Toward a Constructionist Perspective of Examining Femininity Experience

Abstract

The social constructionist perspective has become a useful framework for understanding women’s psychological experiences. However, tools for examining how women construct meanings of their experiences as female in relevant social situations remain limited. Over two studies, our article describes the development and psychometric properties of the Subjective Femininity Stress Scale (SFSS), which assesses women’s stress associated with their subjective experiences of being female. Participants (N = 468) described their personal experiences of what it means to be a woman by completing the sentence “As a woman…” 10 times; participants then rated how often each of the femininity experiences was stressful for them. Participants’ qualitative responses were coded based on 20 dimensions of femininity experiences, and their relationships with SFSS scores were examined. Study 1 provided evidence for test–retest reliability, convergent, and discriminant validity of the SFSS. Study 2 demonstrated concurrent and incremental validity of the SFSS. Several dimensions of femininity experiences were significantly correlated with women’s stress appraisal. The open-ended nature of the SFSS is easy to administer in clinical and organizational settings. The dual qualitative/quantitative aspects of the SFSS enable clients to create personally relevant meanings for their femininity experiences while also providing a stress index for exploring links with health outcomes.

College Women’s Subjective Femininity Stress, Gender Solidarity, and Psychological Help-Seeking Intentions

“…Examples of open-ended responses from our data included “I am inclined to have more domestic responsibilities” and “I want to prove to the society that women are also successful just like men.” Higher scores indicate higher frequency of subjective femininity stress. In their ethnically diverse sample, Shea et al (2014) found that the SFSS score was significantly and positively correlated with scores on the Feminine Gender Role Stress Scale (Gillespie & Eisler, 1992), and was not significantly correlated with scores on the Relational Interdependent Self-Construal (Cross, Bacon, & Morris, 2000) and the Conformity to Feminine Norms (Mahalik et al, 2005) scales, providing evidence for convergent and divergent validity. The SFSS demonstrated adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability of .80 (Shea et al, 2014).…”

“…In examining stress specifically related to being a woman, Shea et al (2014) proposed the construct of subjective femininity stress. Guided by social constructionist perspectives on gender experiences, subjective femininity stress is premised on the notion that women are actively engaged in constructing gender.…”

“…Specifically, subjective femininity stress is defined as women's evaluation of stress associated with their phenomenological experiences of being female. To measure this construct, Shea et al (2014) developed the Subjective Femininity Stress Scale (SFSS). Instead of using a set of predetermined questions to assess certain aspects of femininities (e.g., femininity ideology; Tolman, & Porche, 2000) that are stressful for women, the SFSS invites female respondents to provide open-ended statements about their personal experiences of what it means to be a woman and then rate how frequently these experiences are stressful for them (also see description in the Method section).…”

“…Measures SFSS. (Shea et al, 2014). This measure assesses participants' subjective evaluation of their stress associated with being a woman.…”

“…Instead of using a set of predetermined questions to assess certain aspects of femininities (e.g., femininity ideology; Tolman, & Porche, 2000) that are stressful for women, the SFSS invites female respondents to provide open-ended statements about their personal experiences of what it means to be a woman and then rate how frequently these experiences are stressful for them (also see description in the Method section). Subjective femininity stress is a useful construct in predicting women’s psychological well-being above and beyond the effect of generic stress (Shea et al, 2014).…”