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Abstract

Do questionnaire items (e.g., masculinity and femininity scale items, occupational preference items) that show large sex differences tend also to be those items that correlate most strongly with independent gender-related criteria within the sexes? Three different criteria of within-sex gender-related individual differences were studied in data from three studies: a composite of eight gender-related behaviors in Study 1, masculinity-femininity as rated by friends and family members in Study 2, and self-ascribed masculinity-femininity in Studies 1, 2, and 3. Data from all studies and for all criteria converged, showing that items displaying large sex differences tended also to correlate most strongly with independent gender-related criteria within the sexes. Implications for the assessment of gender-related and other kinds of group-related individual differences are discussed.

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Do Sex Differences Define Gender-Related Individual Differences within the Sexes? Evidence from Three Studies

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