Self-Control and Satisfaction with Gender and Sex-Role Identity in Korean and American College Students

한국과 미국 대학생의 성, 성역할정체감과 자기통제 및 자기통제 만족도와의 관계

The impact of gender, sex-role identity and cultural background on self - control behaviors was studied with the use of reports from 410 college students(201 Koreans and 209 Americans), who were administered both the Bem Sex Role Inventory and the Missouri Self Control Instrument. Gender, sex - role identity and cultural background significantly affected self - control and satisfaction. Regardless of cultural background, males showed a higher level of self - control and satisfaction than females. Androgenous students from both nations used a higher level of expressed/yielded self - control and more satisfied than the students with other sex - role identities. There were some differences in self - control between the Korean and American students. For the American students, the level of expressed self - control was the critical factor in explaining self - control behavior, whereas the level of yielded self - control was the critical factor for the Korean students. This was explained as a phenomenon of culture - bound relationships. Regardless of sex and sex - role identity, the level of satisfaction of Korean students was significantly lower than that of American students. The present results suggested that Korean students have some sort of conflict between self - control and satisfaction. The conflict can probably be attributed to the recent influx of western culture emphasizing goal - oriented control.