Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore natural groupings among adults based on gender role conflict, ambivalent sexism and aggression, and find differences in their acceptance of rape myths. 372 male and female adults in the Daegu and Gyeongsang province were surveyed and 350 were analyzed on their gender role conflict, ambivalent sexism, aggression and acceptance of rape myths. The cluster analysis divided participants into sub-groups such as ‘unaggressive but conflicted about gender stereotypes’, ‘receptive to adaptive gender notions ’ and ‘compliant to aggressive gender stereotypes’. The sub-groups had differing levels of gender, age and education. There were differences in acceptance of rape myths among these groups, Post-hoc testing showed that the ‘compliant to aggressive gender stereotype’ subgroup showed the highest level of acceptance of rape myths, following by ‘unaggressive but with gender stereotype conflicts’ and ‘receptive of adaptive gender notions’. Finally, needs for assessing individual characteristics according to their subgroup types and developing psychoeducational programs focused on the subgroup characteristics were addressed. Then, recommendations for future study were discussed.