Definition
The Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) is a self-rating inventory of masculine, feminine, and neutral personality characteristics; the BSRI score is calculated in a way that reflects the relative weight of the scores on the independently measured Masculinity scale and Femininity scale.
Introduction
Prior to the 1970s, masculinity and femininity were conceptualized and measured as opposite ends of a singular continuum, such that an individual high on masculinity was low on femininity and an individual high on femininity was low on masculinity. In the early 1970s, Sandra Bem (1974) began developing the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI), an instrument designed so that respondents could rate themselves on personality characteristics in a way that allowed the separate measures of masculinity and femininity to vary independently of one another. On the BSRI, the score on the...
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References
Auster, C. J., & Ohm, S. (2000). Masculinity and femininity in contemporary American society: A reevaluation using the Bem Sex-Role Inventory. Sex Roles, 43, 499–528.
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Auster, C.J. (2016). Bem Sex-Role Inventory. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1207-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1207-1
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