Correlations of Masculinity and Femininity to Sensation Seeking

Abstract

The Bem Sex-role Inventory and the Sensation Seeking Scale were completed by 129 female and 159 male undergraduates for whom it was hypothesized that masculinity would be directly associated with sensation seeking, while femininity would be inversely associated with sensation seeking. As hypothesized, for both males and females, masculinity was significantly and directly associated with sensation seeking, but magnitudes of correlations were small. For males only, femininity was significantly and inversely associated with sensation seeking. Further investigation of relationships between masculinity and femininity with each of the four sensation-seeking subscales was conducted.