With the advent of the woman's liberation movement the functional value of adhering to the traditional rules of sex-role assignment has become a matter for debate. The present study considers the question "Are those individuals who do not conform to the traditional sex role more anxious (or less adaptive) than those who do?" If it is important, in terms of individual adjustment, for one to conform to the traditional sex roles, then those who do not conform might be expected to experience greater anxiety than those who do. On the other hand, if adherence t o these roles is not a prerequisite of individual adjustment, then there may not be any correlation between sex-role identification and anxiety.
The findings to date, however, have not only defied this explanatory rubric, but are, on the whole, not understood. It generally has been found that women score higher on anxiety measures than men('* lo, 12-16) and that more feminine persons of both sexes score higher than masculine
5).
One theory posits that this effect is due t o cultural influence whereby men are urged to suppress anxiety and fears and women are given greater freedom to express such emotions (8,-12, la). This theory is little more than conjecture at the present time, however. Little research has explored the relationship that has been found to exist between sex-role identity and anxiety. One purpose of this study was to examine some possible relationships between sex-role identity and other factors, specifically, openness us. closedness, liberalism vs. conservatism, and cross-sex us. same-sex parent identification.