An aspect of sex-role identification with a sample of twelve year olds and sixteen year olds

It is argued that the social relationships of late childhood have attributes which encourage the feminine stereotype rather than the masculine stereotype. It is hypothesized that children of both sexes who attest to masculine characteristics will feel higher levels of discordance than those children who attest to feminine characteristics. It is also argued that by 16 years this relationship will no longer pertain. Bem's (1974) Sex-Role Inventory was modified in terms of item content, language, and scale to make it appropriate to 11 year olds. The hypothesis concerning discordance was partly confirmed, although sex differences may be present. A second hypothesis concerning the relationship between gregarious interests and sex-role attributes was confirmed, for all groups except the younger boys.