Sex-Role Stereotypes as a Function of Marital Status and Role

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Abstract
This study examined stereotypes of married and unrelated men and women in various roles (adult, undergraduate, graduate student). One hundred sixty-eight male and female college students each rated a man and a woman on a sex-role stereotype questionnaire. Stimulus persons varied as a function of marital status and role. Married couples with similar roles were rated more similar to each other than married couples without similar roles; this was not the case for unrelated men and women. Married couples with similar roles were rated less stereotypically than those with dissimilar roles; unrelated men and women were rated stereotypically regardless of role. The results were discussed in terms of evidence that marriage facilitates the expression of sterotypically “masculine” characteristics in women and of stereotypically “feminine” characteristics in men. Also discussed was the importance of situational cues, such as marital status, in addition to role as factors in the attribution of traits.

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