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Sex-role stereotyping and patterns of self-disclosure

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Abstract

Students enrolled in psychology courses completed a Bem Sex-Role Inventory and a self-disclosure scale. A three way ANOVA (sex by sex role by target of disclosure) was used to determine if androgynous subjects differed from stereotyped by not conforming to standard sex differences in: (a) pattern of targets disclosed to; (b) amount of intimate disclosure. Results indicated: (a) androgynous females reported a “peers first” profile, typical of males; (b) androgynous males reported more disclosure than stereotyped males, especially on intimate topics; (c) androgynous females reported more nonintimate discussions with their fathers; and (d) androgynous males reported the highest level of intimate disclosures to father. Sex role is a better predictor of reported self-disclosure than is sex.

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The order of the authors' names was randomly determined: Both contributed equally. Correspondence should be sent to either author at the following address: Department of Psychology, State University of New York, College at Cortland, Cortland, New York 13045.

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Lombardo, J.P., Lavine, L.O. Sex-role stereotyping and patterns of self-disclosure. Sex Roles 7, 403–411 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00288068

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00288068

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