”Men in Norway 1988” variable list

Øystein Gullvåg Holter

The Work Research Institute, Oslo

To my knowledge, the “Men in Norway 1988” representative survey with 614 men was the first broad gender equality and men survey anywhere in Europe (although based on a slimmer, Swedish version, cf Jalmert, L: Den svenska mannen, 1984), with 74 questions covering different life areas and gender equality topics, plus 18 background variables.

The questionnaire was designed by me with inputs from the Male Role Committee, Hanne Haavind, Fredrik Engelstad, and other researchers. The survey was conducted by an opinion research bureau (MMI) as part of an omnibus with political preferences and other issues, through standardized home interviews, using cards (the tables below, with answer alternatives to the right of each item).

This English translation (january 2006) has been made for the web publishing of the database.

“Now I want to ask some questions about the men’s situation, in connection of a project we participate in for the Consumer and administration ministry. If there are any questions you absolutely will not answer, please tell me.

First some questions about when you grew up. [Answer alternatives for each item: yes, partly, no]
Variable	Question
myakt	Did your mother have paid work?
smfor	Was your father and mother divorced?
fknyt	Were you more strongly attached to your father than to your mother?
fbest	Was your father the one who mainly decided at home?
vold	Did you get physical punishment or did you witness violence in your family?
fsam	Do you think your father should have been more together with you?
fstreng	Do you think your father should have been less strict?
vgut	Did you have close and confidential friends among boys?
vjent	Did you have close and confidential friends among girls?
mobb	Was there mobbing or victimization (‘erting, plaging’) in your environment when you grew up?
mobbo	Were you yourself mobbed?
mobbd	Were you involved in mobbing of others?
yakt	Do you have paid employment outside the home? (Yes, no)
How is your situation in your job? [Answer alternatives: yes, partly, no]
jmobb	Is there mobbing or victimization in your workplace?
jbest	Do you have real employee participation in your workplace?
jrisk	Can it be risky to disagree with superiors?
jko	Do you have women superiors?
jdum	Is it important not to seem stupid, in your group / employees at same level?
jkonk	Is their much competition in your job?
jks	Do you cooperate with women at your own level?
jflk	Would you prefer that more women worked at your workplace?
jmen	Is your work mainly about people?
jtilf	Are you, all in all, satisfied with your job?

sivstand	Are you married or cohabitating [Yes, no]
Then I want to ask some questions about the relationship between you and your partner [Alternatives yes, partly no]
stid	Do you think you get too little time for home and family?
jbegp	Does your job mean that your partner must reduce or postpone her job?
ptid	Does she have a parttime job?
pmat	Is your partner responsible for cooking?
psterk	Is she stronger than you on an emotional level?
tfor	Have earlier relationships meant much to you?
forta	Do you think partners should tell each other everything, even if it can create conflicts?
begfri	Do you feel that the relationship restricts your freedom?
siord	Do you usually get the last word regarding plans and decisions?
vsm	Have you considered ending the relationship or marriage?
bob	In case the two of you split, would you like to live together with the child/children?
stilf	All things considered, are you satisfied with the relationship?
vmenn	Do you have close, confidential friends among men?

Next, some questions about health and wellbeing. [Alternatives yes, partly, no]
mosj	Do you do regular excersise or sports training?
sjans	Do you often take chances to get what you want from life?
stress	Are you often exposed to stress?
traf	Have you contributed to traffic accidens with person injuries?
depp	Have you in periods been sad or depressed?
aggro	Does it happen that you become more aggressive than you like?
mru	Have you heard about The Male Role Committee?

Imagine that you have a full job, and that you and your partner get a child [Alternatives yes, partly, no]
op	Would you have taken 3 months care leave with full wage compensation if you could do so?
pop	Do you think your partner would have wanted you to take 3 months care leave?
jop	Would you be delayed in your job and career if you were home in the leave period?
agop	Do you think your employer would be positive?
mop	Do you think you would get less respect from other men, if you were home on care leave?
bop	Would you feel insecure by having main responsibility for the child in this period?

Imagine that you were unemployed, and had to get another kind of job than the one you evt. have today [Alternatives yes, partly, no]
oy	Would you take a job in a caring profession if you got an offer?
poy	Do you think your partner would lose some respect for you, if you took the caring job?
moy	Do you think your friends or other men would lose some respect if you took such a job?
slitoy	Do you think that there is much exhaustive work in care professions?
karoy	Do care professions give good career possibilities?
koy	Do you think care professions are best fit for women?

Do you agree or disagree with the following statements? [Alternatives: disagree, partly disagree, partly agree, agree, cannot answer]
nokls	Gender equality has gone far enough
oylik	Care professions should have higher wages so that they reach the level of technical professions
mopen	Men should learn to be more open and show their feelings
skort	Parents of small children should get lower working time, but keep their wage
fkont	Contact with the father is as important for a child, as contact with the mother
oprett	Parents of small children should together have the right to one year’s care leave after birth with full wage compensation
alik	Work should be divided equally between man and woman both inside and outside the home
mkonk	Men are too occupied with who is best and have most
innv	Immigrants are a positive addition to Norwegian society
kdom	Few women manage to dominate their men
prov	It is understandable that a man can get so provoked that he hits
sex	In relation to sex, many women say ‘no’ even if they mean ‘yes’
porno	Pornography makes men bad lovers

Which one of these reasons do you think especially hinders greater gender equality between women and men? [Alternatives: several items could be checked]
grans	That women still have main responsibility for home and family
grhv	That ’hard’ values dominate before ‘soft’ values in our society
grav	That women’s work is not evaluated on par with men’s work
grk	That women do not want further gender equality
grm	That men do not want further gender equality

Background variables
alder	age in years
sthus	status in household – man / son
yahus	number of persons in household with paid employment
hhinnt	Total income of the household (before taxes) per year (in NOK, 8 wage levels)
pinnt	Personal income (before taxes) (in NOK, 8 wage levels)
sivst2	Civil status (married-cohabitating, never married, earlier married)
anthus	Number of persons living in the household
antb	Children in the household
eyakt	Do you have paid work on full time or part time (yes full, yes part, varies, no)
ses	Position - employed worker, employed functionary, independent, pupil-student, pensioner, housewife, none of above
brans	In what branch do you work (industry, etc 9 branches)
sektor	In what sector do you work (public, private, none)
psektor	In what sector does your partner work (public, private, none)
utd	Level of education (four levels)
putd	Partner’s level of education (four levels)
botyp	Type of housing
parti	Political preference (first choice of political party)
parti2	Political preference (second choice of political party)

I thank you for participating in the survey.”