Abstract

Results of a study of 44 male and 44 female undergraduates confirmed the hypothesis that willingness to confront existential issues would be associated with endorsement of opposite-sex characteristics or the relative absence of same-sex characteristics.  Participants completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and Avoidance of Existential Confrontation Scale developed by P. C. Thauberger et al.  Masculine-typed men and feminine-typed women reported the most avoidance of existential issues.  Feminine-typed and undifferentiated men reported more existential openness than their sex-typed counterparts, and androgynous men were particularly receptive to life's challenges.