This research examines the concept of the androgynous per sonality, and the effect of parental influence on the develop ment of such a personality. Concept is considered first, with a folowing discussion of the effect of parental influence on the development of an androgynous personality.
Throughout history, the term androgyny has been used "to denote any blurring or blending of the distinctions between the sexes" (Cook, 1987, p. 471). Androgyny is used, thus, to denote: (1) biological sex hermaphroditism (Kaplan, & Sedney, 1980); (2) dress styles (Cook, 1987); (3) careers not dominated by a single sex (Cook, 1987); (4) societies characterized by political and economic equality between the sexes (Cook, 1987);(5) gender identity "an awareness and comfort with one's bio logical sex" (Sedney, 1987, p. 312); sexual orientation "choice of sexual partner," which, when androgynous, refers to bisexuality (Sedney, 1987, p. 312); (6) social sex role, which refers to "the social role one chooses, such as wife, mother, and/or paid worker" (Sedney, 1987, p. 312); and (7) psychologi cal sex role (Kaplan, & Sedney, 1980), which is defined in terms of "similarities and differences among individuals
2according to the degree to which they or others describe them selves in terms of personality characteristics traditionally associated with men (masculine) and those associated with women (feminine)" (Cook, 1987, p. 471), and which includes the person ality traits and behaviors that, although not involved in actual sexual behavior, are included in people's stereotypes ofnotions about how females and males differ" (Sedney, 1987, p. 312).
The androgynous personality is a manifestation of an indi vidual's psychological sex role (Sedney, 1987). The dimensions of the various definitions of androgyny "are potentiality inde pendent. Thus, a person may be biologically female, have a secure feminine gender identity, prefer males as sexual part n...