Results of a survey of female undergraduates revealed no significant differences in moral development between women from broken homes (divorced parents or father deceased) and from intact families. There was a strong correlation between age at loss of father and level of moral development for women from broken homes. (Author/MK)

Subjects rated masculine and feminine first names on five connotative dimensions: evaluation, activity, potency, stability, and receptivity. The potency dimension (i.e., adjective pairs such as brave-cowardly, severe-lenient, strong-weak) was found to most strongly distinguish masculine and feminine names. No differences were found due to sex of…

Examined the effect of sex-role stereotypes on leadership attribution. Subjects were asked to view photographs of groups where either a man or a woman sat at the head of a table. Data were consistent with the hypothesis that sex stereotypes still control social judgements and that discrimination operates unconsciously. (CMG)

Examines anagram performance of 90 high, medium, and low fear-of-success (FOS) women, after the subjects had experienced conditions within the traditional triadic learned helplessness design. Concluded that increased attention should be given to personality variables within the learned helplessness paradigm. (CMG)

A study of the use of sex-typed power bases indicated that, while speakers who used bases associated with the opposite sex were equally persuasive, women who demonstrated expertise and men who demonstrated helplessness were less liked and considered less competent than those who used appropriate sex-typed power bases. (Author/MJL)

The results of two studies indicate that males and females respond differently to persons who are out of sex role. Females more often chose the sex-role-inappropriate person when asked whether they would hire a male or a female for a particular job. (Author/GC)

Television programs were analyzed for frequencies of positive reinforcement and punishment exchanged among performers varying in age and sex. Females were found to more often exhibit and receive reinforcement, whereas males more often exhibited and received punishment. These findings have implications for children's learning of positive and…

The results of the study described support the argument that compliance (agreement with ideas expressed by others) is not a general trait associated with the female sex role. Instead, compliant behavior is affected by the extent to which the topic is relevant to subjects. (Author/GC)

Sex of author and the content of personal acknowledgments were analyzed for a sample of 97 single-author books in educational psychology. It was found that authors were disproportionately male, and acknowledgments to females were significantly more frequently related to clerical and sociopsychological support than to intellectual support. (GC)

Reports the results of a 1988 replication of a sex stereotype study done in 1972. There were minor qualitative changes such as the perception of women as more and men as less reality-oriented, but there was no evidence that the two stereotypes had become significantly less differentiated. (CJS)

Observers rated identically dressed boys with feminine behavior, conventionally masculine boys, and conventionally feminine girls as to apparent sex, on a five-point scale. The sample to which the child belonged was the most important determinant of ratings: feminine boys were judged to be neither distinctly feminine nor distinctly masculine.…

Two studies found that, when people are either given the actual text or given an explanation of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), they display more positive attitudes and fewer misconceptions than people who are asked what they think about it without being informed of the amendment's text. (GC)

Found both positive (intellectual and cultural) and negative (greater conflict) impacts on the family environment as a result of mature married women returning to college. (Author/GC)

Uses data from 122 male and 110 female focus-group participants to study why adolescent females use less marijuana than adolescent males, focusing on normative boundaries that restrict females in access to and use of marijuana. Results suggest the limiting effects of traditional gender roles on marijuana use. (SLD)

Content analysis of prime time television situation comedies examined body weights of female central characters, negative comments made by male characters about their weight or bodies, and audience reactions. Below-average weight females were over-represented in the programs. The heavier the females, the more negative comments made to or about…