Sex Roles Related to Masculinity and Femininity - Lab Report Example

? Sex Roles, Body Shape Relative to Masculinity and Femininity (Section) Due) The body of historical research projects conducted has shown muscularity as being proportional to masculinity. Furthermore, the sex roles and body shapes are tentatively viewed in relation to masculinity and femininity. In addition, the previous research has shown that stereotypical sex roles exhibit connections between personality traits. The focal aim of the research presented herein is to determine the relationship existing between sex roles and body shapes corresponding to femininity and masculinity. In the establishment of this relationship, the first section will describe the 2 research tools to be utilized. These are the Bem sex role Inventory (BSRI) and the Body Shape Questionnaire. The BSRI consists of categorical respondents classes that exhibit different personality traits (Auster & Ohm, 2000). The Body Shape Questionnaire was relevant in establishing the amount of femininity and masculinity attached with various body shapes. The study involved a survey conducted to 230 Staten Island undergraduate students whereby 134 women and 96 women were interviewed. The tools of administration were the Bem Sex Role Inventory and the Body Mass Questionnaire. The sub sequent section offers an analysis of the results collected from the respondents and equally highlighting the drive for muscularity. The concluding section elaborates on the findings by generating discourse over the relationship between sex roles and body type relative to masculinity and femininity. Introduction The body of evidence existing from prior research work conducted exhibits a connection between an individual’s body outlook and his/her personality traits. Furthermore, there has been sufficient research to show that sex roles are equally linked with an individual’s personality traits (McCreary, Saucier, & Courtenay, 2005). The central focal point of the current study was to exhibit the relationship among sex roles and body shape relative to masculinity and femininity. In addressing the research topic, the tools adopted were the BEM sex role inventory and the body shape questionnaire. The Bem sex role inventory was used in the study since it offered an androgyny framework by which respondents could describe themselves relative to associative male and female roles (Guy, Rankin, & Norvell, 1980). The tool was best suited since past research showed that it graded masculinity and femininity in different and orthogonal perspectives (Auster & Ohm, 2000). The Bem sex role inventory offered categorical classifications of responses into groups of; undifferentiated, androgynous, masculine and feminine Furthermore, the tool offered the means of determining similar traits by both males and females accrued due to changes in roles over time. Consequently, the tool was the best placed in establishing the orientation of gender roles in society (Hoffman & Borders, 2001). The Body shape questionnaire was relevant in establishing the perceived level of femininity and masculinity attached with various types of body shapes (McCreary, Saucier, & Courtenay, 2005). According to McCreary et al., endomorphic and ectomorphic body shapes are perceived as feminine relative to women while a more muscular body was viewed as largely masculine. Furthermore, past research showed that men were not bothered by the amount of adipose tissue in their body as compared with women (Intons-Peterson, 1988). In addition, the Body shape questionnaire offered an insight to the attached or perceived personality characters relative to various body types. Prior research conducted did show that there existed a level of social acceptance and attractiveness in favor of a different body types by females and males (Blazina & Shen-Miller, 2010). While the males tended to prefer a muscular frame for the body shape, the women attached social acceptance with a smaller body frame with less muscles and body fat. In addition, the tool offered an insight on the perceived urge for muscularity by both female and males. Previous qualitative research had shown that femininity was negatively attached to the urge for muscularity while masculinity was positively attached to the urge for muscularity. Moreover, the body shape questionnaire would offer a distinct relation between the emotions or feelings attached with the body shapes of males or females. The body shape as perceived by both males and females had a bearing on their self esteem and influenced some, if not all, of their actions. For example, past research work had shown that men who possessed an urge to build up their muscles were associated with depression and issues of low self esteem as well as alcohol use and feelings of guilt in case they missed gym training lessons (Wade & Donis, 2007). The driving motive of the three lab tests presented herein is to examine the aspects of femininity and masculinity associated with sex roles and the body shape. The scope for our study was based on asking participants, drawn from the student undergraduate population, to complete 2 surveys on the Bem role inventory and the Body shape questionnaire. The research questions developed sought to answer three fundamental questions in the lab experiments. To begin with, Lab 1 experiment question was, ‘Are men more concerned with muscle than women?’ The basis for the question was to elicit the expressions on the attached perceptions on the urge for muscularity relative to femininity and masculinity. Secondly, Lab 2 experiment proposed the question, “Do men associate muscle mass with masculinity?” The research question sought to elicit reactions based on the relation between the urge for muscularity as a perception of increased masculinity. Lastly, the third lab test was based on the research question of; “Are women more concerned with body shape/body fat than men?” the basis of this research question was to establish the connection that existed between body shape relative to masculinity and femininity. Method Participants The subjects were drawn from undergraduate student population of Staten Island College. They were a total of 230 people who were interviewed, whereby 134 were women and 96 were men expressed as 58% and 42% respectively of the total population. The population age study ranged from 17 to 78 with an average age of 25. A total of 23 students from the PSY 334 class randomly surveyed the participants. Instruments The participants were requested to complete 2 surveys on the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). These 2 survey tools are often used in research for assessing gender-role socialization traits and expressing satisfaction of weight and shape for males and females. The description of each measure is specified below. The BSRI; it consisted of 60 personality characteristics whereby 40 were gender related and 20 androgynous traits (Auster & Ohm, 2000). The participant rated himself/herself based on a 6 point Likert scale ranging from 1 to 6 which consisted of, “never or almost never true for me” to “almost always true for me”, respectively ( see Appendix A). The items on this quick view were sorted into 3 – stereotypically feminine, stereotypically masculine and 20 gender-neutral items that measured social desirability (Hoffman & Borders, 2001). Some of the sample feminine characteristics included ‘affectionate’, ‘shy’, and ‘soft spoken’. Furthermore, the masculine traits were, ‘forceful’, ‘leadership ability’, or ‘aggressive’. The sample androgynous traits on the BSRI were ‘truthful’, ‘conceited’, or ‘friendly’. In addition, the median-split procedure was used to score participants on the BSRI by categorizing the traits into four groups; 1) feminine, 2) masculine, 3) androgynous, 4) undifferentiated. After which it was followed by finding a difference score on the basis of standardized T-scores (Hoffman & Borders, 2001). The reliability of this survey was based on two sets of sample data using test-retest as reported by Bem to be between .76 for males to .94 for females when describing their traits on the masculinity scale. The Body Shape Questionnaire; it consisted of 30 statements pertaining to body image based on one’s perception of their own weight and shape and how they felt it should look like (Guy, Rankin, & Norvell, 1980). A person that was being surveyed self-reported their likelihood for each statement on a scale of 1 to 6 with denotations for each scale. The denotations were; 1 for ‘never’, 2 for ‘rarely’, 3 for ‘sometimes’, 4 for ‘often’, 5 for ‘very often’, and 6 for ‘always’ (also see Appendix B). The sample statements included ‘Worrying about my shape has made me change my diet’, or ‘I feel that it is not fair that other people are in better shape than me’, and ‘seeing my reflection (e.g. in a mirror or window) has made me feel bad about my shape’. At the end of the survey was a section where it was optional for participants to provide personal information; such as age, gender, ethnicity, etc. The BSQ had shown good reliability throughout its history of wide usage with regard to other measures of attitudes on body image and their perceptions of themselves. This was evident in a study by Evans & Dolan (1992) whereby they had their participants’ rate themselves as ‘very overweight’, ‘overweight’, ‘average’, ‘underweight’, or ‘very underweight’. Their findings correlated very well with the scores on the BSRI with a significant level of confidence. Procedure Our target population for this study was the undergraduate students on the College of Staten Island campus. The 23 students in the PSY 334 class were each responsible for surveying 10 people. We randomly approached people who were in the library, although some were occupied with schoolwork or heading to class. A number of students were unwilling to participate in the survey. However, of the few who accepted to participate, we asked if we could have 5-10 minutes of their time for the survey on issues of gender roles and body image for classroom purposes. We further guaranteed them of confidentiality over their responses. With that understood we requested them to complete the survey and thanked them for their cooperation and time. Results The Drive for Masculinity Scale (DMS) was created from the BSQ into 15 items that consisted of the masculine traits. The reliability analysis on these 15 items led us into defining the new variable – the DMS, which yielded an alpha score of .8823. This helped to distinguish the masculine and feminine traits by providing separate sum of the scores. In doing so, both the sums were divided by 15 to yield a DMS score on a 6-point scale for each participant. With a score ranging from 1 to 5 on this new scale, the average score was 1.97. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) based on the DMS by gender, men’s scores were significantly higher than women’s scores on the DMS (F (1, 216) = 27.23, p Read More