- role
- The pattern of behavior that a person exhibits in relationship to significant persons in his or her life; it has its roots in childhood and is influenced by significant people with whom the person has or had primary relationships. [Fr.]- complementary r. a r. in which the behavior pattern conforms with the expectations and demands of other people.- gender r. the public presentation of gender identity; specifically, everything a person says and does that signals to others or to the self that one is male or female (or androgynous). See sex r., gender identity.- noncomplementary r. a r. that does not conform with the expectations and demands of other people.- sex r. specifically, the pattern of behavior and thought related to sex organs and procreation; but more generally, behavior and thought that is stereotypically classified as belonging to either one sex or the other. See gender r..- sick r. in medical sociology, the familially or culturally accepted behavior pattern or r. which one is permitted to exhibit during illness or disability, including sanctioned absence from school or work and a submissive, dependent relationship to family, health care personnel, and significant others.
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role also rôle 'rōl n a socially prescribed pattern of behavior usu. determined by an individual's status in a particular society* * *
(rōl) the behavior pattern that an individual presents to others.
Medical dictionary. 2011.