Psychological Reports, 1976, 38, 695-698. @ Psychological Reports 1976
SEX DIFFERENCES AMONG CORRELATES OF EXTRAVERSION A N D NEUROTICISM DAVID WATKINS University of New England Summary.-The responses of 235 psychology students at the University of Melbourne to the Neuroticism and Extraversion scales of the Eysenck and Heron personality inventories were correlated with their ratings of importance and selfratings of various areas of their lives. The results indicated that there may be significant differences in the self-perceptions of males and females with similar scores o n the Neuroticism and Extraversion scales.
Eysenck and Eysenck (1964) present a picture of the "typical" extravert as a sociable person who prefers parties to reading, craves excitement, and is impulsive, easygoing and optimistic. A complementary portrait is painted of the "typical" introvert. Although Eysenck and Eysenck do not give a corresponding description of the "typical" neurotic they do use such adjectives as "moody," "touchy," "anxious," and "restless" in their discussion of neurocicism. Pen portraits such as these are useful in that they allow the psychologist to picture the sort of person who would score high or low on these personality variables. However, Eysenck and Eysenck (1969) present some evidence that the conceptions men and women have of themselves in relation to extraversion and neuroticism differ markedly. Vagg, Stanley, and Hammond ( 1972) confirmed Eysenck and Eysenck's claim that adequate replication of factorial structure does not occur at the primary-factor level. Their analysis also suggested that sexrole factors strongly influenced the impulsivity component of extraversion and that identity of the two aspects of extraversion, sociability and impulsiveness, across sex does not occur. Results such as these suggest the possibility that the very concepts of "extraversion" and "neuroticism" may not be identical across sex. This proposition was examined in this research by considering the relationships between an individual's ratings of the importance of and satisfaction with various life areas and his or her scores on neuroticism and extraversion scales.
METHOD The subjects were 235 psychology students from Melbourne University. The sample comprised 67 males and 168 females whose average age was 19 yr. They had taken an introductory course in psychology but had, at that time, no experience of personality tests and very little of personality theory. The tests were presented as part of the practical course, during the normal laboratory sessions by two of their regular instructors. Measures of neuroticism and extraversion were obtained from the Heron Personality Inventory and the Eysenck
Personality Inventory. The use of two operational measures of Extraversion and Neuroticism allows assessment of bias due to the specific measures used. Some of the subjects filled in Form A of Eysenck's scale while the remainder used Form B. However, separate analysis of the results to be reported here indicated virn~allyno differences between Forms A and B and thus they will be considered as equivalent forms in this paper. It was particularly desired that the life areas used in this research should be relevant to the lives of young Australians. Thus the use of established measures were rejected as being not validated for Australian usage. Instead the data provided by an unpublished investigation by R. J. Moore1 was utilized. Moore, working with Victorian Teacher's College students, set out to find out areas of their lives these students considered most important. He, in fact, simply asked "What are the seven or eight areas of your life that are more important to you?" After a reanalysis of Moore's data the following areas were identified as being important to the students: The social: relationships with others; The religious; General future or present happiness; The aesthetic: beauty, things for their own sake, etc.; Health: both physical and mental; General competence: activity oriented, mastery, skills, education, etc.; Leisure: ability to relax and enjoy sport, hobbies, etc.; The personal: establishment of personal identity, morality, responsibility, etc.; The economic: career, finance, material things; The heterosexual: love, sex, boy (girl) friend, marriage, etc.; and The family: relationships with parents, brothers, sisters, etc. Each subject was asked to rate on five-point Likert type scales ( a ) the importance of these life areas, and ( b ) himself on each area. Analysis of the responses to these scales (Watkins, 1972) indicated that they possessed reasonable re-test reliability and provided evidence for their construct validity.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The correlations found between the ratings and both the Heron and Eysenck Extraversion scales are set out in Table 1. As can be seen some consistency was shown in the relationships between the ratings and extraversion. It appears that for females extraversion is related to high self-ratings of "the social" and "happiness" and to the importance attached to "the heterosexual" and "leisure" areas of their lives. That is, we get the impression that an extraverted, unlike an introverted, female is a girl who feels herself to be happy and socially adept and who considers relaxation and heterosexual activities to be an important part of her life. This description is similar to that of Eysenck and Eysenck's "typical" extravert. However, no such consistent picture is presented of the male extravert. It appears that he may be a person who considers relaxation to be important and that "the religious" and "the heterosexual" life areas may also be weakly 'Univer. of Melbourne, 1969.
SEX DIFFERENCES IN SELF-PERCEPTION TABLE 1 CORRELATIONS BETWEENlMPORTANCE A N D SELF-RATING OF LIFE AREASAND EYSENCK'SEXTRAVWSIONAND HERON'S EXTRAVERSIONSCALES FOR h h L E S AND FEMALES(nS = 67, 168 RESPECTIVELY) Life area
Importance ratings Eysenck Heron Male Female Male Female
0.15 0.07 The social The religious 0.20" 0.08 Happiness 0.01 0.11 The aesthetic -0.07 -0.07 Health 0.16 -0.11 Competence -0.08 0.10 Leisure 0.26' 0.15" The personal 0.20* 0.04 The economic 0.00 0.13' The heterosexual 0.21* 0.20t The family 0.14 0.04 'p= .05, t p = .Ol.
Self-ratings Eysenck Heron Male Female Male Female
-0.12 -0.18 0.01 0.08 -0.08 -0.08 0.01 0.06 -0.12 0.03 -0.01
related to extraversion. Surprisingly, n o t even t h e self-rating of "the social" area is related to extraversion in the male sample. F r o m Table 2 it can be seen that there were n o consistent trends relating t h e importance attributed to the different life areas and either t h e H e r o n or Eysenck Neuroticism measures. However, there were consistent relationships shown between these neuroticism measures and the self-ratings of the life areas. TABLE 2 CORRELATIONS BETWEENLMPORTANCE AND SELF-RATINGS OP LIFE AREAS AND HERON'SA N D EYSENCK'SNEUflOTICISM SCALESFOR h h ~ AND E FEMALE SUBJECTS ( n s = 67, 168 RESPECTIVELY) Life area
Importance ratings Eysenck Hecon Male Female Male Female The social -0.13 -0.12" -0.07 -0.06 The religious 0.10 -0.10 -0.04 -0.15' Happiness 0.13 -0.03 0.24' 0.06 The aesthetic 0.01 0.07 0.07 0.20t Health 0.03 -0.17" -0.13 -0.10 Competence -0.04 -0.02 0.09 0.06 Leisure -0.11 -0.08 -0.02 -0.07 The personal -0.03 -0.09 -0.02 0.21t The economic 0.22' 0.03 0.15 -0.05 . The heterosexual 0.10 0.05 0.03 0.03 The family 0.01 -0.17% -0.02 -0.2Ot "p = .05. t p = . O l .
Self-ratings Eysenck Heron Male Female Male Female -0.21' -0.28t -0.17 -0.40t -0.02 -0.14" -0.10 -0.19* -0.391- -0.37t -0.40t -0.45t -0.05 -0.05 -0.19 -0.02 -0.09 -0.27t -0.17 -0.47t -0.19 -0.14" -0.16 -0.19+ -0.39t -0.22t -0.32t -0.27t -0.38t -0.29t -0.32t -0.23t -0.34t -0.01 -0.35t -0.14' -0.28j' -0.15" -0.30t -0.11 -0.21" -0.28t -0.20" -0.29t
698
D. WATKINS
For both male and female subjects Neuroticism was significantly negatively correlated with "happiness," "leisure," "the personal," and "the family" selfratings. Thus, both the male and female neurotics appeared to see themselves as relatively unhappy, unable to relax, immature, and as having poor relationships with their families. Consistent differences were also found between what characterized the self-ratings of the male and female neurotics. Thus for females but not for males, self-ratings of "the religious," "health," and "competence" were significantly related to Neuroticism. There is also a much stronger relationship between Neuroticism and the self-rating of "the social" area for females than for males. On the other hand, it appears that the level of adjustment for males is related more highly to their heterosexual and economic self-ratings than it is for females. It is possible that these sex differences are due to the relationship between adjustment and the satisfaction the individual has with fulfillment of his or her sex role, e.g., the male rather than the female is brought up to be the provider ("the economic area") and the aggressor in heterosexual relationships. Although the work reported here can only be considered exploratory it would appear that there may be significant sex differences in the very meaning of the variables "neuroticism" and "extraversion," at least as measured by personality inventories. Further research is required to explore this area more fully. REFERENCES EYSENCK,H. J., & EYSBNCK, S. B. Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. London: Univer. of London Press, 1964. EYSENCK,H. J.. & EYSENCK,S. B. Perromlily ~ t r r / c f w and e measurement. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969. VAGG,P., STANLEY, G. V. S., & HAMMOND,,S. B. The invariance across sex of factors derived from the Neuroticism Scale Questionnaire (NSQ). Australian IournaI of Prychology, 1972,24. 37-44. WATKINS,D. The development and evaluation of two measures of self-esteem. Unpublished M.Sc. thesis, Univer. of Melbourne, 1972. Accepted Ianuary 23, 1976.
SEX DIFFERENCES AMONG CORRELATES OF EXTRAVERSION A N D NEUROTICISM DAVID WATKINS University of New England Summary.-The responses of 235 psychology students at the University of Melbourne to the Neuroticism and Extraversion scales of the Eysenck and Heron personality inventories were correlated with their ratings of importance and selfratings of various areas of their lives. The results indicated that there may be significant differences in the self-perceptions of males and females with similar scores o n the Neuroticism and Extraversion scales.
Eysenck and Eysenck (1964) present a picture of the "typical" extravert as a sociable person who prefers parties to reading, craves excitement, and is impulsive, easygoing and optimistic. A complementary portrait is painted of the "typical" introvert. Although Eysenck and Eysenck do not give a corresponding description of the "typical" neurotic they do use such adjectives as "moody," "touchy," "anxious," and "restless" in their discussion of neurocicism. Pen portraits such as these are useful in that they allow the psychologist to picture the sort of person who would score high or low on these personality variables. However, Eysenck and Eysenck (1969) present some evidence that the conceptions men and women have of themselves in relation to extraversion and neuroticism differ markedly. Vagg, Stanley, and Hammond ( 1972) confirmed Eysenck and Eysenck's claim that adequate replication of factorial structure does not occur at the primary-factor level. Their analysis also suggested that sexrole factors strongly influenced the impulsivity component of extraversion and that identity of the two aspects of extraversion, sociability and impulsiveness, across sex does not occur. Results such as these suggest the possibility that the very concepts of "extraversion" and "neuroticism" may not be identical across sex. This proposition was examined in this research by considering the relationships between an individual's ratings of the importance of and satisfaction with various life areas and his or her scores on neuroticism and extraversion scales.
METHOD The subjects were 235 psychology students from Melbourne University. The sample comprised 67 males and 168 females whose average age was 19 yr. They had taken an introductory course in psychology but had, at that time, no experience of personality tests and very little of personality theory. The tests were presented as part of the practical course, during the normal laboratory sessions by two of their regular instructors. Measures of neuroticism and extraversion were obtained from the Heron Personality Inventory and the Eysenck
Personality Inventory. The use of two operational measures of Extraversion and Neuroticism allows assessment of bias due to the specific measures used. Some of the subjects filled in Form A of Eysenck's scale while the remainder used Form B. However, separate analysis of the results to be reported here indicated virn~allyno differences between Forms A and B and thus they will be considered as equivalent forms in this paper. It was particularly desired that the life areas used in this research should be relevant to the lives of young Australians. Thus the use of established measures were rejected as being not validated for Australian usage. Instead the data provided by an unpublished investigation by R. J. Moore1 was utilized. Moore, working with Victorian Teacher's College students, set out to find out areas of their lives these students considered most important. He, in fact, simply asked "What are the seven or eight areas of your life that are more important to you?" After a reanalysis of Moore's data the following areas were identified as being important to the students: The social: relationships with others; The religious; General future or present happiness; The aesthetic: beauty, things for their own sake, etc.; Health: both physical and mental; General competence: activity oriented, mastery, skills, education, etc.; Leisure: ability to relax and enjoy sport, hobbies, etc.; The personal: establishment of personal identity, morality, responsibility, etc.; The economic: career, finance, material things; The heterosexual: love, sex, boy (girl) friend, marriage, etc.; and The family: relationships with parents, brothers, sisters, etc. Each subject was asked to rate on five-point Likert type scales ( a ) the importance of these life areas, and ( b ) himself on each area. Analysis of the responses to these scales (Watkins, 1972) indicated that they possessed reasonable re-test reliability and provided evidence for their construct validity.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The correlations found between the ratings and both the Heron and Eysenck Extraversion scales are set out in Table 1. As can be seen some consistency was shown in the relationships between the ratings and extraversion. It appears that for females extraversion is related to high self-ratings of "the social" and "happiness" and to the importance attached to "the heterosexual" and "leisure" areas of their lives. That is, we get the impression that an extraverted, unlike an introverted, female is a girl who feels herself to be happy and socially adept and who considers relaxation and heterosexual activities to be an important part of her life. This description is similar to that of Eysenck and Eysenck's "typical" extravert. However, no such consistent picture is presented of the male extravert. It appears that he may be a person who considers relaxation to be important and that "the religious" and "the heterosexual" life areas may also be weakly 'Univer. of Melbourne, 1969.
SEX DIFFERENCES IN SELF-PERCEPTION TABLE 1 CORRELATIONS BETWEENlMPORTANCE A N D SELF-RATING OF LIFE AREASAND EYSENCK'SEXTRAVWSIONAND HERON'S EXTRAVERSIONSCALES FOR h h L E S AND FEMALES(nS = 67, 168 RESPECTIVELY) Life area
Importance ratings Eysenck Heron Male Female Male Female
0.15 0.07 The social The religious 0.20" 0.08 Happiness 0.01 0.11 The aesthetic -0.07 -0.07 Health 0.16 -0.11 Competence -0.08 0.10 Leisure 0.26' 0.15" The personal 0.20* 0.04 The economic 0.00 0.13' The heterosexual 0.21* 0.20t The family 0.14 0.04 'p= .05, t p = .Ol.
Self-ratings Eysenck Heron Male Female Male Female
-0.12 -0.18 0.01 0.08 -0.08 -0.08 0.01 0.06 -0.12 0.03 -0.01
related to extraversion. Surprisingly, n o t even t h e self-rating of "the social" area is related to extraversion in the male sample. F r o m Table 2 it can be seen that there were n o consistent trends relating t h e importance attributed to the different life areas and either t h e H e r o n or Eysenck Neuroticism measures. However, there were consistent relationships shown between these neuroticism measures and the self-ratings of the life areas. TABLE 2 CORRELATIONS BETWEENLMPORTANCE AND SELF-RATINGS OP LIFE AREAS AND HERON'SA N D EYSENCK'SNEUflOTICISM SCALESFOR h h ~ AND E FEMALE SUBJECTS ( n s = 67, 168 RESPECTIVELY) Life area
Importance ratings Eysenck Hecon Male Female Male Female The social -0.13 -0.12" -0.07 -0.06 The religious 0.10 -0.10 -0.04 -0.15' Happiness 0.13 -0.03 0.24' 0.06 The aesthetic 0.01 0.07 0.07 0.20t Health 0.03 -0.17" -0.13 -0.10 Competence -0.04 -0.02 0.09 0.06 Leisure -0.11 -0.08 -0.02 -0.07 The personal -0.03 -0.09 -0.02 0.21t The economic 0.22' 0.03 0.15 -0.05 . The heterosexual 0.10 0.05 0.03 0.03 The family 0.01 -0.17% -0.02 -0.2Ot "p = .05. t p = . O l .
Self-ratings Eysenck Heron Male Female Male Female -0.21' -0.28t -0.17 -0.40t -0.02 -0.14" -0.10 -0.19* -0.391- -0.37t -0.40t -0.45t -0.05 -0.05 -0.19 -0.02 -0.09 -0.27t -0.17 -0.47t -0.19 -0.14" -0.16 -0.19+ -0.39t -0.22t -0.32t -0.27t -0.38t -0.29t -0.32t -0.23t -0.34t -0.01 -0.35t -0.14' -0.28j' -0.15" -0.30t -0.11 -0.21" -0.28t -0.20" -0.29t
698
D. WATKINS
For both male and female subjects Neuroticism was significantly negatively correlated with "happiness," "leisure," "the personal," and "the family" selfratings. Thus, both the male and female neurotics appeared to see themselves as relatively unhappy, unable to relax, immature, and as having poor relationships with their families. Consistent differences were also found between what characterized the self-ratings of the male and female neurotics. Thus for females but not for males, self-ratings of "the religious," "health," and "competence" were significantly related to Neuroticism. There is also a much stronger relationship between Neuroticism and the self-rating of "the social" area for females than for males. On the other hand, it appears that the level of adjustment for males is related more highly to their heterosexual and economic self-ratings than it is for females. It is possible that these sex differences are due to the relationship between adjustment and the satisfaction the individual has with fulfillment of his or her sex role, e.g., the male rather than the female is brought up to be the provider ("the economic area") and the aggressor in heterosexual relationships. Although the work reported here can only be considered exploratory it would appear that there may be significant sex differences in the very meaning of the variables "neuroticism" and "extraversion," at least as measured by personality inventories. Further research is required to explore this area more fully. REFERENCES EYSENCK,H. J., & EYSBNCK, S. B. Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. London: Univer. of London Press, 1964. EYSENCK,H. J.. & EYSENCK,S. B. Perromlily ~ t r r / c f w and e measurement. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969. VAGG,P., STANLEY, G. V. S., & HAMMOND,,S. B. The invariance across sex of factors derived from the Neuroticism Scale Questionnaire (NSQ). Australian IournaI of Prychology, 1972,24. 37-44. WATKINS,D. The development and evaluation of two measures of self-esteem. Unpublished M.Sc. thesis, Univer. of Melbourne, 1972. Accepted Ianuary 23, 1976.
