Date of Award
5-1-1983
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
Abstract
This paper details the development of a personality measure which differentiates among individuals on the basis of their self-reported comfort with a variety of day to day activities. These activities were systematically pre-se lected to be either masculine or feminine in nature. The history of masculinity and femininity measurement is exam ined, and the trend toward increasingly specific measurement devices traced. In line with an emerging multi-dimensional model of masculinity and femininity, it is suggested that a paper and pencil measure of two separate masculine and femi nine dimensions composed of items that are behavioral in terms of content would serve to supplement current M and F measures employing trait items alone.
The examination of male and female stereotypes about the overall pool of potential activity items revealed gener al agreement between the sexes as to the sex-stereotyping of the items, although some systematic differences between the sexes were observed.
The selection of a group of 31 masculine items and 27 feminine items based on the stereotype data, led to the standardization of the Sex Typed Activities Test. This test was shown to be highly reliable, and the predicted symmetri
cal pattern for the M and F scores of the two sexes was ob served. Correlations to other masculinity and femininity measures were appropriate in sign but mild to moderate in magnitude. Within each sex, distributions of scores were skewed for the sex-congruent scales, the M and F scores were found to be positively correlated, and the factor analysis failed to show the clear-cut two factor structure predicted. As a consequence of these discrepancies with the predicted results, a theoretical model connecting item selection pro cedures, theoretical definitions, and structural character istics of dualistic masculinity and femininity measures was developed and is described in terms of a general case.
Recommended Citation
Weaver, Steven Harold, "The Sex Typed Activities Test: A Supplementary Measure of Masculine and Feminine Dimensions of Personality" (1983). Theses and Dissertations. 1194.
https://commons.und.edu/theses/1194