Abstract
Gender role liberalism is pivotal in ensuring equal status and contribution of men and women in society. Self-efficacy might be related to gender role liberalism. This study aimed to investigate the nature of the relationship between self-efficacy and sex-role liberalism and to find demographic predictors of sex-role liberalism and self-efficacy in the young adult working sample. Sex Role Liberalism Scale (Clarkberg, Stolzenberg & Waite, 1995), General Self Efficacy Scale (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995), and demographic questionnaires were administered on 240 teachers (130 men and 110 women; Mean Age = 29.89), taken from two universities of Lahore. Joint Principal Component Analysis revealed no conceptual overlap between both constructs. The directionality of the relationship was analyzed through Structural Equation Modeling in AMOS. Self-efficacy and gender role liberalism predicted each other independently as well as reciprocally with the stronger contribution of gender role liberalism to self-efficacy. Regression analysis revealed higher gender role liberalism in men with working mothers in juxtaposition with non-working mothers. The effect of father’s education on the liberalism of men was greater than women's. Gender role liberalism and father’s education predicted self-efficacy. The findings have strong implications regarding enhancing self-efficacy in young adults through promoting gender role liberalism that will in turn promote greater liberal attitudes towards both genders.
Keyword(s)
Self-efficacy, gender-role liberalism, young adults, Education