Sex-role conflict in alcoholic women: Myth or reality.

Compared various dimensions of masculinity–femininity in 120 female alcoholics, 118 females in treatment for emotional or psychiatric disorders, and 119 women in a nontreatment normal control group. Measures included the Femininity scale of the California Psychological Inventory, Bem Sex Role Inventory, Franck Drawing Completion Test, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Limited evidence was found for the greater existence of sex-role conflict between "unconscious masculinity" and "conscious femininity" among alcoholic Ss than among nonalcoholic Ss. Less than 25% of the total alcoholic sample evidenced this pattern of sex-role conflict. Alcoholic Ss showed feminine role-relevant preferences similar to those of the nonalcoholic controls. They reported fewer "masculine" behaviors on a measure of sex-role style than did nonalcoholic, nontreatment, normal Ss. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interaction of sex role self-concept with relationship quality and relationship beliefs in married, heterosexual cohabiting, gay, and lesbian couples.

Examined the relationship between sex-role self-concept (masculine, feminine, undifferentiated, and androgynous) and relationship quality and dysfunctional relationship beliefs among 44 married (mean age 29.68 yrs), 35 heterosexual cohabiting (mean age 28.68 yrs), 50 homosexual (mean age 31.28 yrs), and 56 lesbian (mean age 31.18 yrs) couples. Ss completed questionnaires on demographic and background information, the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, a relationship beliefs inventory, and relationship quality assessments. Individual partner analyses revealed that relationship quality and relationship beliefs differed by Ss' sex-role self-concept. Androgynous and feminine Ss reported higher relationship quality than masculine and undifferentiated Ss; androgynous Ss had fewer "disagreement is destructive" beliefs than feminine Ss; and androgynous Ss had fewer "partner cannot change" beliefs than undifferentiated Ss. Couple analyses showed a relation between partners' sex-role self-concept only for the heterosexual cohabiting couples. For these couples, masculine men tended to pair with feminine or undifferentiated women, and androgynous partners tended to pair together. Relative to other couples, those in which one or both partners were androgynous or feminine reported the highest relationship quality; couples in which one or both partners were undifferentiated or masculine reported the lowest. These effects did not vary by type of couple. It is concluded that sex-role self-concept is a robust factor in appraisals of relationship quality. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role attributes, symptom distress, and defensive style among college men and women.

Administered the Personality Research Form-Andro Scale Masculinity and Femininity subscales, the Symptom Check List-90 (Revised), and the Defense Mechanism Inventory to 84 male and 90 female undergraduates. Results indicate that interrelations among sex-role attributes, defense preferences, and symptom distress differed for men and women. Cross-sex-typed Ss mostly accounted for differences in symptom distress within each sex: Masculine women reported relatively low and feminine men reported relatively high degrees of symptom distress. In addition, sex roles interacted with sex in determining defense preferences. The possibility that defensive styles mediated between sex-role attributes and symptom distress was also explored. Among women, an association between masculine attributes and a rejection of self-blaming defenses accounted for the negative relation between masculinity attributes and symptom distress. Among men, sex-role attributes and defensive styles, for the most part, contributed independently to symptom distress. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in moral reasoning.

Explored the possibility that socialization into different sex roles for men and women may contribute to the observed sex difference in moral development. 40 undergraduates were classified as either masculine, feminine, or androgynous according to the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and were administered the Moral Judgment Interview (MJI). For half the Ss, the central character in the MJI dilemmas was a male and for the remaining half, a female. Results reveal that males, when judging from the perspective of a female character, provided reasons for her actions congruent with the Stage 3 level of moral reasoning. However, for the same action portrayed by a male character, reasons for his behavior were in accord with Stage 4. No difference for the female judges was found between the characters of either sex. Regardless of the protagonist's sex, Ss scored at Stage 3. Ss' moral reasoning did not differ according to their sex-role classification. Males, however, held more strongly than females the belief that male decisions on morality are based on law-and-order reasoning, and female decisions are made from an emotional perspective. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some cognitive abilities of Eskimo, White, and Indian-Metis pupils aged 9 to 12 years.

Factor analysis of ability tests for Eskimo, White, and Indian-Metis 9-12 yr. old pupils indicated for each sample 2 highly correlated oblique factors labelled v:ed and reasoning from nonverbal stimuli. When native Ss were scored on white T-score norms, least ethnic differences and least decline with age relative to white Ss occurred in the latter abilities. Written memory was an outstanding exception. There were almost no sex differences for any of the samples. (French summary) (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature of the influence of speed on adult age differences in cognition.

Two studies were conducted to determine the relations among age, motor speed, perceptual speed, and 3 measures of cognitive performance: study time, decision time, and decision accuracy. Each study involved over 240 adults (all Ss aged 18–87 yrs) who performed a battery of tests, including computer-administered tests of memory, reasoning, and spatial ability. Results indicate that (1) increased age was associated with lower accuracy as well as with longer study time and decision time and (2) some of the relations between age and decision accuracy and between age and decision time appear to be mediated by a slower rate of executing cognitive operations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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

84 female undergraduates completed measures of masculinity and femininity derived from the California Personality Inventory, the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, and the Adjective Check List. Testosterone (T) concentration was determined from saliva samples. Results indicate that sex-role type was related to level of T concentration. Undifferentiated Ss had much higher levels of T concentration than did feminine Ss, and androgynous and masculine Ss had somewhat higher T levels than did feminine sex-typed Ss. Adjectival correlates indicated that Ss with higher T concentrations perceived themselves as self-directed, action-oriented, and resourceful; those with lower T concentrations viewed themselves as conventional, socialized individuals, possessing a caring attitude coupled with an anxious and dejected mood. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Similarity and uniqueness: The effects of attribute type, relevance, and individual differences in self-esteem and depression.

Predicted, on the basis of a self-validation perspective, that distortions in consensus estimates would vary as a function of attribute type (opinions [Os] vs abilities [As]), relevance of the attribute, and individual differences in self-esteem and depression. 189 undergraduates who had completed the Texas Social Behavior Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory rated themselves on 7 O and A dimensions. Then they estimated the percentage of the other students who held each O/A position and rank-ordered the Os/As for personal relevance. Absolute and directional accuracy scores were computed (comparing estimated percentages with actual percentages in the sample), as well as false consensus effect (FCE) scores (comparing estimates of Ss holding and not holding a particular position). Ss overestimated consensus for their Os and low As but underestimated consensus for their high As. Although Ss exhibited a larger FCE on Os than As, there was a reliable FCE for both attributes. Relevance affected the magnitude of these biases. Higher opinion relevance was associated with increased accuracy, lower FCE scores, and smaller overestimates. Higher ability relevance was associated with decreased accuracy, greater overestimation on low As, and greater underestimation on high As. Low self-esteem and depressed Ss overestimated consensus on Os and underestimated consensus on As less than high self-esteem and nondepressed Ss. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex-role and socialization patterns: Some personality concomitants and environmental antecedents.

Distinguished between sex-role typing, socialization, and identification in 66 male and 69 female 30-40 yr old Ss using the Femininity and Socialization scales of the California Psychological Inventory. Ss were grouped according to their sex-role and socialization pattern: sex appropriate-socialized, sex appropriate-unsocialized, sex inappropriate-socialized, and sex inappropriate-unsocialized. The personality correlates of these patternings were highly informative, as were the family and childhood data available for these Ss. The relationships were interpreted employing an articulated version of the concept of identification. It is noted that sex-role typing for men appears to expand the personal options available to them; for women, sex-role typing seems to restrict the alternatives of action and expression that are available. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role typing and ego identity in Israeli, Oriental, and Western adolescents.

1,129 Oriental and Western Israeli students from religious and secular high schools participated in a study to investigate (a) the relation between sex-role typing and ego identity, (b) the distribution of sex-role typing within different cultural groups, and (c) the relative contribution of masculinity (M), femininity (F), religiousness, sex, and ethnic origin to prediction of ego identity variables. Ss completed the Bar-Ilan Sex Role Inventory and the Adolescent Ego Identity Scale, which measures 3 factors: commitment and purposefulness, solidity and continuity, and social recognition. More androgynous, less sex-typed, and less undifferentiated Ss were found among Orientals than among Westerners. Sex-role type was significantly related to each of the ego identity variables, indicating that androgynous Ss were highest followed by masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated Ss. Boys were higher than girls on Solidity and Continuity, but lower on Social Recognition. Westerners were higher than Orientals on Commitment and Purposefulness and on Total Ego Identity. Religious Ss were higher than secular Ss on Commitment and Purposefulness. Regression analyses revealed high prediction of ego identity variables with greater prediction power for M than for F in both ethnic groups. Ego identity was predicted by M among boys, whereas both M and F predicted ego identity with greater prediction power for M than for F. (61 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Creativity, masculinity, femininity, and three models of psychological androgyny.

Five empirically derived indices of creative self-concept correlated positively with several indices of psychological masculinity in 85 female and 105 male undergraduates and somewhat negatively with indices of psychological femininity among males and females. Among the measures used were the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and Adjective Check List. Production on the Alternate Uses Test correlated positively with masculinity and negatively with femininity in a subset of 50 males explicitly instructed to "be creative." As a reflection of this positive association between masculinity and creativity indices, Ss defined as masculine or androgynous, using conventional median-split methods, obtained significantly higher creativity indices than conventionally defined feminine or unclassifiable Ss. Results are discussed in terms of (a) the applicability of balance, additive, and multiplicative models of androgyny to the study of creativity; (b) the factorial complexity of several currently used masculinity and femininity scales; and (c) possible conflicts between sex-role expectations and the self-concepts of creative females and apparent congruencies between sex-role expectations and the self-concepts of creative males. (85 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Race differences on nonverbal analogy test performance as a function of verbal strategy training.

Hypothesized that the relatively poor performance of Black students on nominally nonverbal reasoning tests (A. R. Jensen's Level II) (see record 1974-24027-001) may be due to their failure to use verbal problem-solving strategies efficiently and spontaneously. 200 4th and 5th graders, both Black and White, showed no race differences on Level I ability (digit-span memory). Half of the Ss of each race were then trained to use a verbal strategy on nonverbal analogies. For Ss who received no special training there were significant race differences on the analogies test (p     

Individual differences in cognitive abilities and brain organization: I. Sex and handedness differences in ability.

Analyzed data on cognitive abilities from 3 samples of normal Ss: (1) 195 undergraduates, (2) 215 18–30 yr old newly married couples, and (3) 122 pairs of monozygotic and dizygotic twins (aged 12–38 yrs). Findings reveal a common Sex by Handedness by Reasoning-Ability interaction: For Ss with above-median reasoning ability, spatial scores of left-handed males were reduced but those of left-handed females were raised, relative to their right-handed counterparts; the opposite pattern was found for Ss with below-median reasoning ability. The dependence of handedness effects on reasoning ability level appears to explain some of the inconsistent findings in the literature. Verbal fluency, perceptual speed, and visual memory also showed sex and handedness effects, which often interacted with level of reasoning ability or other cognitive variables. Results strongly suggest that sex and handedness differences in cognitive ability are partly neurological in origin. Variations in the effects of handedness across levels of reasoning ability (or other abilities) may indicate that different trade-offs among structural, and thus cognitive, characteristics will be found in different subsamples: There may be many kinds of normal brain organization. (French abstract) (98 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Raven Progressive Matrices: An item and set analysis of subjects grouped by race, sex, and social class.

Investigated whether the internal structure of Raven's Progressive Matrices could account for race and social class differences in the responses of 5th and 6th graders obtained in a previous study by S. Tulkin and J. Newbrough (see record 1968-17225-001). Analysis confirms previous findings that the items are not linearly ordered across the entire test nor within sets. It is concluded that group differences may reflect the perceptual rigidity of lower-class Ss rather than reasoning ability per se. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Love and sex role stereotypes: Do macho men and feminine women make better lovers?

Examined the relation of sex and sex-role orientation to self-reported feelings and behaviors of love. It was hypothesized that (a) sex role would have a greater effect on love feelings and behaviors than sex, and (b) androgynous individuals would experience love differently than sex-typed individuals. Data were gathered from 100 male and 136 female college students who identified themselves as being in a love relationship. Ss completed a battery of questionnaires, including the Bem Sex-Role Inventory. Both hypotheses were supported. There were no sex differences in self-reported love. Androgynous Ss differed from masculine Ss on awareness of love feelings, expression of love, nonmaterial evidence of love, toleration of the loved one's faults, and the total expression of love in their relationship. The androgynous Ss differed from feminine Ss on awareness, willingness to express feelings, and toleration of faults. In all comparisons, androgynous Ss were more loving than sex-typed and undifferentiated Ss. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in syllogistic reasoning: Deduction rules or mental models?

Conducted 2 experiments to examine the correlates of reasoning ability on a syllogistic reasoning task in Ss who lacked formal background in logic, focusing on the extent to which reasoning proficiency arises from the consideration of multiple possible set relations (mental models) as opposed to explicit or implicit reliance on deduction rules. Exp I investigated whether differences between good and poor reasoners occurred early or late in the process of reasoning. 24 undergraduates, designated as good or poor readers, were presented with 16 syllogisms to solve. In Exp II, 16 good and 15 poor undergraduate reasoners and 7 graduate students who had studied logic were asked to state their initial impression of the correct conclusion to a syllogism. Overall findings reveal evidence for the use of both models and rules. Although good and poor reasoners differed even when time constraints were imposed, consistent with the supposition of a better set of rules among good reasoners, good reasoners showed more improvement and chose to take longer amounts of time when time constraints were removed, suggesting that they considered more alternatives than did the poor reasoners. A comparison between these 2 groups and Ss with experience in logic revealed striking differences in both accuracy and speed. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Persistance at a liberal arts college: A replicated, five-year longitudinal study.

Analyzed data on 1,171 freshmen entering Macalester College in 1964 and 1965 to observe factors related to persistance at the college. Voluntary withdrawals (Ss who left the college in good academic standing) did not differ from the persisters (graduates of Macalester) on precollege ability and achievement measures (including the Scholastic Aptitude Test, the Omnibus Personality Inventory, and the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values). College GPAs for the withdrawal Ss, however, revealed that these Ss did not achieve as well as the persisters. The male failures (Ss having less than a C average at time of dropping from the College) had lower achievement in high school than the withdrawals, while the female failures did less well than the withdrawals on the precollege ability tests. No generalizable differences were apparent among the groups on personality and values inventories, home proximity to the college, or participation in an experimental advising program. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of sex role stereotyping among mental health professionals.

85 male and 40 female psychologists (mean age 47.9 yrs) and psychiatrists (mean age 54.8 yrs) were administered the Attitudes Toward Women Scale and the short form of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory to assess the effects of sex, sex role attitudes, professional affiliation, and therapeutic orientation on sex-role attitudes and sex-role stereotyping. In general, Ss demonstrated relatively liberal sex role attitudes. However, more liberal attitudes were endorsed by psychologists than by psychiatrists and, within disciplines, by younger Ss and those with fewer years of experience. Regarding sex role stereotyping, Ss with less liberal sex role attitudes exhibited stereotyping to a significantly greater extent than did those with more liberal attitudes. Female Ss endorsed as great a double standard of mental health as did males. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The measurement of psychological androgyny: an extended replication

The Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI), the recently developed measure for psychological androgyny, was administered to 344 middle-Tennessee high school and university students. The BSRS's reliability coefficients and mean scores were very similar to those reported earlier for California junior college and university students, respectively. The present scoring patterns for the BSRI remained unchanged with the introduction of the four "familial context" variables of sex of Ss' siblings, sex of Ss' nearest-in-age sibling, parent whom the Ss considered emotionally warmest, and parent whom the Ss would most prefer to be like. Contrary to Bem's original findings, the present results with the BSRI suggested that Ss' responses to the measure may be affected by the social desirability phenomenon. Moreover, scores on the BSRI did not correlate consistently or highly with those presently obtained with a symbolic sex-role measure and a verbal sex-role scale. This lack of construct validity has been reported previously in at least two other studies. Though apparently reliable, the validity of the BSI remains problematic.     

Sex differences in the correlations among field dependence, spatial ability, sex role orientation, and performance on Piaget's water-level task.

In a study with 8th-grade boys and girls, significant sex differences were found on measures of spatial ability (Card Rotations Test), water-level performance, and sex-role orientation (Bem Sex Role Inventory), but not field dependence (Group Embedded Figures Test). For boys, correlations among field dependence, spatial ability, and water-level performance were significant, while for girls they were not. In contrast, sex role orientation was significantly related to field dependence and water-level performance for girls but not for boys. Results suggest a sex difference in the basis for mastering the water-level task. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)