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PubMed1988

Adolescent sex-role orientation and ego identity.

This study investigated the relationship between sex-role development and ego development in a sample of 9th-12th grade Anglo-American and Mexican-American students attending high school in a southwestern state. All students were administered: (a) the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (Grotevant and Adams, 1984) as a measure of ego development (i.e., diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and identity achievement), and (b) the Personal Attributes Questionnaire Short Form (Spence, Helmreich and Stapp, 1975) as a measure of masculinity and femininity. Results indicated no ethnic differences in the relationship between ego identity and masculinity/femininity. Adolescents who were identity achieved on ideological identity formation had significantly higher levels of masculinity than did moratorium, foreclosed, and diffused individuals. For interpersonal identity, identity achieved adolescents had higher levels of both masculinity and femininity than did individuals who were foreclosed, diffused, or in moratorium. Discussion centered on these results in light of the additional finding that there was little shared variance (eta2) between masculinity, femininity and ego identity.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

'The thief of womanhood': women's experience of polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Previous research on polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) has overwhelmingly been conducted within a medical or psychiatric framework, and has failed to explore women's own experience of the syndrome. Interviews were conducted with 30 women with PCOS recruited through a national self-help organisation. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed pervasive reports of feeling 'freakish', 'abnormal', and not 'proper' women. These feelings were related to three symptoms commonly experienced by women with PCOS: 'excess' hair growth; irregular, absent or disrupted periods; and infertility. Smooth hairless bodies and faces, regular menstruation and the capacity to bear children were associated with femininity, and as a result of their symptoms women expressed feeling 'different' from other women and less 'feminine'. The results are discussed within a feminist framework and suggest that polycystic ovarian syndrome is a deeply stigmatising condition, 'a theft of womanhood', with far reaching implications for all women, whether or not they conform to 'feminine' norms.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Testing the agreement/tense omission model: why the data on children's use of non-nominative 3psg subjects count against the ATOM.

One of the most influential recent accounts of pronoun case-marking errors in young children's speech is Schütze & Wexler's (1996) Agreement/Tense Omission Model (ATOM). The ATOM predicts that the rate of agreeing verbs with non-nominative subjects will be so low that such errors can be reasonably disregarded as noise in the data. The present study tests this prediction on data from 12 children between the ages of 1; 8.22 and 3 ; 0.10. This is done, first, by identifying children who produced a reasonably large number of non-nominative 3psg subjects; second, by estimating the expected rate of agreeing verbs with masculine and feminine non-nominative subjects in these children's speech; and, third, by examining the actual rate at which agreeing verb forms occurred with non-nominative subjects in those areas of the data in which the expected error rate was significantly greater than 10%. The results show, first, that only three of the children produced enough non-nominative subjects to allow a reasonable test of the ATOM to be made; second, that for all three of these children, the only area of the data in which the expected frequency of agreeing verbs with non-nominative subjects was significantly greater than 10% was their use of feminine case-marked subjects; and third, that for all three of these children, the rate of agreeing verbs with nonnominative feminine subjects was over 30%. These results raise serious doubts about the claim that children's use of non-nominative subjects can be explained in terms of AGR optionality, and suggest the need for a model of pronoun case-marking error that can explain why some children produce agreeing verb forms with non-nominative subjects as often as they do.

Child↗

PubMed2003

Interaction of older brothers and sex-typing in the prediction of sexual orientation in men.

Numerous studies indicate that homosexual men have, on average, more older brothers than do heterosexual men. One explanation of the "older brother" effect comes from D. J. Bem (1996), who argued that an increased number of older brothers in homosexual men can result if older brothers enhance a feminine boy's sense of being different from (and hence his attraction to) other males. Thus, he argued that an interaction between older brothers and sex-typing will occur, such that when a boy is high in femininity, number of older brothers may strongly predict a homosexual orientation; and when a boy is low in femininity, number of older brothers may not or may only weakly predict a homosexual orientation. In this study, the relations among sibling characteristics (e.g., older brothers), childhood sex-typing, and sexual orientation were examined using a database of a large sample of homosexual and heterosexual men (N > 1,000) archived at the Kinsey Institute (A. P. Bell, M. S. Weinberg, & S. K. Hammersmith, 1981a). No significant Older Brother x Sex-Typing interaction effect was observed. These results join other recent evidence that postnatal (e.g., learning/environmental) mechanisms probably do not underlie the older brother effect in men.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

The cognitive, behavioral, and personality profiles of a male monozygotic triplet set discordant for sexual orientation.

The neurohormonal theory of sexual orientation proposes that homosexual men and homosexual women are exposed prenatally to a hormonal environment that is similar to that of the other sex. Prenatal exposure to an opposite-sex hormonal environment may lead the nervous system to develop in a manner consistent with the opposite sex. If this cross-sex exposure occurs, one prediction would be that the cognitive ability profile of homosexual men would be similar to that of heterosexual women. This study examined a set of male monozygotic triplets, aged 21 years, discordant for sexual orientation: 2 of the triplets were heterosexual, 1 was homosexual. The triplets were administered measures of 23 domains of cognitive ability, as well as measures of sexual orientation and masculinity/femininity. On the measures of cognitive ability, the triplets performed similarly, yet consistent differences were found between the 2 heterosexual triplets and the 1 homosexual cotriplet. Differences having the same pattern were found for the number of Schafer homosexuality signs on the Rorschach, and on a homosexuality scale derived from items on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--2 (MMPI-2). Responses from the homosexual triplet were in a more feminine direction than responses from his 2 heterosexual cotriplets on measures of masculinity-femininity, which included measures derived from Rorschach responses, the MMPI-2 Masculinity-Femininity scale, the Bem Sex Role Inventory, and the Boyhood Gender Conformity Scale. Responses to the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire also distinguished the 1 homosexual triplet from the 2 heterosexual cotriplets. These findings support the view that the prenatal hormonal environment may have enduring effects on selected behavioral traits.

Adult↗

PubMed1976

Sex typing and androgyny: further explorations of the expressive domain.

Previous research by Bem has indicated that androgynous individuals of both sexes display "masculine" independence when under pressure to conform as well as "feminine" nurturance when interacting with a kitten. In contrast, sex-typed individuals were low in one or both of these behaviors. The two studies reported here were designed to replicate the low nurturance of the masculine male and to clarify the unexpected finding that feminine females were low in both independence and nurturance. In the first study subjects interacted with a human infant, and in the second study they listened to a lonely student. Taken together, the results of these two studies conceptually replicated the low nurturance of the masculine male and demonstrated that the low nurturance of the feminine female does not extend to her interaction with humans. Finally, evidence was presented in support of Spence, Helmreich, and Stapp's distinction between "androgynous" individuals, who are high in both masculinity and feminity, and "undifferentiated" individuals, who are low in both of these characteristics.

Female↗

PubMed1985

Relation between testosterone concentration, sex role identity, and personality among females.

Eighty-four undergraduate female students completed Baucom's Masculinity and Femininity Scales, the Bem Sex Role Inventory, and the Adjective Check List. Testosterone concentration was determined from saliva samples provided by the women. The results indicated that sex role type was related to level of testosterone concentration. More specifically, undifferentiated females had much higher levels of testosterone concentration than did the feminine-sex-typed females. Also, females with high levels of masculinity (androgynous and masculine-sex-typed females combined) had somewhat higher testosterone levels than did feminine-sex-typed females. Adjectival correlates indicated that females with higher testosterone concentrations perceive themselves as self-directed, action-oriented, resourceful individuals; women with lower testosterone concentration view themselves as conventional, socialized individuals, possessing a caring attitude coupled with an anxious and dejected mood.

Adult↗

PubMed1988

Individual difference variables in close relationships: a contextual model of marriage as an integrative framework.

We examined and refined a contextual model of marriage (Bradbury & Fincham, 1987) in order to organize the associations between individual difference variables and satisfaction in close relationships. Seventy-eight spouses were administered instruments assessing marital satisfaction and individual differences in femininity, masculinity, dysfunctional relationship beliefs, and causal and responsibility attributions for marital difficulties. As predicted, higher levels of satisfaction were related to femininity and to partner's femininity, and lower levels of satisfaction were related to dysfunctional beliefs and less benign attributions. More important, two competing hypotheses relating to the contextual model were tested. A model in which the transitory, or proximal, context (e.g., responsibility attributions for specific relationship events) mediates the relation between the stable, or distal, context (e.g., general beliefs about relationships) and satisfaction was refuted. Support was obtained, however, for a model in which proximal and distal variables both account for unique variance in marital satisfaction. The usefulness of distinguishing between transitory and stable variables and the implications of the contextual model for organizing research on close relationships are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Change and stability in managers' gender roles.

The author examined gender roles among midlife managers over a 4-year period and the effects of career experiences. The findings supported a conceptualization of personality as relatively enduring but still open to change. Masculinity and femininity demonstrated differential stability and absolute stability, except in the case of women's femininity. Its magnitude decreased. At the same time, income change, promotion, and having a protege were associated with increased masculinity and income change with increased femininity. A new child also meant increased masculinity for men. Furthermore, income change, promotion, turnover, being mentored, and having a protege affected the relative placements of managers' scores over time. Many of the effects were different for men and women. The findings have important implications for adult development in the workplace.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Men in nursing: issues of gender segregation and hidden advantage.

The small but growing number of men in the nursing profession does not herald a progressive integration of masculine and feminine sex roles. The evidence presented in this paper suggests that even in female-dominated occupations such as nursing, patriarchal gender relations which reflect a high valuation of all that is male and masculine, play a significant role in situating a disproportionate number of men in administrative and elite specialty positions. At the heart of this gender dynamic is the need to separate the masculine from the lesser valued feminine. Male nurses do this by employing strategies that allow them to distance themselves from female colleagues and the quintessential feminine image of nursing itself, as a prerequisite to elevating their own prestige and power. They are aided in this task by patriarchal cultural institutions that create and perpetuate male advantage, as well as by women nurses themselves who, consciously or unconsciously, nurture the careers of men colleagues.

Career Mobility↗

PubMed2000

The relationship of maternal personality characteristics to birth outcomes and infant development.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies reported an association between maternal psychological factors and adverse pregnancy outcomes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationships between maternal personality characteristics, as determined by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), and infant birth outcomes and development. METHOD: The inventory was administered during pregnancy to 638 pregnant women enrolled in a staff model health maintenance organization. MMPI validity as well as clinical and research scales were evaluated in relationship to infant birth outcomes (low birthweight, preterm birth) and 15-month-old infant development as assessed by the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. RESULTS: Mothers of low birthweight infants scored significantly lower on the hypochondriasis scale, a relationship which was no longer significant after controlling for ethnicity. No other relationships were observed between infant birth outcomes and maternal MMPI scale scores. A higher infant Mental Developmental Index (MDI) was related to higher maternal masculinity-femininity and ego-strength scale scores and lower lie and hypochondriasis scale scores. Only the relationship between infant MDI and maternal masculinity-femininity scale score remained significant after controlling for ethnicity and socioeconomic index (beta = 0.104, p = 0.036). CONCLUSIONS: Maternal personality characteristics, as determined by the MMPI, did not appear to be significantly related to the occurrence of preterm birth or low birthweight in this healthy, general population. Maternal personality characteristics reflected in the MMPI masculinity-femininity scale appeared to be related to infant mental development, above and beyond the effects of socioeconomic status and ethnicity.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1997

The development of gender schemata about heterosexual and homosexual others during adolescence.

Perceptions of heterosexual and homosexual individuals were investigated among 12-, 16-, and 20-year-old French adolescents. Participants described heterosexual and homosexual males and females with typical masculine and feminine personality traits. Overall, they perceived heterosexual males as having more masculine traits than homosexual males. The 16- and 20-year-olds perceived homosexual males as more feminine than heterosexual males, whereas the reverse was observed in 12-year-olds. Furthermore, the 12-year-olds perceived heterosexual females as more feminine than homosexual females, a difference that disappeared in the older age groups. Results support the view of early adolescence as a crucial period in the development of gender schemata about sexually significant others.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Sex roles as factors in defense mechanisms and object relations.

For this study, 150 men and 164 women completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and the Defense Mechanisms Inventory. Data analyses showed that Turning Against the Object related negatively to femininity, Reversal of Affect related positively to femininity, and that the inner-oriented mode of object relations was associated with femininity. For women only, masculinity related positively with Principalization and Reversal of Affect, and negatively with Turning Against the Self. We interpret the results by viewing the measured defenses as being linked to aggression and its sex-role correlates.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Gender and self-disclosure revisited: personal and contextual variations in self-disclosure to same-sex acquaintances.

Male and female American students who differed in masculinity and in femininity self-disclosed to a same-sex stranger in contexts that made either social/expressive motives or instrumental motives salient. The results were consistent with the primary assertion that measures of sex role identity are better predictors of contextual variations in self-disclosure than is sex per se. Sex consistently failed to predict subjects' willingness to self-disclose, both within and across contexts, whereas femininity promoted self-disclosure in the context that was clearly social and expressive in character. Although masculinity failed to exert the expected facilitative impact on self-disclosure within the instrumental context, it nonetheless influenced the results; androgynous subjects, who scored high in both masculinity and femininity, were more self-revealing across contexts than was any other group.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Gender traits and identities in a "masculine" organization: the Israeli police force.

Gender and occupational identities were examined within the Israeli police force, a stereotypically masculine organization. The principal hypothesis was that women in this organizational setting did not reject their gender identity. Rather, they self-attributed more traditionally masculine traits in addition to their feminine traits. This was especially so among women going through particularly intense occupational and organizational socialization needed for field jobs. The findings only partially confirmed the hypothesis. Most women in the sample considered themselves to be highly feminine, even though they self-attributed masculine traits. Although the women, like their male colleagues, ranked occupational identity higher than gender identity, their feminine identity (usually in contrast with the masculine organizational context) was not repressed and their gender identity was as strong as that of the men.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

The concept of penis envy revisited. A child analyst listens to adult women.

Current psychoanalytic scholarship concerning gender development rejects recognition of the genital difference, or "penis envy," as central to the construction of "femininity," substituting the concept of "primary femininity." This shift in the paradigm of gender construction has occurred in part because of contributions from child-observational research showing that "gender identity" is acquired by age three. It has also been stimulated by the observations of adult analysts that interpretations organized around the concept of penis envy appear to have little mutative value in contrast to the communications in play and action from the analyses of preschool girls, which seem to reflect intense intrapsychic conflict stimulated by the girls' recognition of the genital difference. Using clinical material, this paper contrasts fantasies of gender found in oedipal girls with those presented in the analyses of adult women. The differences reflect not only the vicissitudes of gender construction and developmental changes in the mind's capacity to adapt to the demands of reality but also the fate of aggressive and narcissistic derivatives as they become entangled in conflict created by recognition of the inherent limitations of the body. The fantasies referred to by the concept "penis envy" are not constitutive of femininity; however, they reflect one approach to a defensive solution to intrapsychic dilemmas stemming from awareness of bodily and generational limits.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Gender-disturbed males.

Adolescent and adult cross-dressing or "transvestism" is the most common antecedent behavioral pattern among those who request sex reassignment surgery. Transvestites are actually a diverse group of men who differ in their gender identities, orientation, and intention. They do, however, have in common a soothing image of themselves as women. Because of this, whether cross-dressing occurs among masculine or feminine males or heterosexuals, homosexuals, bisexuals, or asexuals, or among those with paraphilia, the behavior should be considered the expression of their consciously felt femininity. The confusing differences among cross-dressing males may be explained by their diversity along three dimensions: 1) the ambition for heterosexual intercourse; 2) the natural history of their sexual arousal to female clothing; 3) their current capacity to integrate their masculine and feminine strivings into separate compartments. When cross-dressers give up all vestiges of male gender role behaviors and successfully live and work full time as women, the appropriate descriptive term for them becomes "transsexual."

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The extended curse: being a woman every day.

Inductive analysis of the portrayal of menstruating women in contemporary menstrual product advertisements revealed a profound shift in the meaning of feminine hygiene over the last few decades. The phrase sanitary protection has been replaced by a more euphemistic phrase, feminine hygiene, to refer to menstrual management products. What first appeared to be mere euphemistic substitution, on further analysis, was revealed to involve considerably more than semantics. In the case of panty liners, it was found that the marketing of these specialized products involves the invocation of negative definitions of femaleness and a concomitant subscription to altered definitions of femininity. These altered meanings, conveyed in recent menstrual product advertisements, have serious implications for contemporary women's self-images.

Advertising↗