PSYCHOTHERAPISTS' PERCEPTIONS OF THE MENTAL HEALTH OF WOMEN AND MEN OF VARYING AGES (SEXISM, AGEISM, STEREOTYPING)

• Main Author: CIANO-BOYCE, CLAUDIA
• Language: ENG
• Published: ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst 1985
• Subjects: Psychotherapy
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI8602621

The purpose of this study was to examine psychotherapists' perceptions of the psychological health of women and men of varying ages. Three hundred and twenty-two randomly selected clinical members of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (AAMFT) rated a "mature, healthy, socially competent" individual using one of nine target descriptions (male, late 20's; male, late 40's; male, late 60's; female, late 20's; female, late 40's; female, late 60's; adult, late 20's; adult, late 40's; adult, late 60's) on the 79-item Sex-Role Stereotype Questionnaire (Broverman, 1981). The response rate was 72%. To test the hypotheses, total scores of socially desirable masculine stereotypes (TMVI) and socially desirable feminine stereotypes (TFVI) were created. One way ANOVAS on TMVI and TFVI by sex of target (male, female, adult) were performed. As predicted, female targets were rated as significantly healthier than male targets on TFVI but, contrary to prediction, female and male targets were not rated differently on TMVI. As predicted, mean psychological health scores of male and adult targets on TMVI and TFVI did not differ. Contrary to prediction, scores of female and adult targets on TMVI and TFVI also did not differ. Also, contrary to prediction, male therapists did not rate female targets more stereotypically on either TMVI or TFVI than did female therapists. One way ANOVAS on TMVI and TFVI by age of target (late 20's, late 40's, late 60's) were performed. Contrary to expectation, no differences on TFVI were noted between targets in their late 20's, late 40's, and late 60's. As predicted, targets in their late 60's were rated as less psychologically healthy on TMVI than targets in their late 40's, although no other age-of-target differences on TMVI appeared. Analyses of the 79 individual items indicated that targets in their late 40's were perceived as more self-confident and aggressive than were the older targets. Implications for clinical practice focus in particular on the negative stereotypes displayed toward targets in their late 60's, as well as on findings that therapists viewed males less positively than females on socially desirable feminine stereotypes.