Beliefs about men: gender differences among colleges students

College Student Journal, Dec, 2004 by David Knox, Marty Zusman, Andrea McNeely

Three-hundred-and-twenty six undergraduates at a large south-eastern university completed a confidential anonymous 74-item questionnaire designed to assess beliefs about men, women, and relationships held by university students. This study focused on the data regarding gender differences in beliefs about men. Women were significantly more likely than men to believe that all men cheat on their partners at least once, that a man will not call when he says he will, that men would rather live with a woman than marry her, that men think more about sex than women, that men care more about a woman's appearance, and that men have poorer communication skills than women. Implications and limitations of the data are suggested.

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"All men cheat," "A man won't call when he says he will," and "Men would rather live together than get married" are examples of beliefs commonly held about men. These beliefs permeate our culture and, in the absence of a sustained Men's Movement (Farrell, 1986) and few Men's Studies Programs, are rarely challenged. Indeed, little research has been conducted on attitudes toward men. An exception is research by Maltby and Day (2001) who identified personality correlates associated with attitudes toward men. They found, for example, that women high in femininity WERE more likely to have positive attitudes toward men. Twenty years ago Iazzo (1983) developed an Attitudes Toward Men Scale, which has been used rarely. The current study attempted to provide new research on attitudes toward men, specifically to identify gender dif ferences in beliefs commonly held about men.

Data and Analysis

The data consisted of 326 undergraduates enrolled at a large southeastern university who voluntarily completed an anonymous 74 item questionnaire designed to assess beliefs about men, women, and relationships held by university students. This study focused on the data regarding gender differences in beliefs about men.

Among the respondents, 69.9% were women; 30.1% were men. The median age was 19 with a range of 17 to 58. Racial identification included 83.1% white, 12.6% African-American, and 4.3% who self identified as "other." A typical profile of the respondents is that they were experienced in dating (had been in an average of 2 serious relationships) and currently dating an average of three times a month (usually the same person).

Data analysis consisted of recoding Likert responses to 12 stereotypical items about men such as "All men cheat on their partner's at least once" and "A man will not call when he says he will" into the categories of agreement and disagreement. Such responses were cross-classified with sex of respondent and assessed for significance using chi-square.

Findings and Discussion

Analysis of the data comparing women and men on beliefs about men revealed six significant differences.

1. Men cheat. Women were significantly (p <.05) more likely than men to agree that "All men will cheat on their partners at least once"- 11.9% (227) of women in contrast to 8.8% (91) of men expressed agreement with this statement. Abundant research has found higher rates of infidelity among men than women. For example, Wiederman (1997) found in a national sample of spouses that 23 percent of husbands and 12 percent of wives reported having had sex with someone with whom they were not married. That some women in the current sample LUMP all men together ("All men will cheat") may reflect less that women harbor this belief but that most men think such infidelity is the exception rather than the rule.

2. Men won't call. Women were significantly (p <.001) more likely than men to agree that "A man will not call when he says he will"- 18.1% (226) of women in contrast to 12.1% (91) of men expressed agreement with this state ment. That men are not trusted to call a woman whey they say they will may result in the women learning that, indeed, "men don't call." In a study on lies told by university students, analysis of the original data revealed twice as many men than women confessed to saying "I'll call" (Knox et al., 1993).

3. Men are less marriage focused. Women were significantly (p <.001) more likely than men to agree that "Men would rather live with a woman than marry her"- 34.2% (228) of women in contrast to 20.6% (92) of men expressed agreement with this statement. While marriage AND family are important goals for most men and women, men, in general, report that marriage and family are less of a goal than women. In a national survey of over a quarter of a million (282,549) first year undergraduates at 437 two- and four-year universities in the United States, "financial security" was rated as the top value by men; "raising a family" (and presumably getting married) was the top value reported by women (American Council on Education and University of California, 2002). Abowitz and Knox (2003) also found a higher financial than marital value among men.

4. Men focused on sex. Women were significantly (p <.009) more likely than men to agree that "Men think about sex more than women"-75.9% (228) of women in contrast to 64.5% (93) of men expressed agreement with this statement. Support for the greater sex focus of men has been verified by previous research. Michael et al. (1994) interviewed a national sample of 3,435 adults and found that 54% of the men compared to 19% of them women reported "thinking about sex several times a day." Men (when compared to women) also reported higher rates of masturbation, more sexual partners, and being motivated to engage in sexual intercourse for sexual pleasure, conquest, and relief of sexual tension.