A Comparison of Sex Role and Related Personality Traits in Young, Middle-Aged, and Older Women

Abstract

Self-descriptions on sex role characteristics and related personality traits including achievement and affiliation were compared in four age groups of women: eighteen to twenty-two, twenty-nine to thirty-nine, forty to fifty-five, and sixty to seventy-five year-olds. In general, the two younger groups emerged as least like the traditional feminine sex role stereotype. In comparison to the older women, they were more willing to ascribe masculine sex role characteristics to themselves and rated themselves as less responsible, self-controlled, and affiliative. Conversely, the women over sixty and homemakers in their forties and fifties adhered most strongly to the conventional feminine traits. These differences are explained in terms of the recent changes in societal attitudes toward sex roles. There is also some evidence that significant life roles are related to self-descriptions on these personality dimensions.

From Adolescence to Later Adulthood: Femininity, Masculinity, and Androgyny in Six Age Groups

“…Support for this hypothesis can be found when previous cross-sectional comparisons of women are examined. Older women's masculine personality trait scores are lower than those of younger women (Erdwins et al 1983;Mellinger and Erdwins 1985). In these studies, it is unclear whether there is heterogeneity among subgroups of older women because women 60 and older have been examined as a single demographic group.…”

“…Many of the studies reviewed above focus exclusively on women and have not included men (e.g., Erdwins et al 1983;Helson and Moane 1987;Kasen et al 2006;Mellinger and Erdwins 1985;Roberts et al 2002). Consequently, relatively less is known regarding agerelated differences in men's masculine and feminine traits.…”

“…However, because some research indicates age differences in feminine traits among women (e.g., Hyde et al 1991;Roberts et al 2002, c.f., Kasen et al 2006, we explored whether middle-age women (40-59 years) identified less with feminine traits than younger adult women, and whether older women (roughly those 60 years and older) identified more with feminine traits than middle-aged women. This hypothesis was exploratory because crosssectional designs that compare younger and older women do not indicate age differences in feminine traits (Erdwins et al 1983), and women's feminine trait scores show little change across historical time (Twenge 1997).…”

“…Although there is a sizable literature that investigates gender development in adolescence (see Ruble et al 2006 for a review), it has not been integrated with research on adult development and aging. Within the adult development and aging literature, individuals 60 years and older have typically been compared to middle-aged or younger adults (e.g., see Erdwins et al 1983;James et al 1995). Yet, it is increasingly recognized that later adulthood is comprised of at least three distinct periods (i.e., "young old," "oldold," "oldest-old," Baltes and Smith 1999).…”

The effect of sex role orientation on the amount of time spent in household production by the husband and the wife

“…In recent years, these roles have become more flexible. There is a growing body of literature that indicates that traditional views about the work and family roles of men and women have changed over the years toward more egalitarian attitudes (Brogan & Kutner, 1976;Erdwins et al, 1983;Keith & Schafer, 1986; Rao & Rao, 1985;smith & Fisher, 1982;Thornton et aI, 1983). If, indeed, attitudes have become more egalitarian, then it would seem reasonable to assume that this "equality" would be reflected in the sharing of household production by couples.…”