Some methodological comments on labels, traits, interaction, and types in the study of "femininity" and "masculinity": Reply to Spence.

Concurs with the comments of J. T. Spence (see record 1983-24779-001) about the present authors' (see record 1983-24773-001) work in that the labels "femininity" and "masculinity" refer to a multidimensional domain and have been used inappropriately for scales that measure more circumscribed gender-related traits such as dominance and nurturance. It is nevertheless possible to investigate more encompassing constructs, such as androgyny and gender identity, through appropriate multivariate methods that incorporate, for example, interactions between dominance, nurturance, and other gender-related variables. The study of interactions among measures of individual differences should also be distinguished from a search for "real types." (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)