weaknesses

• • Questions of cultural and temporal validity: The items in the Bem sex-role inventory were decided based on surveys of what American students in the 1970’s considered to be desirable traits for each gender. However, other cultures might have different ideas about which traits are masculine and feminine and so the Bem sex-role inventory might not be valid when applied outside of America. Similarly, American values may have changed since the 1970’s and so the Bem sex-role inventory may also lack temporal validity when measuring gender in American participants today.
• • Subjective: Self-report methods such as the Bem sex-role inventory are subjective because they require participants to assess their own personality (rather than e.g. an independent observer objectively assessing each participant). Each participant’s different subjective interpretations, biases, and ways of understanding the items on the checklist may reduce the validity of the Bem sex-role inventory.