A study of effeminate behaviour in boys

Sreenivasan, Uma (1981) A study of effeminate behaviour in boys. Doctoral (PhD) thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Effeminacy is an attribute of gender, meaning thereby, that certain characteristics are present in boys or men which are considered to be appropriate for girls or women. The existence of such an entity in this context has been recorded in myth and legend; ancient and modern, history. -- In this research, an attempt was made to assess the prevalence of effeminacy in a consecutive series of boys aged 6-12 years who were routine referrals to a child psychiatry clinic. Effeminacy was not the reason for referral in any of the boys. -- Effeminacy was measured as a quantitative variable by assigning weighted scores to a number of items obtained from the literature and from discussions with established researchers in this field. Of one hundred boys assessed, 15 per cent scored high, 39 per cent moderate and 46 per cent low on Effeminacy. -- A number of factors were shown to be related significantly to the presence of high scores on Effeminacy. Other factors also suggested in the literature to be important, were looked for, but did not relate significantly.

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