NCJ Number
218856
Journal
Journal of Emotional Abuse Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Dated: 2007 Pages: 1-15
Date Published
2007
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study investigated whether the gender role identity of female adolescents was related to self-reported attraction to adolescent male bullies or male victims of bullying.
Abstract
Results indicated that neither the adolescent females who identified with a male identity role nor the adolescent females who identified with a feminine gender role were attracted to the aggressive male. The lack of a significant and positive relationship between traditional feminine gender identity and attraction to an aggressive male was unexpected and contradicted the findings of previous research. The authors suggest that as more women identify with increasingly flexible interpretations of their gender identity and roles, females may be less inclined to seek traditionally masculine partners or partners who use dominance. Participants were 36 female adolescents recruited from the 9th and 10th grades of a predominantly White urban high school in a Mid-Atlantic State. Future research should focus on how women of color experience gender identity and attraction. Participants completed the Original Form of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and then were asked to examine three photographs and listen to a verbal account of two male adolescents who were engaged in an episode of physical and verbal bullying. Participants then responded to Likert-type questions on an attractiveness-dating assessment. Pearson product-moment correlations were used to assess the significance of the predictor variables on attraction. Tables, note, references