• Richa Patnaik
• Dr. Sangeeta Rath

The proponents of androgyny hold the view that healthy personality development and mental well-being are ensured when an individual adheres to both female and male traits simultaneously. On the other hand, the conventional perspectives view that well-being is best guaranteed by sticking to the stereotypical gender roles. The most commonly used variable to measure mental health and well-being is self-esteem. Self-esteem is an individual’s feeling of belief, respect, and value of his or her self. The present study addresses issues concerning the role of androgyny in the self-esteem of the participants. The study aims to find out the role of gender role perception and gender on the self-esteem of participants. A 2 (androgynous and sex-typed) × 2 (male and female) research design is employed in the study. Gender role perception and gender are the independent variables, and self-esteem has been taken as the dependent measure. Initially, 600 participants (300 females and 300 males) within the age group ranging from 30-45 years from various areas of Bhubaneswar city in Odisha, India, were purposively chosen for the study. The Sahoo Sex Role Inventory was administered to determine the androgynous and sex-typed orientations of the participants. Based on the median split of their scores on the Sahoo Sex Role Inventory, the 300 males were categorized into 150 androgynous males and 150 sex-typed male groups. Similarly, the 300 females, based on the median split of their scores, were divided into 150 androgynous females and 150 sex-typed female groups. Therefore, based upon their scores, the participants were divided into four groups, namely androgynous female, androgynous male, sex-typed female, and sex-typed male. Securing the highest scores from each group, 60 participants were considered for further study, thus making the total sample size of 240 (120 females and 120 males). The Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale was then administered to these 240 participants. The interpretation of data revealed that the participants who were of androgynous gender role orientation had higher self-esteem than the participants having sex-typed orientation, which is supported by the literature. Also, no significant difference between males and females has been obtained. Therefore, it has been inferred that males and females do not differ with regard to self-esteem. Further, no significant interaction effect has been seen between gender role perception and gender. ______________________________________________________________________________________________

IndexTerms - androgyny, gender role perception, mental health, self-esteem, sex-type, well-being.

"The Role of Psychological Androgyny in Self-esteem", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.8, Issue 8, page no.c188-c194, August-2021, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2108277.pdf

"The Role of Psychological Androgyny in Self-esteem", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.8, Issue 8, page no. ppc188-c194, August-2021, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2108277.pdf