Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T19:57:52.179Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Is Sexual Attraction Independent of the Instrumental and Expressive Traits?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Juan Fernández ,
María Ángeles Quiroga  and
Isabel Del Olmo
Juan Fernández*
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
María Ángeles Quiroga
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Isabel Del Olmo
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Juan Fernández, Departamento de Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación, Facultad de Psicología, Campus de Somosaguas. 28223 – Madrid (Spain). E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Sexual attraction is an essential part of sex, just as the instrumental and expressive traits are the mainstay of gender. Various hypotheses concerning the dimensionality and independence versus dependence/overlapping of these core entities were tested. A group of 423 university students completed the Sexual Attraction Questionnaire (SAQ; Fernández, Quiroga, & Rodríguez, 2006) and the 12-item Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974). Internal consistency and factor analyses (PAF) were conducted. The results support the dimensionality established for the SAQ and reveal some psychometric and conceptual weaknesses of the 12-item BSRI. The results also support the independence of the two cores: sexual attraction and the instrumental and expressive traits. The logical implications for the different viewpoints of the relations between sex and gender are discussed.

Uno de los núcleos básicos de la realidad del sexo es la atracción sexual, al igual que uno de los núcleos básicos de género hace referencia a los dominios instrumental y expresivo. En este trabajo se van a poner a prueba las distintas hipótesis sobre la dimensionalidad de la atracción sexual y de los dominios instrumental y expresivo, a la par que la hipótesis de la independencia frente a la dependencia o solapamiento de ambas realidades. Se contó para ello con la participación de 423 estudiantes universitarios. Los instrumentos utilizados fueron el Cuestionario de Atracción Sexual (CAS; Fernández, Quiroga, & Rodríguez, 2006) y la versión de 12 ítems del Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974). Los resultados proporcionaron un claro apoyo empírico a la dimensionalidad establecida para el SAQ, a la par que dejaron al descubierto ciertas debilidades conceptuales y psicométricas del BSRI. Los resultados apoyan la independencia de los dos núcleos: la atracción sexual y los dominios instrumental y expresivo. Se establecen las implicaciones lógicas para las distintas posturas en torno a las relaciones del sexo y el género.

Keywords

sexual orientationsexual attractioninstrumentalityexpressivenessmasculinityfemininityatracción sexualorientación sexualinstrumentalidadexpresividadmasculinidadfeminidad
Type
Articles
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , November 2006 , pp. 162 - 170
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text revision), Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Antill, J.K., & Russell, G. (1980). A preliminary comparison between two forms of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory. Australian Psychologist, 15, 427–435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bakan, D. (1966). The duality of human existence. Chicago, CA: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
Beall, A.E., & Sternberg, R. J. (Eds.). (1993). The psychology of gender. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Beere, C. A. (1990). Gender roles: A handbook of tests and measures. New York: Greenwood Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bem, S. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 155–162.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bem, S. (1981). Gender schema theory: A cognitive account of sex typing. Psychological Review, 88, 354–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bem, S. (1985). Androgyny and gender schema theory: A conceptual and empirical integration. In Sonderegger, T.B. (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on motivation, 1984: Psychology and gender (Vol. 32, pp. 179–226). Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Bem, S. (1993). The lenses of gender: Transforming the debate on sexual inequality. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Berkey, B. R., Perelman-Hall, T., & Kurdek, L. A. (1990). The Multidimensional Scale of Sexuality. Journal of Homosexuality, 19, 67–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Choi, N., & Fuqua, D. R. (2003). The structure of the Bem Sex Role Inventory: A summary report of 23 validation studies. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 63, 872–887.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, E. (1987). Assessment of sexual orientation. Journal of Homosexuality, 14, 9–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Constantinople, A. (1973). Masculinity-femininity: An exception to the famous dictum? Psychological Bulletin, 80, 389–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, C. M., Yarber, W. L., Bauserman, R., Schreer, G., & Davis, S. L. (1997). Handbook of sexuality-related measures. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Desrochers, S. (1995). What types of men are most attractive and most repulsive to women? Sex Roles, 32, 375–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, D.T. (1993). Sexual citizenship: The material construction of sexualities. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fernández, J. (Coord.). (2000). Intervención en los ámbitos de la sexología y de la generología. [Sexological and genderological Intervention]. Madrid: Pirámide.Google Scholar
Fernández, J., Quiroga, M. A., & Del Olmo, I. (2006). Is there any relationship between sexual attraction and gender typology? The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 9, 3–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fernández, J., Quiroga, M. A., & Rodríguez, A. (2006). Dimensionalidad de la atracción sexual [Sexual attraction: Its dimensionality]. Psicothema, 18, 392–399.Google Scholar
Finlay, B., & Scheltema, K.E. (1991). The relation of gender and sexual orientation to measures of masculinity, femininity, and androgyny: A further analysis. Journal of Homosexuality, 21, 71–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gallagher, L.A. (Ed.). (2005). Thesaurus of psychological index terms (10th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Geer, J.H., & O'Donohue, W.T.(Eds).(1987). Theories of human sexualities. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Gergen, M.M., & Davis, S.N. (Eds.).(1997). Toward a new psychology of gender: A reader. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Green, B., & Kendrick, D. (1994). The attractiveness of gender type traits at different relationship levels: Androgynous characteristics may be desirable after all. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 20, 244–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greene, B., & Croom, G.L. (Eds.). (2000). Education, research, and practice in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered psychology: A resource manual (Vol. 5). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gough, H. G. (1952). Identifying psychological femininity. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 12, 427–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hathaway, S. R., & McKinley, J. C. (1943). The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. New York: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Helgeson, V. (1997). Relation of agency and communion to wellbeing: Evidence and potencial explanations. Psychological Bulletin, 116, 412–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinnish, K.K., Strassberg, D.S., & Turner, C.W. (2005). Sex differences in the flexibility of sexual orientation: A multidimensional retrospective assessment. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 34, 173–183.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kinsey, A. C., Pomeroy, W. B., & Martin, C. E. (1948). Sexual behavior in the human male. Philadelphia: Saunders.Google Scholar
Kitzinger, C. (2001). Sexualities. In Unger, R. (Ed.), Handbook of the psychology of women and gender (pp. 272–285). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Klein, F. (1990). The need to view sexual orientation as a multivariable dynamic process: A theoretical perspective. In McWhirter, D. P., Sanders, S. A., & Reinisch, J. M. (Eds.), Homosexuality/heterosexuality: Concepts of sexual orientation (pp. 277–282). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Klein, F., Sepekoff, B., & Wolf, T. J. (1985). Sexual orientation: A multi-variable dynamic process. Journal of Homosexuality, 11, 35–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koestler, A. (1967). The ghost in the machine. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Koestler, A. (1978). Janus. A summing up. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Lippa, R.A. (2005). Gender, nature, and nurture (2nd. ed.). Mahwah, NJ: LEA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mateo, M. A., & Fernández, J. (1991). La dimensionalidad de los conceptos de masculinidad y feminidad [The dimensionality of the concepts of masculinity and femininity]. Investigaciones Psicológicas, 9, 95–116.Google Scholar
Marsh, H. W., Antill, J. K., & Cunningham, J. D. (1989). Masculinity and femininity: A bipolar construct and independent constructs. Journal of Personality, 57, 625–663.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Narring, F., Stronski Huwiler, S.M., & Michaud, P-A. (2003). Prevalence and dimensions of sexual orientation in Swiss adolescents: A cross-sectional survey of 16 to 20-year-old students. Acta Paediatrica, 92, 233–239.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nesselroade, J. R., & Cattell, R. B. (Eds.). (1988). Handbook of multivariate experimental psychology (2nd ed.). New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parsons, T., & Bales, R. F. (Eds.). (1955). Family, socialization, and interaction process. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Rossi, A.S. (Ed.).(1985). Gener and the life course. New York: Aldine.Google Scholar
Rossi, A.S. (Ed.).(1994). Sexuality across the life course. Chicago, CA: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sell, R. L. (1997). Defining and measuring sexual orientation: A review. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 26, 643–658.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shively, M. G., & De Decco, J. P. (1977). Components of sexual identity. Journal of Homosexuality, 2, 41–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Signorella, M.L. (1999). Multidimensionality of gender schemas: Implications for the development of gender-related characteristics. In Swann, W.B. Jr., Langlois, J.H., & Gilbert, L.A. (Eds.), Sexism and stereotypes in modern society: The gender science of Janet Taylor Spence (pp. 107–126). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Spence, J. T. (1991). Do the BSRI and the PAQ measure the same or different concepts? Psychology of Women Quarterly, 15, 141–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spence, J., & Buckner, C. (2000). Instrumental and expressive traits, trait stereotypes, and sexist attitude: What do they signify? Personality of Women Quarterly, 24, 44–62.Google Scholar
Spence, J., Helmreich, R., & Holahan, C. (1979). Negative and positive components of psychological masculinity and femininity and their relationship to self-reports of neurotic and acting out behaviours. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1673–1682.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spence, J., Helmreich, R., & Stapp, J. (1975). Ratings of self and peers on Sex Role Attributes and their relation to self-esteem and conceptions of masculinity and femininity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 29–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stake, J.E. (1997). Integrating expressiveness and instrumentality in real-life settings: A new perspective on the benefits of androgyny. Sex Roles, 37, 541–564.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Storms, M. D. (1980). Theories of sexual orientation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38, 783–792.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Talburt, S., & Steinberg, S.R. (Eds.).(2000). Thinking queer: Sexuality, culture, and education. New York: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Terman, L. M., & Miles, C. C. (1936). Sex and personality. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Unger, R. K. (Ed.). (2001). Handbook of the psychology of women and gender. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Worrell, J. (Ed.).(2001). Encyclopedia of women and gender (Vols. 1 and 2). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Zhang, J,, Norvilitis, J.M., & Jin, S. (2001). Measuring gender orientation with the Bem Sex Role Inventory in Chinese culture. Sex Roles, 44, 237–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar