AN EXAMINATION OF MASCULINITY-FEMININITY TRAITS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS TO COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND STRESS-COPING SKILLS

This study examined the relationships of masculinity-femininity with stress-coping skills (Ozeki, 1993) and with communication skills, measured by the Social Skills Inventory (SSI: Riggio, 1986). Participants were 916 (353 males, 563 females) undergraduate students, mean age 18.7 years, in Japanese universities. The following 5 types were studied: the masculine type, the feminine type, the androgynous type, the undifferentiated type, and the midmost type. Results showed that masculinity was strongly and linearly associated with the dependent variables, and femininity showed low correlation coefficients after controlling the masculinity, especially for males. For females, the androgynous type had better communication skills and active coping skills than did the other types. The androgynous type had cumulative effects of masculinity and femininity.