Sex differences (Psychology)

The purpose of this thesis was to see how sexist beliefs in childhood relate to
indexes of children's personal and social adjustment. We developed an instrument to
study the sexist beliefs that children have regarding work, parenting, dating, and other
aspects of gender roles. We predicted (and found) that having these sexist beliefs
affected the sexes differently. For girls sexist beliefs were associated with reduced global
self-worth and body satisfaction; and increased depression. For boys, sexist beliefs were
associated with increased global self-worth, narcissism, externalizing behaviors, and
competence in sports; and decreased depression and prosocial behavior.

Evolutionary theory predicts that sexual coercion and rape are likely to occur in
any species in which males are more aggressive, more eager to mate, more sexually
assertive, and less discriminating in choosing a mate (Thornhill & Palmer, 2000).
McKibbin and Shackelford (2011) state that males of many species have evolved
strategies to sexually coerce and rape females. It is for this reason that researchers have
speculated that several female traits or behaviors evolved to reduce the risks of being
raped (McKibbin & Shackelford, 2011). The rationale behind the proposed experiment
examined whether parents’ childrearing practices and women’s plasticity during
childhood may have influenced the development of psychological mechanisms in
response to the recurrent adaptive problem of rape. Analyses showed that maternal
support during childhood predicted how frequently rape-avoidance behaviors were
exhibited by women as adults. Analyses also showed that father absence was related to earlier sexual activity but age of menarche did not predict and was not associated with
any rape-avoidance behaviors.

This study measured the impact of a gender-specific school counseling curriculum,
“Girl Talk” on: relational aggressive behaviors, pro-social behaviors, student
connectedness, cohesiveness, and social self-efficacy. The “Girl Talk” program consists
of five sessions and was delivered as part of a comprehensive school counseling program. Fifth grade girls in four elementary schools (N=151) from one large, Southeastern school district participated in the study. Girls at two elementary schools received the “Girl Talk” program (treatment group; n=85) and their peer counterparts (comparison group; n=66) at the two remaining schools received their regular school counseling program. A series analysis of variance and an analysis of covariance test, using an alpha level of .05, was conducted to determine if statistically significant differences existed between participants' posttest scores by group condition on the Peer Relations Questionnaire (Rigby & Slee, 1993b), My Class Inventory–Short Form Revised (Sink & Spencer, 2005), the Peers and Friends subscales of the Hemingway Measure of Pre-Adolescent Connectedness (Karcher, 2005), and the Social self-efficacy subscale of the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Children (Muris, 2001). Statistically significant differences were found in the areas of relational aggressive behaviors, pro-social behaviors, student connectedness, cohesiveness, and social self-efficacy. Partial eta square effect sizes were reported for each measure. The results support the positive impact that school counselors can have when using a systemic, gender-specific classroom guidance curriculum for reducing relational aggression among pre-adolescent girls.

A self-discrepancy is a cognitive incompatibility between a conception of the desired self and the perception of the actual self (Higgins, 1987; Rogers & Dymond, 1954). The purpose of this dissertation is to gain a better understanding of the effects of gender self-discrepancies on the personal and social adjustment of preadolescent children. I propose that gender-related stereotypes and self-appraisals can be examined within a self-discrepancy framework. Preadolescent children (N=195) completed a variety of self- and peer-report questionnaires in the fall and spring of the school year. Children reported gender stereotypes and self-appraisals for four attributes (body image, athletics, dominance, and popularity). Measures of gender identity and of adjustment were also collected. Results suggested that children who possess a gender self discrepancy are at risk for maladjustment, especially internalizing difficulties and
victimization by both girls and boys.

This study examined the results of the National Prison Wardens’ Survey to ascertain the levels of job satisfaction, occupational sentiments, and work-related stress among prison wardens and to establish whether these variables differed between male and female respondents. The findings indicated that wardens generally experience high levels of job satisfaction, reflect positive occupational sentiments, and report low levels of work-related stress. Additionally, results from the Chi-square tests and Lambda measures of association indicated that little to no relationship existed between gender and any of the explored variables.

Research on aggression suggests that males are more likely to be directly aggressive, whereas females are more likely to be indirectly aggressive. The present study examined the relationship of gender of aggressor and gender of target to the expression of direct and indirect aggression. Behavioral and self-report measures of direct and indirect aggression were obtained from 112 undergraduate students. Participants made more indirect than direct responses under low levels of provocation and more direct than indirect responses under high levels of provocation. Males were the target of more direct responses than indirect responses. Males reported engaging in more direct than indirect aggression with males than with females. Females reported engaging in more indirect aggression with females than with males. Explanations consider the effects of the situational context on aggressive responding.

To test for gender differences in anxiety scores, forty male and forty female college students between the ages of seventeen and thirty were administered the Spielberger State Personality Inventory (SPI) before and after observing a gender-specific task demonstration. Subjects observed the task with or without opposite-gender persons present. Males in the cross-gender task showed larger increases in anxiety and anger scores than males assigned to a same-gender task, while females showed decreases in anxiety and anger scores. Within the male cross-gender task, those tested with females present showed greater increases than those tested without females. Analyses involving two Semantic Differentials revealed the influence of gender and observed task on self-ratings of feelings and the attribution of feelings to opposite-gender persons.

Thirty-two males and females were tested for differences
in their physiological responses to gender identity
questions. The responses were recorded with a polygraph and scored to give an operationally defined measure of anxiety,
labeled gender identity-anxiety. Gender-sensitive questions
were divided into same-sex and cross-sex questions, and
nongender questions were used for comparison. Two sex role
orientation tests, the Bern Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and the
Attitudes toward Women Scale (AWS) were administered to
determine if a conservative sex role orientation was
associated with higher gender identity anxiety scores.
Both males and females exhibited some anxiety to same-sex
questions. Males demonstrated greater anxiety to
cross-sex questions than did females. The BSRI did not
predict, but the AWS did predict anxiety scores. Implications for the theory of femiphobia are discussed.

A gender self-socialization model was conceptualized, wherein gender identity and idiographic gender stereotypes conjointly influence children's adoption of gendered behavior (i.e., gender typing). Further, children differ in their beliefs of sex differences as immutable versus fluid (entity vs. incremental theory); and it was hypothesized that entity beliefs would moderate the self-socialization process. Children (N=305, M age 10.8 years) responded to gender identity, gender stereotype, and self-efficacy measures. Two kinds of gender typing were computed. Personal gender typing was the correlation between personal stereotypes and self-efficacy; consensus gender typing was the correlation between the same-sex peer stereotypes and self-efficacy. Results indicated that gender typicality and gender contentedness were associated with personal gender typing, and felt pressure against other-gender behavior was related to consensus gender typing. Entity theory strengthened the relation between gender identity and gender typing. Results support the self-socialization model.

This study tested Bem's (1996) "Exotic Becomes Erotic" theory of sexual orientation. Participants were 182 4th- through 8 th-graders. In accord with Bem's theory, sex-typing (i.e., sex-typed traits, interests, and playmate preferences) and goodness-of-fit with one's gender predicted heterosexual identity. However, goodness-of-fit did not mediate relations of sex-typing to heterosexual identity; instead, sex-typing mediated the relation of felt similarity to heterosexual identity. Implications for alternative models are discussed.