RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN RISK-TAKING JUDGMENT IN THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS, SELF-ESTEEM AND SEX-ROLE ORIENTATION OF ADULTS
Abstract
Risk-taking judgment in the decision-making process of men and women may stem from differing personality characteristics. This study examined the relationships between risk-taking judgment in the decision-making process and two personality variables, sex-role orientation and self-esteem for men and women between the ages of 25 and 60. The subjects included 94 female and 86 male volunteers from the general population in the Metropolitan New York area. They had educational levels ranging from high school graduation to doctoral degrees. They were all actively involved in career and/or family decision-making responsibilities. Multiple regression analyses were performed separately for the male group, the female group, and for the total group. Relationships between the dependent variable, risk-taking judgment in the decision-making process, and the independent variables, sex-role orientation and self-esteem, were tested for significance for each of the three groups. Each respondent completed the revised choice Dilemmas Questionnaire for measuring risk-taking judgment, the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale for assessing self-esteem, and the Bem Sex-Role Inventory for classification into one of four sex-role orientations: Femininity, Masculinity, Androgyny, and Undifferentiated. For men, significant relationships were found between risk-taking judgment and self-esteem and between risk-taking judgment and sex-role orientation. There were no significant relationships between risk-taking judgment in the decision-making process and either self-esteem or sex-role orientation for women. For the total group, risk-taking judgment in the decision-making process was significantly related to self-esteem and to feminine sex-role orientation but was not significantly related to the other sex-role orientations. These findings indicated that men did not make more risky judgments than women but the personality characteristics explaining these risk-taking judgments were different. It is inferred that there are differing value systems and different subjective expected utilities for the outcomes of risk-taking judgment in the decision-making process for each sex.
Subject Area
Educational psychology
Recommended Citation
SCHWARTZ, HANNAH SALE, "RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN RISK-TAKING JUDGMENT IN THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS, SELF-ESTEEM AND SEX-ROLE ORIENTATION OF ADULTS" (1983). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI8326189.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI8326189
