An Australian sex-role scale

Abstract

The development of two 50‐item parallel forms of an Australian sex‐role scale is described. A total of 2,427 subjects rated 512 adjectives in terms of their desirability for Australian males and females, the degree to which they are expected in Australian males and females, and their self‐applicability. These ratings were used to construct the two scales — Personal Description Questionnaire Forms A and B. Each scale comprises 10 masculine positive, 10 masculine negative, 10 feminine positive, 10 feminine negative, and 10 social desirability items. The new scales were administered to 282 (144 male, 138 female) high‐school students for self‐description, and the various psychometric characteristics of the scales and norms for these samples are presented. It is recommended that Australian sex‐role researchers use these new scales in preference to past scales based on American college students. As with any new scales there is a need for further normative data to be gathered and a variety of validation studies to be conducted.

Fluidity in the self‐concept: the shift from personal to social identity

“…The Dependent Schematic male encounters a similar conflict; in this case his social identity as a man (e.g. see Antill et al, 1981) contradicts his personal self-schema for dependence. The question then becomes: will the information-processing consequences of personal self-schemas be attenuated or perhaps eliminated when a conflicting higher-order identity is made salient?…”

“…This occurs for example in the Independent Schematic female, where her social identity as a woman (e.g. see Antill, Cunningham, Russell, & Thompson, 1981) contradicts her personal self-schema for independence. The Dependent Schematic male encounters a similar conflict; in this case his social identity as a man (e.g.…”

“…Male discussion groups were asked to reach consensus on the degree to which the traits independent, dominant and aggressive were more typical of men than women, and female discussion groups were asked to reach consensus on the degree to which the traits tactful, cautious and dependent were more typical of women than men. These specific traits were selected because they are a part of the gender stereotype for men and women, respectively (Antill et al, 1981;Bem, 1974;Drinkwater, 1979), and are related to independence and dependence, respectively (Markus, 1977). These traits could therefore be used to prime group identities, in the normative (i.e.…”

Gender identity and substance use among students in two high schools in Monterrey, Mexico

“…The resulting four dimensions of gender identity define both socially desirable and undesirable instrumental and expressive traits within masculine and feminine subscales (Antill et al, 1981;Marsh and Myers, 1986;Russell and Antill, 1984;Ricciardelli and Williams, 1995). Negative masculinity encompasses an inclination toward control and dominance in relationships, while negative femininity describes submissiveness and dependence.…”

“…An initial set of 19 items was based on extensions of those used by other researchers to map both positive and negative aspects of masculinity and femininity (Antill et al, 1981;Marsh and Myers, 1986;Russell and Antill, 1984;Ricciardelli and Williams, 1995); these items that had shown high reliability and criterion validity in Mexican-origin populations in the U.S. (Kulis et al, 2002(Kulis et al, , 2003. The items are also related thematically to those developed to measure gender identity orientations in a Mexican sample, an adaptation of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (1974) (Lara-Cantu, 1989;Lara-Cantu, 1990).…”