An increasing number of male students are coming to nursing, a profession traditionally dominated by women. However, there is a lack of information on how male nursing students are affected by gender identity and gender stereotypes. The purpose of thi...
An increasing number of male students are coming to nursing, a profession traditionally dominated by women. However, there is a lack of information on how male nursing students are affected by gender identity and gender stereotypes. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among satisfaction in major, gender identity, and gender stereotypes of male nursing students.Convenience sampling was done to recruit 94 male nursing students from 20 nursing colleges in Korea. Data were collected from October, 2003 to April, 2004 by mailed survey. Instruments were 18 items on satisfaction in major developed by H. S. Ha(2000), 40 items on gender identity developed by J. G. Jeong(1990), and 33 items on gender stereotypes developed by D. I. Kim(1993). Descriptive statistics, t-test, Pearson''s correlation, ANOVA, and Scheffeˊs post-hoc test were generated by SPSS WIN. Program V. 11.5 for data analysis.Study findings are summarized as follows:1. The average score of male nursing students'' satisfaction in major 3.73(±.53) from a possible score of 1~5. The pattern of gender identity was mainly undifferentiated (32%), followed by bisexual-type (29.8%), and maleness(19.1%) and femaleness(19.1%) in order. The average score of gender stereotypes was 2.74(±.45) among a possible score of 1~5, suggesting that the higher score means more gender stereotypes.2. The difference of nursing major satisfaction according to demographic features showed that male students younger than 24 years-old appeared to be more satisfied more than those older than 24 years-old(t=.219, p<.05). Male nursing students attending three-year junior colleges were more satisfied in their major than baccalaureate students attending four-year colleges(t=2.41, p<.05). 3. The relationship between satisfaction in major and gender stereotypes appeared to be weakly correlated with course satisfaction(r=.252, p<.05), especially for familial(r=.247, p<.05), psychological(r=.248, p<.05), and intellectual gender stereotypes(r=.253, p<.05). On the contrary, occupationalexternal gender stereotypes appeared to have a weak negative correlation with satisfaction in major(r=-.207, p<.05).4. Male nursing students'' satisfaction in major in relation to the pattern of gender identity appeared to differ between groups. The results of Scheffeˊs post-hoc test showed that the bisexual-type group was more satisfied than the undifferentiated group(F=3.25, p<.05). 5. The difference of gender stereotypes according to the pattern of gender identity was statistically insignificant.In conclusion, study findings indicate that male nursing students with an undifferentiated gender identity have the lowest satisfaction in their major. Developing a special program for male nursing students to identify those with undifferentiated gender identity attitudes, as well as offer counseling and education may increase satisfaction in major and adjustment.