Gender role orientation and physical health: A study among young adults

The purpose to this study was to examine the relationship between gender role orientation and physical health among young adults. One hundred forty-five undergraduates (103 females, 42 males) completed a measure of gender role orientation (Bem Sex Role Inventory), self-reported physical health (Personal Health Questionnaire), health related behaviors (Health Behaviors Inventory), and neuroticism (Eysenck Personality Inventory). The sample consisted of European-American (89%), African-American (8%), and Asian-American (3%) individuals. Results showed that gender role orientation was significantly related to health-related behaviors (e.g., smoking, exercise), but not to self-reported physical health (e.g., upper respiratory infections). Overall, androgynous individuals had better health-related behaviors than masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated individuals.We thank Karen Hooker and Randall Jorgensen for their useful advice regarding this article. We also thank Sue Rosenberg Zalk and an anonymous reviewer for their comments on previous drafts of this article. This work was supported in part by the Graduate Student Committee of the Psychology Department at Syracuse University.