The effect of gender role identity on behavioral expectations and relationship satisfaction

Undergraduate students from the United States were recruited for a study that explored the effect of gender-role identity on behavioral expectations and relationship satisfaction in three different types of relationships: same-sex friendships, cross-sex friendships, and romantic relationships. Participants rated their expectations and degree of satisfaction for a close same-sex friend, close cross-sex friend, and romantic partner. Results showed that romantic partners received the highest ratings of expectations, more so than same-sex or cross-sex friends, and as far as categories of expectations, participants rated emotional closeness as the highest expectation required of all partners regardless of relationship type. Also, a masculine gender-role identity was associated with lower expectations for same-sex friends and romantic partners, while a feminine or androgynous gender-role identity was associated with higher expectations. Participants rated their same-sex friendships as more satisfying than their cross-sex friendships and romantic relationships.