FACTOR STRUCTURE OF THE SEX-ROLE IDEOLOGY SCALE - INTRODUCING A SHORT-FORM

We examined the factor structure of the Sex-Role Ideology Scale (SRIS) , which is a standard 30-item measure of gender ideology (i.e., prescr iptive beliefs about the behaviors and roles of women and men). Two st udent samples (combined N = 682; 77.7% female; age. range 17-54 years, M = 20.4, SD = 3.5) enrolled in undergraduate psychology courses at a Canadian university completed the SRIS and a measure of social desira bility. Principal components analysis was used with parallel analysis to decide how many factors to retain. Two- and three-factor solutions for the SRIS did not replicate strongly across samples. Some evidence, however, supported a unidimensional solution, which is consistent wit h the scoring system provided by the developers of the SRIS. Because o f continuing ambiguity about the factor structure of the SRIS, we deve loped a unidimensional short form, which contains 18 items. Results fr om a cross-validation study of the structure of the short form are pre sented. This report represents the first step in addressing the constr uct validity of the short form of the SRIS.