Personal problems of adolescents and their relationship to peer acceptance and sex-role identity.

The Mooney Problem Checklist (MPCL), Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and a series of sociometric rating scales were administered to four groups of adolescents (40 males and 48 females from grade 8-average age = 13.5 years; 39 males and 37 females from grade 12-average age = 17.5 years). The total number of problems reported and the number in many of the 11 areas of the MPCL were fewer in the older group of males than the other three groups. As the number of problems was expected to decrease with age, it was proposed that females' problem level was maintained at a high level by pressures to conform to a feminine sex-role identity. This speculation was based on the findings that females became more stereotyped (more feminine, less masculine) with age and that femininity was significantly related to the number of problems for females. Although masculinity and peer group acceptance were expected to relate negatively to the number of problems, none of the groups supported the prediction for masculinity, and only the younger males confirmed the hypothesis for peer acceptance.