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Attitudes Toward Women Scale for Adolescents (AWSA)

The Atttiudes Toward Women Scale for Adolescents (AWSA) is a 12-item adaptation of the Attitudes Toward Scale-Short Version that was designed to be better understood among young adolescents. Items assess views on gender roles in work, school, family and finances.

Categories

Geographies Tested: United States of America

Populations Included: Female, Male

Age Range: Adolescents

Items:

1. Swearing is worse for a girl than for a boy.
2. On a date, the boy should be expected to pay all expenses.
3. On the average, girls are as smart as boys.*
4. More encouragement in a family should be given to sons than daughters to go to college.
5. It is all right for a girl to want to play rough sports like football.*
6. It is all right for a girl to ask a boy out on a date.
7. In general, the father should have greater authority than the mother in making family decisions.*
8. It is more important for boys than girls to do well in school.
9. If both husband and wife have jobs, the husband should do a share of the housework such as washing dishes and doing the laundry.*
10. Boys are better leaders than girls.
11. Girls should be more concerned with becoming good wives and mother than desiring a professional or business career.
12. Girls should have the same freedoms as boys.*

*Items are reverse scored

Response Options:
4-point Likert scale
Agree strongly - 1
Disagree strongly - 4

Scoring Procedures

Item scores are averaged to create the total scale score. Higher scores indicate less traditional attitudes toward women.

Original Citation

Galambos, N. L., Petersen, A. C., Richards, M., & Gitelson, I. B. (1985). The Attitudes Toward Women Scale for Adolescents (AWSA): A study of reliability and validity. Sex Roles, 13(5/6), 343-356. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00288090


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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