Male nurses' sex-role orientation and values

Scores on the Bem Sex-role Inventory and the Study of Values were compared for 66 female nurses and 56 male nurses in central Florida. The men were frequently categorized as sex-typed and rarely as cross-typed. On the Study of Values the over-all pattern of values for male nurses was very similar to that of the average male nonnurse and significantly different from that of female nurses on the theoretical and aesthetic scales. Nursing experience, age, and highest degree earned in nursing were not correlated with Bem scores or Study of Values scores. No support was found for the idea that nursing feminizes male nurses. Implications of these results for the recruitment of male nursing students were discussed.