Indian Psychologist 1984, Vol. 3, No. 2, 87-92 Masculinity-femininity in Relation to Self-esteem and Adjustment: Differential implications for Sex ? H. Sam Sananda Raj and Immanuel Thomas University of Kerala Sex differences in masculinity-femininity and Its relationship with self- esteem, personal adjustment, and social adjustment were Investigated on a sample of 157 boys and 155 girls drawn from the secondary school population of Kerala State. The results indicated that : (a) there is significant sex difference in the masculine/feminine orientation of the sample; (b) self-esteem, personal adjustment and social adjustment are positively and significantly related to the masculinity of the male subjects; and (c) there is no relationship between masculinity-femininity and self- esteem, personal adjustment, and social adjustment In the case of female subjects. Apart from the question of inherent biological factors, the nature of which still remains controversial the sex of a person in any society predisposes him/ her towards certain stereotyped sex role behaviour patterns. The typical male and female are perceived as differing in a number of personality characteristics (Spence, This article was presented In the 9th semi-annual conference of the Kerala Mana- sastra Parishath (KMP) and was awarded the Rolling Trophy for the best research article. The authors are grateful to the KMP for their permission to publish the article. Requests for reprints may be sent to H. Sam Sanandaraj, Department of Psychology, University of Kerala, Trivandrum 695581 (India). Helmreich, & Stapp, 1975). Bakan (1966) identified characteristics such as self-assertion, self-protectiveness, and self-aggrandizement as the "male principle", stronger in males. Similarly, characteristics such as selflessness and a desire to be with others were identified as the "female principle", stronger in females. "Masculinity" and "femininity", the clusters of traits that differentiate the sexes, are traditionally considered to be incompatible and thus treated as end- pionts of a single masculinity-femininity continuum. Several workers (e.g., Bem, 1974; Constantinople, 1973; Spence et al., 1975) have questioned this assumption, and have proposed that masculine and feminine characteristics from separate dimensions that vary Copyright 1984 by the Centre of Advanced Study in Psychology, Utkal University. 87