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Sex-Typing of Leisure Activities: A Test of Two Theories

Presented to ACR 2003, Toronto ON

• George M. Zinkhan, University of Georgia• Penelope Prenshaw, Millsaps College• Angeline Grace Close, University of Georgia

 

 

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Leisure as Consumption

Consumption and tourist behavior is a salient aspect of tourism Hoch (2002).

Purpose: Study the relationship between gender

schema and leisure activitiesTest rival predictions about gender schema Test competing theories: Bem (1981) v.s.

Spence (1984)

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Research Questions

• Does one gender sex-type leisure activities to a greater extent than the other?

• What are the predictors of sex typing?

• Which of the two competeting theories best explains sex-typing of leisure activities?

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Literature Review

• Differences exist in leisure behavior between men and women.

• Gender ideologies structure perceptions of leisure.

• Are bases of differences are biological and/or the result of socialization experiences ?

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Hypotheses

• H1: Men are more likely to sex-type leisure activities than women.

• H2: “Masculine” men and “feminine” women, as defined by the Bem Sex Role Inventory, are more likely to sex-type leisure activities than are men and women with nontraditional gender-role attitudes.

• H3: Men and women with traditional gender-role attitudes will label leisure activities as either “more masculine” or “more feminine”.

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Gender

• Sociological concept referring to a category scheme

• Mutually exclusive categories (Sherif 1982)

• Cultural definitions of appropriate male or female behavior (Henderson 1989)

• Masculinity-femininity dimension

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Sex-Typing

Sex typing: societal transformation: male masculinefemale feminine

{Masculine---------Non-Sex Typed---------Feminine}

• defined within specific cultures • role assignments• Sex-specific personality attributes

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Competing Theories

Sex-typing of leisure activities is related to two individual difference measures:

•   Gender personality (Bem 1981)

• Gender-role attitudes (Spence 1984)

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Bem’s (1981) Unifactorial Gender Schema Theory

• Bem links notions of sex-typing to gender schemata.

• Proposes that sex-typed individuals have a greater readiness to engage in gender-schematic processing (i.e., a network of sex-linked associations that organizes and guides an individual’s perceptions).

• Non-sex-typed individuals=aschematic individuals relatively unresponsive to stereotypically masculine and feminine cues when processing information.

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Bem’s Theory Operationalized• (BSRI)• Self-report measure• Individuals can be classified into one of three

categories: • (a) masculine sex-typed• (b) feminine sex-typed• (c) non-sex-typed

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Spence’s (1984) Multi-factorial Theory of Gender Identity

• Opposes Bem’s view• Emerging sense of gender identity stimulates

adoption of gender-stereotyped behaviors/beliefs• Once gender identity is firmly established, other

factors (i.e., gender role attitudes) protect/confirm sense of gender identity

• Variables leading to individual differences= situational factors, internal dispositions, attitudes toward maintaining traditional gender role distinctions, personal preferences, and perceptions (realistic or unrealistic) of the consequences of acting in certain ways.

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Spence’s (1984) Multi-factorial Theory of Gender Identity, cont.

Variables leading to individual differences:• situational factors• internal dispositions• attitudes toward maintaining traditional gender

role distinctions• personal preferences• perceptions (realistic or unrealistic) of the

consequences of acting in certain ways

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Method

• 271 R’s (2 samples)• Mailed to 200 Adult Girl Scout Council

Members• Administered to business students• Rs are provided with a list of 75 leisure

activities• List derived from past taxonomies of

participation

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Leisure Activities Tested

Some of the 75 activities include:

Media Related Activities

Sports

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Sex-typing Measures

• 7 point scale • asked to indicate whether they felt the activity

was:

extremely masculine neutral extremely feminine

/------------/------------/-----------/-----------/------------/

somewhat in between

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Gender Role Attitude Measures

• Attitudes Toward Women Scale (Spence and Helmreich 1978)

• 15 item instrument of statements describing the rights, roles, and privileges women ought to have or be permitted to have

• Agreement with each statement on a 4-point scale from “agree strongly” to “disagree strongly”

• Low scores= more traditional, conservative attitude toward gender roles

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MeasuresMasculinity-Femininity: Personal attribute questionnaire (Spence and Helmreich and Stapp 1975)a) M-scale: 8 items describing characteristics descriptive

of masculine personality traitsb) F-scale: 8 items describing qualities more

characteristic of feminine personality traits• Respondents indicated on a 5-point scale the extent to

which each phrase describes him or her• summed M score and a F score for each • Sex-typed individuals score high on one sexual

dimension & low on the other

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Regression

• determine the degree of sex-typing

• OLS

• Sex Typing = f (Biological Sex, Gender-Role Attitudes, Gender Identity)

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Findings

Neutral (i.e., not sex-typed by > half of the sample): • many leisure activities are not sex-typed. • 33 were identified as neutral (greater than 50% of

the sample). • Neutrality found of media-related: watching TV,

listening to the music, going to movies, renting movies and reading magazines

• outdoor activities: jogging, bicycling, playing tennis and swimming.

• individual activities: reading a book for pleasure, taking a nap, and doing crossword puzzles

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Findings

Masculine (i.e., sex-typed by >half of the sample):• Requiring physical activity (e.g., playing football,

playing basketball, working out at a gym)• Outdoor activities (e.g., hunting, fishing,

canoeing)• Passive activities (reading newspapers, taking a

nap)

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Findings

Feminine (i.e., sex-typed by > half of the sample):

• Sewing, aerobics, shopping, cooking, talking on the phone

• Cultural activities (e.g., attendance at the ballet, opera and theater plays, visiting art museums, playing the piano, and painting or drawing)

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Findings

Masculine (i.e., sex-typed by > half of the sample):

• Sports (participating and viewing) (e.g., football, basketball, billiards, golf, skiing)

• Outdoor (e.g., hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, archery, rafting, canoeing, sailing)

• Woodworking, collecting• Games (e.g., chess, checkers, cards)

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Findings• Higher proportion of males sex-typed leisure

activities for both sexes• Chi-square tests: the sex difference was

statistically significant (p< .05) for most masculine-typed activities (23 of 28)

• Greater consensus between the sexes for the feminine-typed activities

• More females identified more as neutral (Significant (p < .05) for 48 of the activities sex-

typed as “either”)

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Findings

• We do not find support for Bem’s (1981) theory

• We do find partial support for Spence’s (1984) theory

• Males sex-type leisure activities to a greater extent than females

• Sex and gender-role attitudes are significant (p < .05) predictors of sex-typing

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Conclusions

• Relationship exists between gender schema and sex-typing of leisure (consumption) activities

• Brings competing psychological (e.g., Bem) and sociological (e.g., Spence) theories into a consumer behavior perspective

• We find that leisure activities, as a subset of consumption experiences, may be sex-typed-- especially by males.

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Changing Roles

• As gender roles change in society, these patterns may change.

• “Appropriate” roles less defined

• Women: hunt, bet on football games

• Men: knit, fine arts performances

• Fostering an androgynous society

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Further Research

Test gender theory via:• Tourists’ consumption habits (and other

patterns) of natives• “Hotspots” or experimental experiences• Is the Internet a leisure activity that may be

sex-typed? Implications?• Expand activities (e.g., online gaming,

Kazaa, fantasy sports, chat, IM, e-dating)

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Thank you!

• Please refer to tables 1-3

Dr. Zinkhan and I welcome your feedback/questions!

• aclose@terry.uga.edu

• gzinkhan@terry.uga.edu