Abstract
Bern Sex-role Inventory norms are compared to norms based on samples taken at a southern university. The Southern sample used 374 female undergraduates and 217 male undergraduates in standardizing the long form and 266 female and 131 males on the short form of Bern's inventory. It was hypothesized that the local sample would have higher stereotyped scores than the Bern norms. Using weighted means and combining the sexes, both the feminine and masculine scores were significantly higher than the Stanford normative sample on both forms. Analyzing data for the sexes separately, both Southern women and men were significantly higher on femininity than the published norms on both forms, and both were significantly higher on masculinity on the short form, but only Southern men were significantly higher than Bern's norms for masculinity on the long form. Chi-squared tests on the effect of different median scores on sex-role group assignment indicated significant differences in group assignments for several comparisons. These differences are discussed, test-retest reliabilities are reported, and methodological issues for researchers to consider are suggested.
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