Gender-related personality traits and ego development: Differential patterns for men and women

Two studies were designed to test the hypothesis that enhanced ego level affords the capacity to express those gender-related traits stereotypical for the opposite sex. In Study 1, 209 white male and female college students completed the Personal Attributes Questionnaire and the Loevinger Sentence Completion Test, a semiprojective measure of ego development. Analyses revealed that for women, instrumentality was related to ego development; for men, expressiveness was associated with ego level. Study 2 further tested this hypothesis using a more heterogeneous sample and several alternative measures of gender-related traits, including the Bem Sex-Role Inventory. Nontraditional gender role traits and ideals (masculinity for females, femininity for males) were associated with higher levels of ego development. Implications of the findings for ego development theory are discussed.