Sex-Role Orientation: An Analysis of Structural and Attitudinal Predictors

The present study examines female and male sex-role orientation with emphasis on the structural and attitudinal predictors of sex-role ideology. The data are based on a random sample of college students. The findings show that sex-role orientation based on nontraditional wife-mother, husband-father and problematic husband-wife alterations roles elicited a significantly more modern response from females as compared to males. The processes through which these attitudes may have been formed for women is explained in terms of their attitudinal disposition towards the women's movement, employment of married women and personality role behavior rather than their socioeconomic, demographic or family composition characteristics. For males, both attitudinal and structural variables are relevant. On theoretical grounds, the findings suggest that women favor a role-sharing model in which opportunities and responsibilities between the sexes are shared whereas men show some resistance to this life style. From a practical perspective, the study shows areas of concern to men in which change in sex-role orientation is most needed to promote further acceptance of nontraditional relationships between the sexes.