Anxiety correlates of sex-role identity

Abstract

PROBLEMWith the advent of the woman's liberation movement the functional value of adhering to the traditional rules of sex-role assignment has become a matter for debate. The present study considers the question "Are those individuals who do not conform to the traditional sex role more anxious (or less adaptive) than those who do?" If it is important, in terms of individual adjustment, for one to conform to the traditional sex roles, then those who do not conform might be expected to experience greater anxiety than those who do. On the other hand, if adherence t o these roles is not a prerequisite of individual adjustment, then there may not be any correlation between sex-role identification and anxiety.The findings to date, however, have not only defied this explanatory rubric, but are, on the whole, not understood. It generally has been found that women score higher on anxiety measures than men('* lo, 12-16) and that more feminine persons of both sexes score higher than masculine 5).One theory posits that this effect is due t o cultural influence whereby men are urged to suppress anxiety and fears and women are given greater freedom to express such emotions (8,-12, la). This theory is little more than conjecture at the present time, however. Little research has explored the relationship that has been found to exist between sex-role identity and anxiety. One purpose of this study was to examine some possible relationships between sex-role identity and other factors, specifically, openness us. closedness, liberalism vs. conservatism, and cross-sex us. same-sex parent identification. METHODSubjects. Ss were 108 females and 71 males enrolled in an introductory sociology class at Utah State University, fall of 1974. The majority of students were freshmen or sophomores.Measures. Gough's Femininity Scale@) was employed as a means to classify males and females in the sex-role identification categories masculine, middle, and feminine. It is a 58-item scale in which the separation of males and females was found to be adequate in validating samples (differences in overlap are significant beyond the .01 level).Two anxiety measures were utilized in this study. The IPAT Anxiety Scale Questionnaire was devised by Cattell@) to meet the need for a brief, accurate, and easily administered and scored indicator of free anxiety level. Validity coefficients range from .85 to .90, and test-retest reliability is reported to be .93 for a l-week interval and .85 for a 2-week interval. Taylor's Manifest Anxiety Scale(16) (TMAS) was constructed from a pool of MMPI items. Extensive validity data are not available, but distributions of scores for a psychiatric group and a normal group were found t o be markedly different. Test-retest reliability coefficients are .89 after 3 weeks and .82 after 5 months.The dimensions covered by the questionnaire employed in this study include openness us. closedness, liberalism us. conservatism, and crossrsex us. same-sex parent identification. The first two dimensions are from Cattell's Sixteen Personality...

Gender Differences in PTSD: Susceptibility and Resilience

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Gender differences in mathematics anxiety and the relation to mathematics performance while controlling for test anxiety

“…Research has shown that females/feminine individuals are more likely to express feelings of anxiety or psychological distress than males/masculine individuals [79-81]. Flessati and Jamieson [78] tested whether gender-linked response biases can account for females showing higher MA than males by asking their participants which gender was more likely to be anxious about mathematics and other school subjects; and whether participants viewed MA as being acceptable in males, females and themselves.…”

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

“…Spence et al (1975), for example, reported that androgynous persons demonstrated a higher level of self-esteem than did an undiflferentiated group, with masculine and feminine persons scoring at intermediate levels. In general, androgyny has been related to a higher level of psychological functioning than sex typing (Baggio & Neilson, 1976;Bern, 1977;Deutsch & Gilbert, 1976;Flaherty & Dusek, 1980;Gump, 1972;Heilbrun, 1968;Jones, Chernovetz, & Hansson, 1978;O'Connor, Mann, & Bardwick, 1978).…”