Student Gender and Instructor Gender as Predictors of Student–Instructor Rapport

Abstract

We evaluated whether gender (masculinity/femininity) rather than biological sex would better predict student–instructor rapport. University students (104 men, 97 women) considered either a feminine hypothetical instructor or a masculine hypothetical instructor and rate their expected rapport with that instructor. The Bem Sex Role Inventory assessed participant gender type. Results showed that students higher in femininity not only provided higher expected rapport ratings to a feminine instructor but also provided relatively higher expected rapport ratings to a masculine instructor. Students high in masculinity did not provide higher expected rapport ratings to a masculine instructor, and some analyses showed that they provided higher ratings to a feminine instructor. Results suggest that biological sex of the student, gender type of the student, and gender type of the instructor are all important factors to understand student–instructor rapport.