John K. Antill

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...

The relationship of masculinity, femininity, and androgyny to self‐esteem

Abstract Advocates of androgyny suggest that the development of masculine and feminine characteristics in the one individual may point the way to healthy personality development. However, traditional approaches to masculinity-femininity claim that strong same-sex typing is the way to achieve this end. Two hundred and thirty-seven subjects completed three androgyny instruments, two “traditional” masculinity-femininity instruments, and two measures of self-esteem. Subjects were then classified separately into one of the five sex-role categories of Bern (1974) and one of the four categories of Spence, Helmreich, and Stapp (1975) by each of the five sex-role instruments. For both sexes, both measures of self-esteem, both methods of sex-role classification, and all sex-role instruments, self-esteem generally increased from the feminine to the masculine categories, with masculine persons higher in self-esteem than androgynes in almost every case. For both sexes masculinity also revealed significantly positive c...

Measures of children's sex typing in middle childhood

Abstract Measures of sex-typing suitable for use with 8to 14-year-olds are proposed. They involve interests, toys, sports, household jobs, friends, similarity to peers and personality. The measures fit conceptually into Hustons (1983) framework within the categories “Behavioural enactment or adoption” and “Identity or self-perception”. The sample comprised first and second born children from 191 families (first borns 98 males, 93 females; second borns 95 males, 96 females). They were selected using a stratified random sampling procedure involving area risk scores. The children in 161 families were assessed on a second occasion, on average 16 months after the first testing. The measures were shown to have suitable psychometric properties: sex differences in the expected directions, moderate coefficient alpha values, consistency over time in terms of moderate correlations, and few changes in means. Intercorrelations among the measures revealed little coherence either within each of the two Huston categorie...

An Australian Sex‐Role Scale: Additional Psychometric Data and Correlations with Self‐Esteem

The present paper reports psychometric properties for parallel forms of an Australian Sex-Role Scale. the Personal Description Questionnaire, using a sample of 736 females and 542 males. In general findings were consistent with the design of the scale, however, two problems were noted: correlations between the parallel forms of the feminine negative scale were low, and coefficient ∞ was somewhat low for the feminine negative scale on Form B. Data were also presented on the relationship between self-esteem and the masculinity and femininity scales. Self-esteem was found to be positively related to the masculine positive scales, but negatively related to the feminine negative scales. These findings were broadly consistent with previous studies but indicated a need to investigate the components of masculinity and femininity rather than treating them as global constructs.

The factor structure of the bem sex-role inventory: Method and sample comparisons

This study attempts to resolve the discrepancies between recent factor analytic studies of the Bern Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI). It examines the factor structure of the BSRI as a function of sample type (male students, female students, non-student male, non-student female) and method of analysis (orthogonal versus oblique rotation). Using the maximum likelihood method with an orthogonal (varimax) rotation, few differences were found among the four samples and hence a combined solution reporting the loadings for the first five factors is presented. Variations among the four separate samples are also discussed. The first two factors were found generally to correspond to the masculinity and feminity scales of the BSRI with the next three being labelled Sex, Independence and Negativity respectively. An oblique rotation in the total sample confirmed this basic structure and also supported Bems conception of masculinity and femininity as separate independent dimensions. It is clear, however, that a refinement of the BSRI is necessary and one such possibility is suggested.

The Measurement of Masculinity, Femininity and Androgyny: A Reply to Rowland (1977)

Abstract In a recent article, Rowland has presented proportions of males and females scoring masculine, feminine and androgynous on the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI). Among others, her conclusion that fewer Australian males are masculine sex-typed than their American counterparts is fallacious because of limitations in the design of the study, the analysis and reporting of the data, and the inferences drawn from those results. In the present study the BSRI was administered to first-, second-, and third-year Macquarie University students, postgraduate Master of Business Administration students, and married couples with children. Means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations for the masculinity, femininity, and social desirability scales are reported separately for males and females, together with proportions falling into the 5 Bem sex-role categories and 4 Spence et. al. categories. The generality of the sex-role proportions over the present disparate samples, and their similarity to Bems, highlight t...

Self disclosure between husbands and wives: Its relationship to sex roles and marital happiness

One hundred and eight married couples were administered an omnibus survey concerning various aspects of their marriages. In the present report, interest is focused on the correlates of their self-disclosure levels. Although four different areas of self disclosure were hypothesized (positive, negative, anger, sex), these were highly related to one another. Husbands and wives in general were found to disclose about the same amount of information, with individual couples showing a high degree of matching. Disclosure levels decreased with time-related factors such as age, length of the marriage and in particular, the number of children. Femininity was found to be a critical variable in the disclosure levels of both husbands and wives with both androgynous and feminine individuals disclosing most and generally being disclosed to most. Marital happiness correlated positively with all aspects of ones own self disclosure and to a lesser extent, all aspects of ones spouses disclosure level.

A comparison among five masculinity-femininity-androgyny instruments and two methods of scoring androgyny

The recent surge in empirical work on androgyny requires a comparison among the different instruments and different methods by which masculinity, femininity, and androgyny are measured. Subjects (N = 237) completed five instruments, which were scored for androgyny, by both Bems (1974) t-ratio and Spence, Helmreich, and Stapps (1975) median-split methods, and for masculinity and femininity. Confirmatory factor analysis of the total scores failed to yield the predicted two-factor structure, and correlations among masculinity and femininity scores varied widely. Despite moderate to high correlations among androgyny scores derived by different instruments, there was at most only 65% agreement between any two instruments in classifying subjects into the five Bem or four Spence et al. sex-role categories.

Cohabitation and Marriage: Retrospective and Predictive Comparisons:

A nationwide Australian survey was conducted in order (1) to distinguish between married couples who either had or had not cohabited prior to marriage and (2) to distinguish between cohabiting couples who either did or did not marry subsequently. A total of 96 cohabiting couples and 117 married couples completed an omnibus 16-page questionnaire covering a variety of demographic, attitudinal, behavioral and personality domains. Couples were recontacted after an interval of 1 1/2 years to identify the kind and extent of changes during the intervening period. In general, as predicted, marrieds with cohabiting experience and cohabitors who avoided marriage revealed a less traditional pattern of responses (e.g. higher feminism scores, wider sexual experience, less stereotyped division of chores, etc.) than their respective counterparts. It was predicted, and found, that the former couples showed greater evidence of autonomy needs and less evidence of attachment needs than the latter.

Household Division Of Labour: The Impact Of Hours Worked In Paid Employment

Abstract One hundred and four married couples were recruited for a survey concerning various aspects of their marriages. The present report focuses on the division of labour within the family, and how this is related to hours worked in paid employment for both husbands and wives. Household chores, childcare activities and financial responsibilities were investigated separately. A marked division of labour was found, with wives performing more of the housework and childcare, while husbands had greater influence in financial matters. Longer working hours for husbands were associated with them being less involved in household chores and childcare, and more involved in financial decision making and having more overall financial influence. While longer working hours for wives were associated with a reduction in housework and time spent doing it, there were no differences with regard to childcare activities. Whether wives were in paid employment or not, and regardless of the number of hours worked, they were in...