The multidimensional aspects of masculinity-femininity

A. Constantinople suggested that sex-role identity (masculinity-femininity), as conceptualized in traditional scales from such instruments as the MMPI, California Psychological Inventory, Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey, and SVIB, may be a multidimensional composition of subtraits rather than a single unidimensional trait. Factor analysis of the scores of 198 male and 177 female undergraduates supported Constantinople's hypothesis and yielded 5 orthogonal factors accounting for nearly 100% of the common variance in these traditional scales. The factors were described as Aesthetic Interests, Manual and Physical Interests, Hypersensitivity, Timidity and Sentimentality, and Temerity. Implications for bidimensional sex-role identity scales, specifically the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, are discussed, and multidimensional assessment of sex-role identity is proposed. (20 ref)