Perceptions of family environment and of parental traits as correlates of offspring perceptions of gender traits

No Thumbnail Available
Authors
Backels, John Steven
Advisor
Dixon, David N.
Issue Date
1990
Keyword
Degree
Thesis (Ph. D.)
Department
Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services
Other Identifiers
Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify family background variables that were correlates of offspring perceptions of gender traits. This project measured the strength of the relationship between offspring perceptions of parental gender-related traits and of offspring self-perception of gender-related traits. The strength of the relationship between measures of family environment factors and of offspring possession of gender traits was also measured. In addition, this study investigated the relationship between these measures and family demographic variables.Spence, Helmriech, and Stapp's Personal Attributes Questionnaire measured self-perception of gender traits. Spence and Helmreich's Parental Attributes Questionnaire measured perceptions of parental gender traits. Moos and Moos' Family Environment Scale measured family environment. Correlation coeffiecients were computed to measure the strength of relationships.Results indicated several significant relationships between parental and offspring gender scores. Several significant relationships emerged between perceptions of family environment and self-perception of gender traits. Sex differences were noted in these relationshlips. Although these relationships were statistically significant, the small correlation coefficients indicated that the relationships tended to be of limited practical value.An analysis which transformed correlation coeficient comparisons into z scores indicated that offspring gender traits were no more related to same-sex parental traits than they were to opposite-sex traits. Regression analyses showed that the best predictor variable for offspring selfperception of masculine traits was a family measure. The best predictor variable for offspring feminine traits was a parental trait score.This study indicated that perception of father's feminine traits was significantly related to perception of family environment. The intellectual and cultural atmosphere of one's family of origin was identified as an important variable. Implications of the findings and suggestions for further research were also presented.