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A psychometric analysis of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire

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Abstract

The psychometric properties of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire were examined in independent samples of male and female high school students, college students, and adults. In each of the six samples a two-factor structure (masculinity/instrumentality and femininity/expressivity) paralleling the empirically derived scales was found. Additional factor analyses of negative masculine and feminine traits were reported. Discriminant analyses revealed highly significant differentiation between the sexes. The reliabilities (Cronbach alpha) of the unit-weighted scales in each sample were also satisfactory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, 78712, Austin, Texas

    Robert L. Helmreich, Janet T. Spence & John A. Wilhelm

Authors
  1. Robert L. Helmreich
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  2. Janet T. Spence
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  3. John A. Wilhelm
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Additional information

Support for this research was provided by NASA Grant NSG 2065 (Robert L. Helmreich, Principal Investigator) and NSF Grant BNS 78-08911 (Janet T. Spence and Robert L. Helmreich, Principal Investigators). The article was prepared while the second author was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, with support from the Spencer Foundation, NIMH Grant 5T32MH14581-03, and the University of Texas Research Institute.

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Helmreich, R.L., Spence, J.T. & Wilhelm, J.A. A psychometric analysis of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire. Sex Roles 7, 1097–1108 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00287587

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