Sex role typing and ego identity in Israeli Oriental and Western adolescents.

Oriental and Western Israeli students from religious and secular high schools (AT =
1,207) participated in a study to investigate (a) the relation between sex role typing
and ego identity, (b) the distribution of sex role typing within different cultural
groups, and (c) the relative contribution of masculinity (M), femininity (F), religiousness,
sex, and ethnic origin to prediction of ego identity variables. Subjects
completed the Bar-Han Sex Role Inventory (BI-SRI) and the Adolescent Ego Identity
Scale (AEIS), which measures three factors: Commitment and Purposefulness, Solidity
and Continuity, and Social Recognition. More androgynous, less sex-typed, and
less undifferentiated adolescents were found among Orientals than among Westerners.
Analyses of variance of Sex Role Type X Ethnic Origin X Sex X School Type
( 4 X 2 X 2 X 2 ) and regression analyses were used on ego identity variables. Sex
role type was significantly related to each of the ego identity variables, indicating
that androgynous adolescents were highest followed by masculine, feminine, and
undifferentiated adolescents. Boys were higher than girls on Solidity and Continuity,
but lower on Social Recognition. Westerners were higher than Orientals on Commitment
and Purposefulness and on Total Ego Identity. Religious adolescents were
higher than secular adolescents on Commitment and Purposefulness. An interaction
of ethnic origin and school type on Solidity and Continuity indicated that Oriental
religious subgroups scored higher than any other subgroups. Regression analyses
revealed high prediction of ego identity variables with greater prediction power for
M than for F in both ethnic groups. Ego identity was predicted by M among boys,
whereas among girls both M and F predicted ego identity with greater prediction
power for M than for F. Social-personality interpretations referring to socialization
processes and developmental and cultural factors were suggested to explain the
results. The utility of using a multidimensional measure of ego identity and a
regression analysis method is discussed.