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Gender Attitude Index

The Gender Attitude Index is an 8-item measure of attitudes toward gender related to division of roles for domestic work within the household.

Categories

Geographies Tested: United States of America

Populations Included: Female, Male

Age Range: Adolescents, Adults, Children

Items:

1. Most of the important decisions in the life of the family should be made by the man of the house.
2. It is perfectly alright for women to be very active in clubs, politics, and other outside activities before the children are grown up.
3. There is some work that is men's and some that is women's, and they should not be doing each other's.
4. A wife should not expect her husband to help around the house after he comes home from a hard day's work.
5. A working mother can establish as warm and secure a relationship with her children as a mother who does not work.
6. Women are much happier if they stay at home and take care of their children.
7. It is much better for everyone if the man earns the main living and the woman takes care of the home and family.
8. It is more important for a wife to help her husband's career than to have one herself.

Response Options:
5-point Likert scale
Strongly Agree - 1
Strongly agree - 5

Scoring Procedures

The items are averaged into an index, with a high score of 5 indicating support for egalitarianism, and a low score of 1 denoting support for a more rigid division of roles.

Original Citation

Cunningham, M., Beutel, A. M., Barber, J. S., & Thornton, A. (2005). Reciprocal relationships between attitudes about gender and social contexts during young adulthood. Social Science Research, 34(4), 862-892. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2005.03.001


Psychometric Score

Ease of Use Score

Scoring breakdown

Formative Research

Qualitative Research

Existing Literature/Theoretical Framework

Field Expert Input

Cognitive Interviews / Pilot Testing

Reliability

Internal

Test-retest

Interrater

Validity

Content

Face

Criterion (gold-standard)

Construct

KEY

Ease of Use

Readability

Scoring Clarity

Length

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