Date of Award

1984

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

The current study examined the existence during mid-adolescence of androgynous functioning (vs. traditional sex-typed behavior as a function of sex differences). Secondly, the study examined the relationships of self-reported degrees of androgynous functioning with assessments of emotional adjustment, based upon self-reports, a teacher's ratings, and a clinician's ratings. A three-stage model of the development of one's sex-role identity (Hefner, Rebecca, & Oleshansky, 1975) was found to explain the transition of sex-typed behavior to androgynous behavior. This model had been empirically tested by earlier research using subjects in late adolescence or young adulthood. A sample of college bound eleventh graders were administered the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (Bem, 1974, 1977) and the Self Observation Scales (Stenner & Katzenmeyer, 1979). In addition, each subject was given a numerical rating from 1 to 100 on the Global Assessment Scale for Children and Adolescents (Rothman, Sorrells, & Heldman, 1980) by a teacher and a psychologist to reflect perceived levels of emotional functioning. Statistical procedures included: (a) chi-square tests to examine possible differences in the frequency of self-reports of androgynous functioning between sexes, (b) point biserial correlations to examine the relationships between androgyny and assessments of emotional functioning and (c) Pearson product-moment correlations to examine the relationships between the teacher's ratings and the clinician's ratings, and the relationships between the seven scales of the Self Observation Scales. When the arbitrary cutoff of 4.5 was used, as suggested by Bem (1977), over one-half of the sample was found to be androgynous. A transition from rigid sex-typed roles to more androgynous sex roles was found to occur. Results of the statistical tests revealed no significant difference between the frequency of androgynous self-reports for males and females. The correlation between the teacher's ratings and the clinician's ratings was found to be highly significant. However, no significant correlation was found between the teacher's ratings and androgyny, while a highly significant correlation was found between the clinician's ratings and androgyny. Emotional adjustment, as assessed by clinician ratings and self-reports was found to be positively correlated with androgyny for both sexes, but more so for females.

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