The relationship between desirable and undesirable gender role traits, and their implications for psychological well-being in Chinese culture

This study examined the relationship between socially desirable and undesirable components of masculinity and femininity, and their effects on psychological well-being among 366 Chinese university students. Results indicated that the undesirable traits of one gender were negatively correlated with the desirable traits of the opposite gender. Desirable masculinity predicted psychological well-being consistently across well-being indices, but undesirable masculinity predicted low acceptance of others only. While desirable femininity predicted self-esteem and low trait anxiety moderately, undesirable femininity strongly predicted low well-being on all indices except acceptance of others. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.