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.