Bem Sex-Role Inventory
Also known as: BSRI, Sex-Role Inventory
The Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) is a 60-item self-report instrument developed by Sandra L. Bem in 1974 to measure psychological androgyny — the degree to which a person endorses culturally masculine and culturally feminine personality attributes independently of their biological sex. Respondents rate how well each of 20 masculine, 20 feminine, and 20 neutral filler traits describes them on a 7-point scale, and are then classified as masculine, feminine, androgynous, or undifferentiated.
Key highlights
- Introduced the influential two-dimensional model of gender-role identity, separating masculinity and femininity into independent scales rather than a single bipolar continuum.
- Operationalised psychological androgyny, opening a large research literature linking gender-role flexibility to adjustment, coping, and behaviour.
- Includes neutral filler items that disguise the inventory's purpose and reduce some forms of response bias.
- Has a validated 30-item short form and extensive cross-cultural and longitudinal use, giving researchers a well-studied measurement base.
Intuition
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How it works
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When to use it
Use the BSRI to assess gender-role self-concept in studies of personality, identity, mental health, relationships, and the social construction of gender, especially when the research question concerns the independence of masculine and feminine self-attributes rather than biological sex. It is appropriate for adult and college populations and for theoretical work grounded in gender schema theory. It is less appropriate when current, population-specific norms are unavailable, when the dated 1970s trait stereotypes do not match the sample's cultural context, or when the construct of interest is attitudes or behaviour rather than trait self-description.
Strengths & limitations
- Introduced the influential two-dimensional model of gender-role identity, separating masculinity and femininity into independent scales rather than a single bipolar continuum.
- Operationalised psychological androgyny, opening a large research literature linking gender-role flexibility to adjustment, coping, and behaviour.
- Includes neutral filler items that disguise the inventory's purpose and reduce some forms of response bias.
- Has a validated 30-item short form and extensive cross-cultural and longitudinal use, giving researchers a well-studied measurement base.
- The masculine and feminine trait lists were normed on 1970s U.S. samples and are widely seen as culturally and temporally dated, so contemporary respondents may not share the same stereotypes.
- The median-split classification is sample-dependent and discards information, making categories unstable across studies and reducing statistical power.
- The dimensionality and factor structure of the scales have been repeatedly contested, with some analyses finding that the masculinity scale largely captures general instrumentality and the femininity scale expressiveness.
- Evidence that androgyny itself confers superior well-being is mixed; masculinity (instrumentality) often accounts for most of the relationship with adjustment.
Common pitfalls
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Applications
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Frequently asked
Does the BSRI measure whether someone is masculine or feminine in a biological sense?
No. The BSRI measures the extent to which a person describes themselves using personality traits that a culture stereotypically codes as masculine or feminine. It is explicitly about psychological self-concept, not biological sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation, and Bem designed it so that any individual of any sex could score high or low on either dimension.
What is the difference between androgynous and undifferentiated?
Both categories arise from the median split, but they are opposites in endorsement. Androgynous respondents score above the median on both the masculine and feminine scales, indicating they identify strongly with both sets of traits. Undifferentiated respondents score below the median on both, indicating they identify weakly with either set. They are not the same despite both being non-sex-typed.
Why is the BSRI criticised as dated?
Its masculine and feminine item lists were chosen because 1970s American raters judged them more desirable for one sex than the other. Cultural beliefs about which traits are masculine or feminine have shifted since then, and they vary across societies, so the original norms and even the item content may not capture how contemporary or non-U.S. respondents perceive gender, which is why researchers re-norm or scrutinise the scale before use.
Sources
- 1.Bem, S. L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42(2), 155–162.
- 2.Bem, S. L. (1981). Gender schema theory: A cognitive account of sex typing. Psychological Review, 88(4), 354–364.
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Cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Bem Sex-Role Inventory. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/gender-studies/bem-sex-role-inventory