Sex and relational communication patterns in counseling.

Studied the influence of counselor and client sex on relational communication patterns in counseling using a systems theory framework. 72 audiotaped intake interviews (primarily of undergraduate clients) of 20 female and 16 male counselors, each of whom interacted with 1 male and 1 female client, were analyzed by the rational communication coding system developed by L. Rogers and R. Farace (1975). The constructs of complementarity and symmetry are operationalized by the system. Results show that transactions involving male clients were characterized by more complementary exchanges in which the use of questions and the provisions of answers provided a basis for attempts to assert or relinquish control in the relationship. Female clients and counselors were found to share more neutral messages in which the issue of control was less salient. Both counselor sex and client sex were significant factors in participants' perceptions of each other during intake. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role orientation and dream recall.

Compared dreams of 27 male and 32 female undergraduates categorized as "masculine" or "feminine" using Femininity scores on the California Psychological Inventory. Masculine Ss were rated higher on a general measure of maleness ("agency") than feminine Ss. Feminine males were rated higher on a measure of femaleness ("communion") than masculine males. Masculine Ss, especially males, more often had dreams of aggression. Ss, especially males, with sex role orientation contrary to stereotype had more unpleasant dreams than Ss whose sex role was congruent. Questionnaire estimations of dream recall frequency were more accurate predictors of subsequent dream recall frequency for Ss, especially males, with sex role orientations contrary to stereotype. Results support the assumption that sex role orientation rather than biological gender plays a fundamental role in determining dream content, and that the development of sex role-related aspects of life-style is more problematic for males than females. (46 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role perceptions during adolescence.

Sex-role perceptions were examined by having 165 males and 141 females in Grades 7–12 respond to the Self-Esteem Inventory and the Nowicki-Strickland Adult Locus of Control Scale under 2 sets of instructions: (a) a standard set and (b) a set in which Ss were asked to respond as they thought a member of the same age and grade but of the opposite sex would respond. No sex differences were obtained on the 2 instruments under the standard set of instructions. Under opposite-sex instructions, however, both sexes credited males with being higher in self-esteem than females. On the locus of control scale, members of both sexes perceived themselves to be more internally controlled than members of the opposite sex. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex and race differences in learning disabilities classrooms.

Poor reading performance is the primary reason for assignment of learning-disabled (LD) students to special education classrooms. Such classrooms typically contain a majority of Whites and males. The present study investigated whether or not differences by sex or race occurred in placement, teacher contacts, assignment practices, and student learning behaviors in LD classrooms. 105 6–12 yr old LD students were administered a battery of tests that included the Level I Reading Subtest of the Wide Range Achievement Test and the Spache Diagnostic Reading Scales. Results reveal differences in placement, similarity of teacher treatment and student behavior, and similarity of the effects of such behaviors on test performance. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role self-concept and career decision making.

The influence of sex-role-related aspects of students' self-concept on their progress in making a decision about choice of college, choice of a major, and choice of an occupation, as well as their use of both the rational and intuitive decision-making styles, was investigated. For 289 male and 283 female college students, their sex-role self-concept as measured by the Bem Sex-Role Inventory was related to their progress on all 3 decisions. Test scores were compared with those of 300 other Ss from 3 colleges, and no significant variance was found. The patterns of results were different for men and women. Sex-role self-concept was related to the use of both decision-making styles for women, whereas it was a factor only on the rational style scale for men. The implications of these findings for differential counseling based on sex-role self-concept rather than on gender are discussed. Counselors are cautioned against overlooking the potential influences of factors not related to sex roles on students' career decisions. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of proximity on anxiety and communication in the initial psychiatric interview.

Based on E. T. Hall's categories for interpersonal distance and social interaction, a study was designed to determine whether physical distance between outpatients (n = 60) and therapists (n = 4) would affect patient behavior in the initial psychiatric interview. Interviews were conducted at 3 ft (Hall's personal distance, far phase), 6 ft (social distance, near phase), and 9 ft (social distance, far phase). Results show that patient speech disturbance ratio, a measure of concurrent anxiety, increased with increased distance. At a distance of 9 ft, patients reported they did not get their point across as well, and there was a trend for them to feel they had been unclear. Patients talked more about their fears and anxieties and tended to report themselves as having been more open at the 6-ft distance. Possible psychological processes involved are discussed, along with Hall's theory of social expectations and M. Argyle and J. Dean's approach-avoidance theory of social interaction. (27 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role identity in female alcoholism.

Compared 28 alcoholic women with 28 matched controls on a variety of masculinity-femininity measures (e.g., Franck Drawing Completion Test). The alcoholics were expected to earn more masculine scores than the controls on measures which tap relatively unconscious levels of sex role identity. On 2 measures of conscious femininity, the alcoholics were typically feminine. On the 3rd, a measure of attitudes toward motherhood, the alcoholics were more feminine than the controls. On a questionnaire measure of sex role style, the alcoholics gave more assertive, masculine responses than the controls, and the scores for alcoholics on a projective measure of unconscious masculinity-femininity were more masculine than those for the controls. The medical histories of the alcoholics contained a higher incidence of obstetrical and gynecological disorders than did the histories of the controls. The relationship between sex role identity disturbance and the psychological function of alcoholic women's excessive drinking is discussed. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role identity and its relationships to sex role attributes and sex role stereotypes.

Examines J. Kagan's (1964) and L. A. Kohlberg's (1966) theories of sex role identity. Both premise relationships among an individual's sex role identity, perception of sex role stereotypes, and own masculine and feminine sex role attributes, but the theories specify different patterns of correlations among these variables. Kagan's theory views sex role identity as the product of the mutual influence of stereotypes and attributes, whereas Kohlberg's posits sex role attributes as the product of the stereotypes and identity. 104 male and 110 female college students were administered measures of each variable including the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ), modified versions of PAQ to measure stereotypes of men and women, and a measure of sex role identity developed by the present author. Results indicate an overall relationship between sex role identity and the other 2 variables. Results generally support Kohlberg's theory over Kagan's. Significant correlations were found where Kohlberg's theory would predict a relationship—between sex role stereotypes and sex role attributes. Nonsignificant correlations were found where Kagan's theory would predict a relationship—between sex role stereotypes and sex role identity. Results are compared to findings by J. T. Spence et al (1975), and questions are raised about the psychological constructs underlying measures of sex role attributes. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role identification and the clinical psychology student.

22 female (mean age 31.8 yrs) and 16 male (mean age 27.5 yrs) practicum students in clinical psychology completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and a questionnaire assessing their attitudes toward clinical work. Females were more likely than males to work predominantly with children. Masculine and undifferentiated Ss attributed the source of their theoretical orientation to their clinical work, whereas feminine and androgynous Ss considered their own personal treatment as important a source of influence as clinical work. Masculine Ss viewed hearing about important changes in patients' lives as more gratifying than direct observation of change, while other Ss viewed the direct observation of change as most gratifying. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role conflicts and the experience of childbearing.

Suggests that expectant/new parents in the US face a choice of sex roles: Mothers choose between the traditional role of full-time care-giver and the nontraditional role of combining care-giving and employment; fathers decide between a traditional role with limited involvement in infant care and a nontraditional role with extensive involvement in the birth and care of their infants. In the light of evidence that the decision-making process is a source of substantial conflict for some parents, the author evaluates psychoanalytic views on sex roles and parenthood, traces the emergence of new roles, and considers how clinicians can assist mothers and fathers who are experiencing conflict over sex roles. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role stereotyping in children's television programs.

Conducted an observational analysis of the male and female role models presented on 10 popular commercially produced children's TV programs. Striking sex differences (p     

Sex role orientation and behavior in a work setting.

Examined the possibility that androgynous persons might respond more favorably and supportively toward persons in jobs unusual for their sex. 38 female and 27 male low- to middle-level managers completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and were rated by their supervisors for behavioral dispositions related to showing support toward persons in nontraditional jobs, candor and personal assertiveness, acceptance of nontraditional job change, and active listening. Highly androgynous Ss showed more acceptance of nontraditional job change, support for persons in nontraditional jobs, and active listening. After controlling for masculinity and femininity scores, androgyny scores still contributed to explained variance in acceptance of nontraditional job change but not in support for persons in nontraditional jobs or active listening. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role complementarity versus similarity in married couples.

Surveyed 108 Australian married couples about the effect of sex roles on their marital happiness. Questionnaires included the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Measures of the sex-role orientation and happiness of each partner with the relationship permitted an evaluation of the similarity and complementarity hypotheses as well as an assessment of the general compatibility of sex-role combinations. Results provide substantial evidence for the importance of femininity in relationships; the happiness of the husband was positively related to the wife's femininity, and the happiness of the wife was positively related to the husband's femininity. Couples in which both partners were high on femininity (androgynous and feminine) were far happier than were couples in which at least one of the partners was low on this dimension. Although similarity of both masculinity and femininity between partners was associated with happiness, the complementarity hypothesis was convincingly refuted in terms of both happiness and choosing a partner. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role orientation and division of labor early in marriage.

Examined the division of labor by newlyweds, including the extent to which spouses participated in the labor force and involved themselves in household work. 120 husbands (mean age 24.3 yrs) and wives (mean age 21.9 yrs) completed the Attitudes Toward Women Scale, the Personal Attributes Questionnaire, and a measure assessing their perceived skill in carrying out 26 household tasks. Data on household task participation were gathered via 9 separate phone interviews. Tasks were classified into 2 groups based on whether they were performed more often by the men or by the women. Husbands' and wives' sex-role attitudes were related to the extent to which wives, but not husbands, participated in the labor force. The more traditional the couple was in terms of their relative employment hours, the less the husband, relative to his wife, was involved in female sex-typed household tasks. No such connection was found for male sex-typed tasks. Spouses' perceived skill at performing tasks traditionally assigned to the spouse of the opposite sex was significantly related to how traditional they were in housework participation. Findings suggest that gender-related attitudes and skills of newlyweds influence the way their relationships come to be structured with regard to economic and instrumental activities. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role orientation and self-esteem: A critical meta-analytic review.

Research on the relation between sex-role orientation and psychological well-being has been guided by 1 of 3 models. The traditional congruence model holds that psychological well-being is fostered only when one's sex-role orientation is congruent with one's gender; the androgyny model proposes that well-being is maximized when one's sex-role orientation incorporates a high degree of both masculinity and femininity regardless of one's gender; the masculinity model posits that well-being is a function of the extent to which one has a masculine sex-role orientation. The adequacy of the models was tested by meta-analysis of 35 studies of the relation between sex-role orientation and self-esteem, the indicator of psychological well-being most widely used in sex-role studies. Results of the analysis are most supportive of the masculinity model and showed that the strength of observed relations between sex-role orientation and self-esteem varied as a function of both the sex-role measure and the type of self-esteem measure used in the studies. Methodological issues are identified that should be taken into consideration in future research. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A nonverbal signal in voices of interview partners effectively predicts communication accommodation and social status perceptions.

Derivations from nonverbal communications accommodation theory are tested, and this knowledge is extended both theoretically and methodologically. Fast fourier transform and statistical analysis of a low-frequency nonverbal signal in voices from 25 dyadic interviews between a talk show host and his guests revealed voice convergence between partners. Correlation coefficients from comparisons of partners' voice spectra and factor analysis of the correlation matrix showed that lower status partners accommodated their voices to higher status partners via the nonverbal signal. Student ratings of the social status of the same talk show host and guests were correlated with factor loadings, thereby providing convergent validity of the nonverbal signal as a predictor of social status perceptions and accommodation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)