Jody L. Newman

Exploratory and Confirmatory Studies of the Structure of the Bem Sex Role Inventory Short Form with Two Divergent Samples.

The short form of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) contains half as many items as the long form and yet has often demonstrated better reliability and validity. This study uses exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic methods to examine the structure of the short form of the BSRI. A structure noted elsewhere also emerged here, consisting of two masculine factors and a single feminine factor. The three-factor model was found to be invariant across gender groups and also across two divergent samples, the first sample of college students and the second sample of accountants. As expected, women were found to score higher on the feminine factor. On a masculine factor that seemed to represent social control, men scored significantly higher than women did. However, no differences were found between men and women on a second masculine factor that seemed to represent a more internal, self-control dimension.

The Bem Sex-Role Inventory: Continuing Theoretical Problems.

Pedhazur and Tetenbaum speculated that factor structures from self-ratings of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) personality traits would be different from factor structures from desirability ratings of the same traits. To explore this hypothesis, both desirability ratings of BSRI traits (both for a man and for a woman) and self-ratings were obtained from the same sample and factor analyzed. Factor analyses performed on the three sets of ratings of the 40 BSRI traits (self-ratings, desirability ratings for a man, and desirability ratings for a woman) confirmed that the factors across ratings were diverse. Thus, the underlying constructs must be studied independently. Predictive discriminant analyses replicated the finding that two traits alone (Masculine and Feminine) provided nearly all of the discrimination of males and females in the sample when self-ratings were employed. Also, predictive discriminant analyses revealed that the classification of participants into gender groups was very accurate using self-ratings but deteriorated remarkably when using the desirability ratings.

Hierarchical Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Bem Sex Role Inventory

This study examines the structural validity of scores from the Bem Sex Role Inventory using a maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Six hundred and sixty-five graduate and undergraduate students participate in the study. A seven firstorder factor model almost identical to the model reported in a previous CFA study is used as the baseline comparison model. The data for testing these models are obtained from an exploratory sample randomly selected from the whole sample. A hierarchical factor structure model with seven first-order factors (compassionate, interpersonal affect, shy, dominant, decisive, athletic, and self-sufficient) and two second-order factors (masculinity and femininity) fit the data quite well. The fit indices based on the validation sample collectively indicate a very good fit. The results of this study are notably consistent with the hierarchical factor models suggested in two previous CFA studies.

Sex and Gender Differences in Religiousness and Spirituality

Researchers have demonstrated that women participate more frequently than men in religious activities, and some have argued the differences may be attributable to gender orientation (feminine or masculine) rather than sex (female or male). The present study explored both gender and sex differences as they related to religious participation and spirituality among participants explicitly involved in religious activity. In contrast to previous studies, the data collected from 190 Christian adults revealed no statistically significant differences in religious participation between men and women nor among individuals categorized as feminine, masculine, or androgynous. Furthermore, men, women, and people from each gender orientation were equally aware of their relationship with God. The results suggest gender and sex differences within the psychology of religion are not as clear as previously proposed.

The Relational Health Indices: Reanalysis of a Measure of Relational Quality.

Abstract The study examined the component structure of the Relational Health Indices (B. Liang et al., 2002) with a mixed-sex sample of students seeking services at a university counseling center. In contrast to previous findings, results suggested a unidimensional structure for the peer and mentor composites and a 2-component structure for the community composite.

Understanding the Role of Relational Factors in Christian Spirituality

Researchers developing multidimensional models of relational quality have largely neglected to consider the potential role of relational spirituality in their models. Recent relational spirituality models have emerged predominantly from a psychodynamic framework. The current study of 385 Christian adults was designed to expand the understanding of the associations between spiritual and relational dimensions. A principal components analysis of 10 measures of spirituality produced two components accounting for just over 50% of the variance. The components were labeled Positive Relationship with God and Instrumental Relationship with God. A second principal components analysis of 7 relationship scales resulted in a single component accounting for 55% of the variance and seemed to measure negative relational quality. This component was labeled Negative Relationships with Others. Using component scores, a multiple regression analysis was then conducted in which the two spirituality components were used to predict relational quality. The two spirituality components accounted for approximately 35% of the variance in the relational component. Theoretical and practical considerations are discussed and areas for further research are recommended.

Gender-Role Conflict and Gender-Role Orientation in a Sample of Gay Men

ABSTRACT This exploratory study was designed to examine the relationship between gender role dimensions derived from the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and the 4 dimensions of gender role conflict represented on the Gender Role Conflict Scale (GRCS) using a sample (N = 400) composed of exclusively gay men. Results from regression of 3 BSRI scores (femininity, social masculinity, personal masculinity) on the 4 subscale scores of the GRCS indicated that gender role conflict was most strongly and positively associated with the negative aspect of masculinity (social masculinity), accounting for about 11% of variability in social masculinity scores. In particular, the success–power–competition dimension of the GRCS was the major predictor of social masculinity in gay men. Gender role conflict was also strongly but negatively associated with femininity, accounting for approximately 10% of the variance in femininity scores among the men in the sample. Implications and recommendations for further studies are discussed.

Role Ambiguity as a Moderator of Occupational Self-Efficacy and Job Satisfaction

Role ambiguity was examined as a moderator of occupational self-efficacy and job satisfaction on the basis of the data obtained from 280 employees of U.S. housing finance agencies in four states. The interaction effect was found to be small but significant. The practical implications of role ambiguity at different levels of occupational self-efficacy were discussed. The value of reducing role ambiguity is higher for those who have low self-efficacy The theoretical implications of the findings support the inclusion of dispositional and situational interactions in research regarding job satisfaction.

SOCIOTROPY, AUTONOMY, AND MASCULINITY/FEMININITY: IMPLICATIONS FOR VULNERABILITY TO DEPRESSION

To explore the magnitude of overlap between sociotropy and autonomy with sex-role orientation, relations of Becks Sociotropy–Autonomy Scale with 6 measures of sex-role orientation were examined using a convenience sample of 153 undergraduate students. The sample included 95 women and 58 men whose mean age was 20.4 yr. A principal axis factor analysis yielded two clear factors, one masculine and one feminine. Sociotropy related strongly to the feminine factor, and Autonomy related strongly to the masculine factor. The mean score for women was significantly higher than that for men on Sociotropy, but the mean difference on Autonomy was not statistically significant. These findings suggest there may be some definitional overlap between vulnerability to depression and sex-role orientation.

Gender Role Conflict Scale: Validation for a Sample of Gay Men and Lesbian Women

This study tested the oblique four-factor model of the Gender Role Conflict Scale for a sample of gay men and lesbian women residing in the United States. 400 gay men and 292 lesbian women recruited from university and college gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender LISTSERVs participated. The internal consistency reliability of the Gender Role Conflict Scale scores was high, but low means on the expressive dimension of gender role conflict were noted. The results of two separate sets of confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the four-factor models fit to the data could be enhanced for both groups by applying item parceling to lower the number of indicators per factor, suggesting that the actual structural validity of the Gender Role Conflict Scale may be better than suggested by the reported fit indices.