Date of Award

1-1-1981

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Counseling Psychology & Community Services

Abstract

Problem. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between sex-role and self-concept for males and females, and to translate the findings into statements about male and female self-concept patterns. The null hypotheses tested were: (1)No relationship exists between sex-role and self-concept for males. (2)No relationship exists between sex-role and self-concept for females. (3)When males and females are compared across sex, sex-role, and sex by sex-role, no differences in self-concept exist.Procedure. The subjects, 90 males and 126 females, were undergraduate volunteers at the University of North Dakota. Each subject completed the Tennessee Self Concept Scale (TSCS) and Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI). The subjects were divided by sex into androgynous, masculine, feminine, or undifferentiated sex-role groups using the median split procedure.Hypothesis 1 and 2 were analyzed using a canonical correlation analysis followed by a stepwise multiple linear regression. Four sex-roles and 13 TSCS scales made up the composite variables, sex-role and self-concept, used in the canonical analysis. The continuous masculinity and femininity scores from the BSRI, taken separately, and the same 13 TSCS scales were used in the stepwise regression. The TSCS scales were divided into Row, Column, and Summary groups.Hypothesis 3 was analyzed using a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) followed by a univariate analysis of variance for each of the TSCS scales found significant by the MANOVA. The MANOVA showed if there were differences among the TSCS scales when compared across sex and sex by sex-role.Conclusions. (1)There was a significant relationship between sex-role and self-concept for both males and females. (2)Masculine sex-role was positively related to self-concept for males, while both androgynous and masculine sex-roles were positively related to self-concept for females. (3)Male self-concept patterns suggested a concern for external approval of behavior, while female self-concept patterns suggested a more internal, introspective orientation. (4)There were significant differences in self-concept between males and females when compared across sex and sex by sex-role. (5)The above results appear to have limited practical value since only a small amount of variance was accounted for.

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