Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the masculinity and femininity scales of Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) among Turkish university students. Five hundred thirty-six students (280 men and 256 women) volunteered to complete the short-form of the BSRI and answer demographic questions. In factor analyses, the original factor structure (Bem, 1981) was found both in the men’s and women’s data. Comparisons of the factor structures with target rotation (Procrustes rotation) and comparison indexes showed no difference between the factor structures found among men and women. The internal consistency of the masculinity and femininity scales was acceptable, and t-tests showed that women scored higher on the femininity scale, and men scored higher on the masculinity scale. There were significant differences between men and women only on two masculinity items, but significant differences were found in 8 (of 10) femininity items.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Archer, J., & Lloyd, B. (2002). Sex and gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Başaran, F. A. (1974). Psiko-sosyal gelişim (psycho-social development). Ankara, Turkey: Ankara University Press.
Ballard-Reisch, B., & Elton, M. (1992). Gender orientation and the Bem Sex Role Inventory: A psychological construct revisited. Sex Roles, 27, 291–306.
Basow, S. A. (1984). Cultural variations in sex typing. Sex Roles, 10, 577–585.
Bem, S. L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 155–162.
Bem, S. L. (1979). Theory and measurement of androgyny: A reply to the Pedhazur-Tetenbaum and Locksley-Colten critiques. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1047–1054.
Bem, S. L. (1981). Bem Sex Role Inventory: Professional manual. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
Blanchard-Fields, F., Suhrer-Roussel, L., & Hertzog, C. (1994). A confirmatory factor analysis of the Bem Sex Role Inventory: Old questions, new answers. Sex Roles, 30, 423–457.
Dökmen, Z. (1991). Bem cinsiyet rolü envanterinin geÇerlik ve güvenirlik Çalişmasi (Validity and reliability study of BSRI). Dil ve Tarih Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi, 35, 81–89.
Eller, J. H., & Dodder, R. A. (1989). Relationship between gender and gender-neutral characteristics in three societies. Journal of Social Psychology, 129, 561–563.
Fişek, G. O. (1994). Paradoxes of intimacy: Analysis in terms of gender and culture. BoğaziÇi Journal: Review of Social, Economic and Administrative Studies, 8, 177–186.
Gürbüz, E. (1985). A measurement of sex-trait stereotypes. Unpublished master’s thesis, BoğaziÇi University, İstanbul, Turkey.
Harris, A. C. (1994). Ethnicity as a determinant of sex role identity: A replication study of item selection for the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Sex Roles, 31, 241–273.
İmamoğlu, E. O. (1987). An interdependence model of human development. In Ç. KağıtÇıbaşı, (Ed.), Growth and progress in cross-cultural psychology (pp. 138–145). Lisse, Holland: Swets & Zeitlinger.
İmamoğlu, E. O. (1991). Individualism and collectivism in a model and scale of balanced differentiation and integration. Journal of Psychology, 132, 95–105.
KağıtÇıbaşı Ç. (1982a). The changing value of children in Turkey (No. 60-E). Honolulu: East West Population Institute Publication.
KağıtÇıbaşı, Ç. (1982b). Old-age security value of children: Cross-national socio-economic evidence. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 13, 133–142.
KağıtÇıbaşı, Ç. (1982c). Sex roles, value of children and fertility. In Ç. KağıtÇıbaşı (Ed.), Sex roles, family, and community in Turkey (pp. 151–180). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
KağıtÇıbaşı, Ç. (1996). Family and human development across cultures: A view from the other side. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
KağıtÇıbaşı, Ç., & Sunar, D. (1992). Family and socialization in Turkey. In J. L. Roopnarine & D. B. Carter (Eds.), Annual advances in applied developmental psychology: Vol. 5. Parent-child socialization in diverse cultures (pp. 75–88). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Kandiyoti, D. (1982). Urban change and women’s roles in Turkey: An overview and evaluation. In Ç. KağıtÇıbaşı, (Ed.), Sex roles, family, and community in Turkey (pp. 151–180). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Kaschak, E., & Sharratt, S. (1983). A Latin American Sex Role Inventory. Cross-Cultural Psychology Bulletin, 18, 3–6.
Kavuncu, A. N. (1987). Bem cinsiyet rolü envanterinin Türk toplumuna uyarlama Çalışmaları (Turkish norms for BSRI). Unpublished master’s thesis, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi, Ankara, Turkey.
Landrine, H. (1985). Race X class stereotypes of women. Sex Roles, 13, 65–75.
Lara-Cantu, M., & Suzan-Reed, M. (1988). How valid is the social desirability scale of Bem’s Sex Role Inventory? Psychological Reports, 62, 553–554
Martin, H., & Ramanaiah, N. (1988). Confirmatory factor analysis of the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Psychological Reports, 62, 343–350.
Ortaylı, İ. (2002). Osmanlı Toplumunda Aile (Family in Ottoman Society). Istanbul: Pan Yayıncılık.
Pitariu, H. (1981). Validation of the CPI femininity scale in Romania. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 12, 111-117.
Schmitt, B., & Millard, R. (1988). Construct validity of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI): Does the BSRI distinguish between gender-schematic and gender-aschematic individuals? Sex Roles, 19, 581–588.
Spence, J. T., Helmreich, R., & Stapp, J. (1975). Ratings of self and peers on sex role attributes and their relation to self-esteem and conceptions of masculinity and femininity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 29–39.
Sever, L. (1985). Change in women’s perceptions of parental child rearing practices, attitudes and beliefs in the context of social change in Turkey: A three generation comparison. Unpublished master’s thesis, BoğaziÇi University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Sunar, D. (1982). Female stereotypes in the U.S. and Turkey: An application of functional theory to perceptions in power relations. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 13, 445-460.
Sunar, D. (2002). Change and continuity in the Turkish middle class family. In E. Özdalga & R. Liljestrom (Eds.), Autonomy and dependence in family: Turkey and Sweden in critical perspective (pp. 217–238). Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute.
Sunar, D., & Fişek, G. O. (in press). Contemporary Turkish Families. In U. Gielen & J. Roopnarine (Eds.), Families in global perspective. Allyn & Bacon.
Türk-Smith, S., Tevrüz, S., Artan, I. E., Smith, K. D., & Christopher, J. C. (2000, July). Turkish prototypes of the good person. Paper presented at the 15th Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, Pultusk, Poland.
Twenge, J. (1997). Changes in masculine and feminine traits over time: A meta-analysis. Sex Roles, 36, 305–325.
Ward, C., & Sethi, R. R. (1986). Cross-cultural validation of the Bem Sex Role Inventory: Malaysian and South African research. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 17, 171–188.
Waters, C., Waters, L., & Pincus, S. (1977). Factor analysis of masculine and feminine sex-typed items from the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Psychological Reports, 40, 567–570.
Williams, J. E., & Best, D. L. (1990). Measuring sex stereotypes: A multinational study. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Wong, F., McCreary, D., & Duffy, K. (1990). A further validation of the Bem Sex Role Inventory: A multitrait-multimethod study. Sex Roles, 22, 249–259.
Wilcox, C., & Francis, L. J. (1998). Beyond gender stereotyping: Examining the validity of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory among 16- to 19- year old females in England. Personality and Individual Differences, 23, 9–13.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Özkan, T., Lajunen, T. Masculinity, Femininity, and the Bem Sex Role Inventory in Turkey. Sex Roles 52, 103–110 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-005-1197-4
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-005-1197-4