Sexual identity and anticipated occupation of male and female allied health and medical students

Abstract

The general purpose of this study was to help delineate the relationship among sex-stereotypic attributes, gender, and occupational choice in the health professions. Specifically, the study attempted to determine if there were differences in perceptions of sex-stereotypic attributes among four groups of individuals: male medical students, female medical students, male allied health students, and female allied health students. It was found that there were significant differences among the four previously described groups on their sex-role perceptions as measured by the Bem Inventory. This variance can be attributed to the main effect of gender. Occupation was found not to be a significant variable in explaining variance among the four groups on their masculinity, femininity, and androgyny scores. Likewise, androgyny scores did not distinguish individuals in traditional careers from those in non-traditional careers.