A03

• What are the strengths of androgyny and the BSRI?

  1. Reliable measurement
  2. Support for androgyny and psychological health link
• What are the limitations of androgyny and the BSRI?

  1. Response bias
  2. Lacks temporal validity
  3. Ethnocentric and imposed etic
• Strength = reliable measurement

  • Reliability of BSRI has been consistently established
  • Scale developed by asking 50 male and 50 female judges to rate 200 traits in terms of how much the traits represented ‘maleness’ and ‘femaleness’
  • The BSRI was then piloted with over 1000 students and results broadly corresponded with participants’ own description of their gender identity = validity
  • Follow-up study of a smaller sample of the same students produced similar scores when tested a month later = high test-retest reliability
  • Bem (1981) - correlations ranging from .76 to .94
• Strength = support for androgyny and psychological health link

  • Research found positive correlation between androgyny and psychological health
  • Prakash et al. (2010) tested 100 married females in India on masculinity/femininity, measuring a range of outcomes e.g. psychopathology, depression, anxiety and perceived stress
  • Females with higher masculinity scores tend to have less psychopathology, were less depressed and anxious and had reduced perception of stress - the converse was true for females with higher femininity scores
  • Supports view that androgyny has psychoprotective attributes
• Limitation = response bias

  • Validity of Bem’s test has been raised in terms of potential response bias
  • Asking people to rate themselves on a questionnaire relies on an introspective understanding of their personality and behaviour = acquiescence bias which may negatively skew the test results
  • Liberman and Gas (1986) analysed the data from 133 graduate students and found students classed as androgynous simply had higher overall scores
  • This may be because some participants may have a tendency to select answers at higher end of Likert scale = being classed as androgynous
• Limitation = lacks temporal validity

  • BSRI was developed 50 years ago and attitudes have changed since then
  • Scale is made up of stereotypical traits of masculinity and femininity which may now be outdated
  • Hoffman and Borders (2001) asked a group of 400 undergraduates to rate the items on the BSRI based on whether they were perceived as masculine or feminine
  • Results showed only 2 terms were still endorsed as masculine and feminine - the adjectives ‘masculine‘ and ‘feminine’ themselves
  • The other terms in the test failed to reach a 75% agreement
  • May not be appropriate for modern use
• Limitation = ethnocentric and imposed etic

  • Bem claims androgyny is the healthiest gender identity and ignores cultural differences
  • Culture dictates what traits are desirable or not
  • In an individualist society, competitiveness and self-efficacy are encouraged, typically in a male-dominated culture
  • Androgyny is considered crucial to mental wellbeing of individuals in western cultures, but not collectivist
  • Margaret Mead (1935) extensively studied ethnic groups in Papau New Guinea and found that some groups valued masculine traits and some valued feminine traits = culturally biased