School volleyball representations and students' gender: How relevant is Bem sex role inventory?

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss the relevance of the BSRI French version test in research on gender in Physical Education. A survey based on students' representations of volley-ball was carried on in lycées agricoles. The relations between the three variables sex, gender (constructed through the BSRI) and the representations of volley-ball (expressed through a word association and a semantic differentiation test) were analyzed. Results show that the sex variable is the only one wich contributes to the representational dimensions. Gender roles (masculinity, feminity, androgyny, and non-differentiated as constructed by the BSRI) has little influence on the structure of the representations. This paradox with regard to the literature is discussed. Theoritical and methodological consideratellungen und Erwartungen der Lehrer dieses Fachs befasst, die imstande sind, bei ihren Schülern beider Geschlechter Erfolgsungleichheiten hervorzurufen, die gar nicht im Zusammenhang mit ihren physiologischen Ressourcen stehen.