting

The purpose of the present study was to explore attitudes about sport psychology consulting of high school and college athletes living in the United States. The Sport Psychology Attitudes–Revised form (SPA-R; Martin, Kellmann, Lavallee, & Page, 2002 Martin, S. B., Kellmann, M., Lavallee, D. and Page, S. 2002. Development and psychometric evaluation of the Sport Psychology Attitudes–Revised form: A multiple group investigation. The Sport P, 16: 272–290. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) was administered to 362 high school and 431 college athletes. A 2 (Gender) × 2 (Age Group: High School and College) × 2 (Type of Sport: Physical Contact and Physical Non-contact) MANCOVA was conducted with past sport psychology consulting experience as a covariate and attitudes about sport psychology as dependent variables. Follow-up univariate and discriminant function analyses were then performed to identify the attitudes that maximized differences related to gender, age group and type of sport. Results revealed that male athletes, younger athletes and athletes who have been socialized in sports that involve physical contact may have a stigma toward seeking sport psychology consulting. Sport psychology consultants must be sensitive to how personal characteristics, experience and attitudes influence help-seeking to improve the services they offer.     

Attitudes of American and Turkish College Students Toward Disabled Persons

3 scales measuring different aspects of attitudes toward disabled persons were translated into Turkish and administered to 212 college students at Gazi Institute, Ankara. These data were compared with findings from a sample of 269 New York college students previously reported by Siller and Chipman. Results confirmed the prediction of greater nonacceptance of disabled persons in the Turkish sample. Means from the Attitude Toward Disabled Persons scale and the Social Distance Scale differentiated the samples beyond the .001 level. However, the Feeling Check List data showed a reversal, with the Turkish sample rating significantly more positive feelings toward 6 of 7 disability categories. The latter finding is discussed together with results from the Social Distance Scale as possible consequences of different “public personality” systems.     

Adversarial Sexual Attitudes Toward Women: The Relationships with Gender and Traditionalism

This investigation examines gender differences in adversarial attitudes toward women and their relationships with traditionalism and age. The sample participated in an online survey, collected at a large university in the west. The sample consisted of 777 individuals, 342 men and 375 women, with a mean age 22.22. Findings indicate that men significantly endorse rape myth acceptance, adversarial sexual beliefs and acceptance of interpersonal violence more than women. In addition, men are significantly more traditional in their gender role beliefs than women and age is significantly related to rape myth acceptance and acceptance of interpersonal violence. Within gender, men’s acceptance of all criterion variables increased with age whereas women’s acceptance of interpersonal violence increased with age. Findings also indicate more disparate incomes between the genders in lower income brackets, but more alignment in higher brackets. Implications are discussed in the context of theoretical considerations.     

Assisting Older Women in Combatting Ageist Stereotypes and Improving Attitudes Toward Aging

Ageism is a pervasive force in society that poses a significant threat to the well-being of older women. This article integrates theory, research and practice in an examination of ageism as it relates to therapy with older women. The authors review common stereotypes of older women, and discuss the pervasiveness of these stereotypes using a terror management explanatory framework. Particular attention is also paid to the effects of ageist stereotypes on older women, with especial emphasis on stereotype threat and self-stereotyping concepts. The authors argue that geriatric rehabilitation settings may enhance vulnerability to these negative effects. Finally, strategies for older women to combat ageist stereotypes and develop positive attitudes toward aging are discussed. Implications for therapeutic practice to help older women maintain a satisfying quality of life, despite these stereotypes, are presented throughout the article. The authors recommend interventions embedded in feminist theory, positive psychology, and humanistic and cognitive–behavioral therapies.     

Attitudes Toward Women: A Comparison of Asian-born Chinese and American Caucasians

Asian-born Chinese and Caucasian American men and women were compared on attitudes toward women, using the Spence-Helmreich Attitude Toward Women Scale. All subjects—74 Americans, 85 Chinese—Were between 30 and 55 years of age and had at least a bachelor's degree. Chinese subjects were Mandarin in origin. The prediction that Chinese subjects would be more liberal was not confirmed. Women were more liberal than men on two factors: first, vocational, educational, and intellectual roles; second, marital relations and obligations. Ethnic differences were not a main effect on other factors but a significant interaction was obtained in three factors: freedom and independence; dating, courting, and etiquette; and drinking, swearing, and telling jokes. On these factors Caucasian females scored in the liberal direction and so did Chinese males. Caucasian males and Chinese females were consistently and significantly more conservative.     

Religion, Ethnicity, and Attitudes Toward Psychotherapy

Many presume that White culture supports psychotherapy utilization. However, cultural analyses suggest that many aspects of White culture are antithetical to the values and practices underlying psychotherapy, which appear more congruent with Ashkenazic Jewish attitudes and values. The current research empirically tested this possibility by comparing older Jewish White people, non-Jewish Whites, and Black participants on attitudes relevant to psychotherapy. Results indicated that Jews had greater confidence in a therapist's ability to help, were more tolerant of stigma, and more open to sharing their feelings and concerns than participants in the other groups. Furthermore, initial differences between Whites and African Americans were lessened when Jewish identity was included in the analysis. Results suggest that Jewish culture is relatively accepting of psychotherapy, and that previous reports of different rates of mental health seeking attitudes and utilization by Whites and Blacks may be due, in part, to the inclusion of Jewish individuals in these samples.     

Beliefs about Sexual Assault in India and Britain are Explained by Attitudes Toward Women and Hostile Sexism

As many as one in five women worldwide will be sexually assaulted over the course of her lifetime (United Nations 2008), yet myths that downplay the prevalence and severity of sexual assault are still widely accepted. Are myths about sexual assault (rape myths) more likely to be accepted in cultures that endorse more traditional gender roles and attitudes toward women? To explore the relationships among rape myth acceptance, attitudes toward women, and hostile and benevolent sexism, data were collected from 112 Indian and 117 British adults, samples from two cultures differing widely in their gender role traditionalism. Analyses confirmed a cultural difference in rape myth acceptance, with the more traditional culture, India, accepting myths to a greater extent than the more egalitarian culture, Britain. Indian participants’ greater rape myth acceptance was explained by their more traditional gender role attitudes and hostile sexism. We discuss ways in which promoting gender egalitarianism may help to break down negative beliefs and reduce the stigma surrounding sexual assault, especially in India, for example through interventions which increase exposure to women in less traditional roles (e.g., those in positions of power).     

Role of Group Affiliation and Gender on Attitudes Toward Women in the Military

The current study examined attitudes of West Point cadets (N = 218), Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets (N = 509), and non-military-affiliated students from civilian colleges (N = 598) toward a variety of roles that women may serve in the military. Respondents were queried whether a woman “should” or “should not” serve in the following military jobs: jet fighter pilot, truck mechanic, nurse in a combat zone, typist in the Pentagon, commander of a military installation, hand-to-hand combat soldier, jet transport pilot, air defense gunner, and crew member on a combat ship. A metric based on a sum of approval across all jobs indicated that women were significantly more approving than men; civilian college students were more approving than ROTC cadets; and West Point cadets showed the lowest overall approval.