INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN REJECTING TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLES

Abstract

Three studies were conducted to investigate how different individual difference measures of gender role beliefs predicted attributions to discrimination and self-concept. I began by conducting a factor analysis of a variety of scales measuring different types of gender role attitudes and found three primary factors: gender consciousness, rejection of traditional gender roles, and desire to act to improve women's status. In Study 1 I created a measure of each of these factors and conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to ensure that these were in fact three distinct concepts. In Study 2 I assessed the influence of individual differences as assessed by these factors on reactions to an ambiguously discriminatory environment. Results show that rejection of traditional gender roles was the best predictor of perceiving a sexist environment as offensive and that these perceptions predicted a decrease in self-concept for those with less traditional attitudes, but predicted a slight, but non-significant increase in self-concept for those with more traditional attitudes.