Gender-related Personal attributes and psychological adjustment among U.S. army soldiers

Personality characteristics associated with successful adaptation to military life are often described in gender-related terms. However, valid, reliable measures of gender-related personality characteristics have not been established for military populations. The purpose of this study was to validat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Military medicine 2000, Vol.165 (1), p.54-59
Main Authors: ROSEN, L. N, WEBER, J. P, MARTIN, L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adjustment
Aggression - psychology
Armed forces
Biological and medical sciences
Character
Emotions
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Female
Femininity
Forecasting
Gender differences
Gender Identity
Hostility
Humans
Male
Masculinity
Medical sciences
Military personnel
Military Personnel - classification
Military Personnel - psychology
Miscellaneous
Multivariate Analysis
Personality
Personality traits
Population
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Questionnaires
Reproducibility of Results
Sex
Sexes
Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry
Temperament
Validity
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Summary:Personality characteristics associated with successful adaptation to military life are often described in gender-related terms. However, valid, reliable measures of gender-related personality characteristics have not been established for military populations. The purpose of this study was to validate an instrument for measuring gender-related personality characteristics in an active duty population. The Extended Personal Attributes Questionnaire was administered to 1,060 male soldiers and 305 female soldiers in U.S. Army support units. Results of a factor analysis indicated that there are three separate factors. The first denotes negatively valued aggressive traits (Negative Masculinity), the second denotes negatively valued passive traits (Negative Femininity), and the third combines positive instrumental and positive expressive traits, referred to as the Combined factor. Although positive instrumental traits (referred to as Masculinity) were related to fewer psychological symptoms, Negative Masculinity and Negative Femininity were associated with increased psychological symptoms. Positive expressive traits (referred to as Femininity) were unrelated to psychological symptoms.
ISSN:0026-4075
1930-613X
DOI:10.1093/milmed/165.1.54