CLEVELAND, June 5 (UPI) -- A study found entitled men were prone to exhibiting hostile sexism, and viewed women as manipulative and demanding, while entitled women exhibited benevolent sexism, indicating they think women deserve special care and treatment.

Lead author Joshua Grubbs, a Case Western Reserve University doctoral student, and professors of psychology Julie Exline of Case Western Reserve and Jean Twenge of San Diego State University, said they focused on two forms of sexism -- hostile and benevolent -- and how feelings of entitlement might predict those roles differently for men and women.


The researchers surveyed 333 college students from a Midwestern college and 437 adults participating in Amazon's Mechanical Turk workforce database.

The participants responded to questions in an online survey the researchers developed.

The study, published in the journal Sex Roles, found both groups had consistent findings -- entitled men tended to think of women as manipulative, deceptive and untrustworthy, while entitled women tended to think of women as frail and needing extra care.

"When you consider that entitlement has been shown to be rising across recent generations, linking it to sexist attitudes is particularly alarming, recent events certainly highlight how dangerous entitlement and hostile sexism can be in men," Grubbs said in a statement.

"Furthermore, given that benevolent sexism can also produce gender inequality, these findings for women are also concerning."

The study built on Twenge's earlier study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science that found U.S. narcissistic attitudes increased in recent years -- individuals in their 20s were three times more narcissistic than those age 60 and older.

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