Gender identity
LASA filenames:
LASA*804
Contact: Renate de Jongh
Background
Sex and gender are increasingly recognized as different concepts, which are equally important in conducting research on humans [1]. Sex refers to a set of biological attributes that differentiate between individual organisms. These attributes include chromosomes, gene expression, hormone levels and hormonal functions, genitals and reproductive anatomy. Gender refers to socially constructed identities, roles, relationships and institutionalised designations that differ for girls, women, boys, men and gender-diverse people. Gender influences how people see themselves and others, how they act and how they treat each other, and how power and resources are distributed across society. Gender has been traditionally regarded as a binary concept (male/female), but there is a tremendous variability in how individuals and groups understand, experience and express gender [1].
Gender identity is one’s personal experience of one’s gender. Gender identity can correlate with assigned sex at birth or can differ from it. Gender identity, in nearly all instances, is self-identified. Gender role, on the other hand, is manifested within society by observable factors such as behaviour and appearance. For example, if a person considers himself a male and is most comfortable referring to his personal gender in masculine terms, then his gender identity is male. However, his gender role is male only if he demonstrates typically male characteristics in behaviour, dress, and/or mannerisms. Gender identity, gender role and biological sex may be congruous, but it is important to examine to what extent this holds and for whom it does and for whom it does not [2-5].
Measurement instruments in LASA
Four questions about gender identity were included during the J- and K-wave of LASA measurements in the first, second and third LASA cohort. The four included questions were 1. How feminine do you feel psychologically/emotionally? 2. How masculine do you feel psychologically/emotionally? 3. How feminine do you feel physically? 4. How masculine do you feel physically? All questions were asked to male and female participants. The answer was scored on a 0 to 10 scale (0: not feminine/masculine at all to 10: very feminine/masculine). The participants could also indicate whether he/she did not want to answer the questions either regarding the psychological/emotional or physical gender identity. These questions were based on previous studies [6-8].
Gender role is dependent on context [9]. For example, in the family context different aspects may contribute to the gender role than in the context of paid work. In LASA, an operationalisation of the gender role was constructed in the work context. It included six indicators: working hours, income, occupation segregation (= % women in occupational sector), education, informal caregiving, time spent on household chores), and working conditions (physical demands, psychosocial demands, cognitive demands, autonomy, task variation, social support) [10].
Questionnaires
LASAJ804 / LASAK804 (self-administered questionnaire, in Dutch)
Variable information
LASAJ804 / LASAK804
(pdf)
Availability of information per wave ¹
Data on gender identity are available in the J- and K-wave. Data on gender role can be constructed from all LASA-waves.
| B | C | D | E | 2B* | F | G | H | 3B* | MB* | I | J | K | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender identity | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | Sa | Sa | |
¹ More information about the LASA data collection waves is available here.
* 2B=baseline second cohort;
3B=baseline third cohort;
MB=migrants: baseline first cohort
Sa=data collected in self-administered questionnaire
Previous use in LASA
Gender role and gender identity were used within a larger project “Gezond op weg naar het pensioen (v/m)? Veranderingen in de gezondheid van oudere vrouwelijke en mannelijke werknemers afhankelijk van hun genderidentiteit en werkbelasting” [“In good health on the way to retirement (f/m)? Changes in the health of older female and male workers dependent on their gender identity and work demands”] which received funding from the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw). Research questions answered in this side study were “To what extent are biological sex, labour market gender role and psychological gender identity related to the mental health of older workers? What is the role of the workload in this? For application in this study, the score on the masculine bar of the psychological gender identity was subtracted from the score on the feminine bar, resulting in a continuum from very masculine (score -10) to very feminine (score +10) [10-12].
References
- ZonMw Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development, https://www.zonmw.nl/en/article/faq-sex-and-gender-research. Consulted 29 August 2023.
- Eagly, A., Sex Differences in Social Behavior. A Social-role interpretation. 2013, New York: Psychology Press.
- Goymann, W., H. Brumm, and P.M. Kappeler, Biological sex is binary, even though there is a rainbow of sex roles: Denying biological sex is anthropocentric and promotes species chauvinism. Bioessays, 2023. 45(2): p. e2200173.
- Johnson, T.W. and R.J. Wassersug, Gender Identity Disorder Outside the Binary: When Gender Identity Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified Is Not Good Enough. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2010. 39(3): p. 597-598.
- Nagoshi, J.L., S.I. Brzuzy, and H.K. Terrell, Deconstructing the complex perceptions of gender roles, gender identity, and sexual orientation among transgender individuals. Feminism & Psychology, 2012. 22(4): p. 405-422.
- Bockting, W., A. Benner, and E. Coleman, Gay and bisexual identity development among female-to-male transsexuals in North America: emergence of a transgender sexuality. Arch Sex Behav, 2009. 38(5): p. 688-701.
- Falhammar, H., et al., Health status in 1040 adults with disorders of sex development (DSD): a European multicenter study. Endocr Connect, 2018. 7(3): p. 466-478.
- Kuyper, L. and C. Wijsen, Gender identities and gender dysphoria in the Netherlands. Arch Sex Behav, 2014. 43(2): p. 377-85.
- Tannenbaum C, Ellis RP, Eyssel F, Zou J, Schiebinger L, Sex and gender analysis improves science and engineering. Nature 2019; 575: 137-146.
- de Breij S, Huisman M, Boot CRL, Deeg DJH. Sex and gender differences in depressive symptoms in older workers: the role of working conditions. BMC Public Health 2022; 22(1): 1023. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13416-1.
- Deeg, D.J., Gezond op weg naar het pensioen (v/m)? Hoe integreer je sekse en gender binnen onderzoek? [In good health on the way to retirement (f/m)? How does one integrate sex and gender in research?]. https://publicaties.zonmw.nl/gezond-op-weg-naar-het-pensioen-vm/?utm_campaign=Preventie&utm_content=Prev+december+2022&utm_source=Nieuwsbrief&utm_medium=email. August 2022.
- Deeg, D. Sekse, genderrol of gendergevoel? Gender en preventie Wetenschapsblogs [Sex, gender role or gender perception? Gender and prevention Science blogs]. https://www.zonmw.nl/nl/artikel/sekse-genderrol-gendergevoel, July 2022.
Date of last update: November, 2023 (first version)
