Abstract
The Mooney Problem Checklist (MPCL), Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and a series of sociometric rating scales were administered to four groups of adolescents (40 males and 48 females from grade 8—average age = 13.5 years; 39 males and 37 females from grade 12—average age = 17.5 years). The total number of problems reported and the number in many of the 11 areas of the MPCL were fewer in the older group of males than the other three groups. As the number of problems was expected to decrease with age, it was proposed that females' problem level was maintained at a high level by pressures to conform to a feminine sex-role identity. This speculation was based on the findings that females became more stereotyped (more feminine, less masculine) with age and that femininity was significantly related to the number of problems for females. Although masculinity and peer group acceptance were expected to relate negatively to the number of problems, none of the groups supported the prediction for masculinity, and only the younger males confirmed the hypothesis for peer acceptance.
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This research was conducted by the first author as an empirical thesis project in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at Macquarie University in 1979. The project was supervised by the second author and Associate Professor J. K. Collins.
Received B. A. (Honours in Psychology) from Macquarie University in 1979. Major interest is adjustment in adolescence.
Received B. S. (Honours in Statistics) from Sydney University in 1965; B. A. (Psychology) from Oxford in 1968; M. A. and Ph.D. (Psychology) from University of Michigan in 1973. Major interests are sex roles and psychometrics.
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Nicholson, S.I., Antill, J.K. Personal problems of adolescents and their relationship to peer acceptance and sex-role identity. J Youth Adolescence 10, 309–325 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02088994
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02088994