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

1,129 Oriental and Western Israeli students from religious and secular high schools 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. Ss completed the Bar-Ilan Sex Role Inventory and the Adolescent Ego Identity Scale, which measures 3 factors: commitment and purposefulness, solidity and continuity, and social recognition. More androgynous, less sex-typed, and less undifferentiated Ss were found among Orientals than among Westerners. Sex-role type was significantly related to each of the ego identity variables, indicating that androgynous Ss were highest followed by masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated Ss. 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 Ss were higher than secular Ss on Commitment and Purposefulness. 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 both M and F predicted ego identity with greater prediction power for M than for F. (61 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).