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An investigation of the relationship between masculinity-feminitity scores and interest scores

University of British Columbia

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between masculinity-femininity scores on the Terman-Miles Attitude Interest Analysis Test and interest scores on certain subtests of the Kuder Preference Record. Masculinity-femininity was defined as the degree of similarity of the individual's responses to the responses characteristic of men or of women, respectively, of our culture. Interest was defined as the readiness of an individual to engage in some activity. The major purpose of this study was to determine whether members of opposite sexes having similar personality characteristics in relation to masculinity-femininity were closer in interest scores than were members of the same sex having opposite personality characteristics in relation to masculinity-femininity. Four groups of deviates on the masculinity-femininity dimension were selected from a large group of male and female volunteer undergraduates of the University of British Columbia. These four groups were then given the Kuder Preference Record, and six subtests, selected because of their proven ability to discriminate between the sexes, were scored. Statistical analysis showed that the hypothesized relationship did exist in two vocational areas and did not exist in the remaining two vocational areas and two personal areas. The second purpose of this study was to investigate the statement that amount of education is positively correlated with degree of masculinity for both sexes throughout life. A large group of male and female volunteer, white-collar, high-school graduates, none of whom had attended university, was given the Terman-Miles test. A comparison of the scores of these non-university males with the scores of the university males showed that the latter group was significantly more masculine. No significant difference was found in the case of the female non-university and university groups. It was concluded first, that interests, as measured by the Kuder Preference Record, are not as closely related to masculinity-femininity, as measured by the Terman-Miles test, as common-sense judgments of the situation would indicate: and second, that the positive relationship between degree of masculinity and amount of education may exist in the male population, but possibly not in the female population, in our culture.

Text

2012-01-20

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/40197

Philosophy

University of British Columbia

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