An analysis of factors affecting traditional family expectations and perceptions of ideal fertility

This study examines: 1) the conditions giving rise to variation in sex-role orientation and the perceived cost of having children; and 2) the role these variables play as mechanisms linking antecedent variables to perceptions of ideal fertility. Data are drawn from a metropolitan area (Oklahoma City) sampling of 401 adults. Antecedent variables of sex, employment status, age, education, exposure to metropolitan living, and religious traditionalism--though correlated with ideal fertility--have no direct effects on that variable. Rather, the effects of these variables on fertility are mediated through sex-role orientation and the perceived cost of having children. The study confirms that there is a great deal of variation in the perception of a woman's place in comtemporary society and much of this variation is predictable. Education and exposure to metropolitan living both have influences which result in more egalitarian sex-role orientations, while traditional beliefs reinforce traditional sex-role orientations. Younger people also are more likely than older ones to be egalitarian. On the average, women are less traditional in their sex-role orientations than men and employed women are less traditional than unemployed women. Thus, the 2 strongest predictors of sex-role orientation are age and education. Sex role orientation and the perceived cost of having children both exert strong influences on the number of children thought to be ideal.     

Work, Family, and Religious Involvement for Men and Women

Do family formation and social establishment affect religious involvement in the same way for men and women, given increasing individualism and rapid changes in work and family roles? Using a random sample of adults from upstate New York (N = 1,006), our research builds on previous work in this area by using multiple measures of religious involvement, using multiple measures of individualism and beliefs about work and family roles, placing men and women in their work context, and looking at the relationships separately by gender. Men’s religious involvement is associated with marriage, children, and full‐time employment, signaling social establishment and maturity. Women’s involvement is higher when there are school‐aged children in the home, but it is also more intertwined with the salience of religion and with an assessment that religious institutions are a good fit with their values and lifestyles, including egalitarian views of gender. For men and women, views of religious authority and the role of religious institutions in the socialization of children are associated differently with religious involvement at different life stages. We call for further research to understand the gendered nature of religious involvement and the role of beliefs about work, family, and religion in explaining why individuals choose to be involved in religious institutions.     

The Post-Feminist Era: Still Striving for Equality in Relationships

As for the past 30 years, Western society continues to grapple with a major sex-role revolution. Changes from the availability of contraception and persistent feminist protests disrupted the respective duties of men and women in what was called the "traditional family." Since the industrial revolution, traditional meant the patriarchal family with men holding the prominent role of breadwinner in the family. Women stayed home to raise and nurture the children. This arrangement has been questioned, especially as vast numbers of women enter the workforce and improve their education. The position taken here is that although women have made strides in developing their autonomy, they frequently do not feel that they have an equal partnership in their intimate relationships. Men also feel a growing dissatisfaction with their positions in relation to women. The paper discusses the reasons why, despite changes in both society and attitudes of men and women towards their roles, there still exists inequality between the sexes in their lives together. Discussed, as well, is how this inequality negatively affects intimate relationships. Finally, the paper will suggest ways that men and women and society can remedy the situation and encourage greater fulfillment in love.     

The Lure of Motherhood

A multivariate exploration of motivations for parenthood in 184 unmarried, childless, female college undergraduates indicated that positive memories of early childhood maternal love, traditional feminine sex-role identification and antifeminist sympathy were the primary unique psychological variables accounting for expressed desire for children. Significantly correlated with parenthood motivation, but not contributing uniquely, were memories of father's loving care, perceptions of maternal success at, and enjoyment of, childrearing, and happiness of childhood. Women from large families (three or more siblings) expressed more desire for children than women from smaller families. Religious affiliation and birth order were not related to motivation.     

Gender Differences in Family Communication About Organ Donation

In this study we investigated gender differences in willingness to donate organs and conversations with family members about organ donation. Results from a snowball sample of 353 men and 488 women (average age = 41–50) indicated that men are less willing to donate and less likely to have conversations about organ donation. When such conversations do occur, men are less likely to include within them topics of conversation that are associated with more positive responses from family members. Women are more likely to include a mention of their desire to donate organs, discussion of the need for organs, and an explanation of why they would/would not like to donate their organs. They are also more likely to mention moral/altruistic/religious reasons for donation or to tell/use a narrative in the discussion. Men, however, more commonly discussed whether signing a donation card would affect medical care. Women report higher agreed compliance from family members. Directions are provided for future research and campaign development by taking these differences into consideration.     

Family background,sex-role attitudes,and life goals of technical college and university students

Questionnaires that assessed family background, educational goals, career goals, preferred and expected career commitment, and sex-role attitudes were completed by 763 male and female undergraduates. The women expressed significantly more nontraditional goals and attitudes than women in previous studies, but the female respondents' goals and attitudes differ significantly from their male classmates. The correlations between several sex-role-related goals and attitudes are significant for both men and women. Parents' educational attainment, mothers' careers, and religious upbringing are the background variables that most strongly predict traditional/nontraditional goals and sex-role attitudes. The predictive powers of the background traits differ for men and women, and these results are often inconsistent with results of previous studies. Implications for related research are discussed.This article is based in part on the author's doctoral dissertation, submited to The Ohio State University, Department of Psychology, August 1977. The author wishes to thank Susan R. Vogel and Martha Romeskie for their thoughtful criticisms of an earlier draft of this article, and committee members Samuel Osipow, Saul Siegel, Nancy Betz, and Mari Jones for their assistance with the dissertation.     

EQUAL WORTH AND GRACIOUS SUBMISSION

The relationship between Judeo-Christian beliefs and attitudes toward employed women was examined. Participants ( N = 9,742) responded to the National Opinion Research Center's General Social Survey (Davis & Smith, 1996a). Attitudes toward employed women varied by strength of religiosity, gender, religious affiliation, and year; as strength of religiosity increased, attitudes became more traditional. Men had more traditional attitudes than women. The women who are more religious had attitudes that were more conservative than less religious women. Christians had more traditional attitudes than Jews and the nonreligious. Between 1985 and 1996, attitudes became less traditional. These findings suggest that attitudes toward working women are changing in a gradual manner, but that men and women hold very different attitudes about working women, even within the same religious affiliation.     

Self-esteem,self-concept,and the life goals and sex-role attitudes of college students1

Questionnaires that assessed self-esteem, self-concept, educational goals, career goals, preferred and expected career commitment, and sex-role attitudes were completed by 884 male and female undergraduates representing two racial groups and two age groups. Men and women did not differ significantly in terms of self-esteem, but the men described themselves as more attractive than did the women in their age group. For the 18–25-year-old white women, an intelligent, unconventional, and/or nonreligious self-concept predicts nontraditional goals and feminist attitudes, and the interaction between self-esteem and socioeconomic status influences educational goals and sex-role attitudes. For the 18–25-year-old white men, a physically strong and intelligent self-concept predicts higher educational goals and traditional career goals, and lower self-described strength and religiousness and greater intelligence predict more feminist attitudes. Physical self-concept is unrelated to goals or attitudes for the female samples. Self-concept is less strongly predictive of goals and attitudes for the black women and the older men and women. Possible reasons for the sample differences and implications for related research are discussed.     

GENDER, JOB AND FAMILY CONDITIONS, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS

This study examined the hypothesis that gender differences in psycho-logical distress are mediated by job and family role conditions. Previous research has failed to directly test such mediational hypotheses but rather has inferred effects of role conditions from simple role-occupancy variables. The sample consisted of full-time employed married respondents including 161 women with full-time employed spouses, 142 men with nonemployed spouses, and 126 men with full-time employed spouses. Although the sample reported low psychological symptomatology overall, the women in dual-earner families reported more psychological symptomatology than did either group of men. Hierarchical regression equations indicated that work and family conditions fully attenuated this gender differential. Women in dual-earner families also reported less job enrichment, less time at work, and more household labor inequity than did either group of men. They also reported more childcare difficulty than did men with nonemployed spouses. Work-family interference predicted psychological symptomatology and partially accounted for its relationship with some job and family conditions. We discuss processes through which gender affects psychological distress.     

The relationship between sex roles,fertility, and family size preferences

Interviews regarding sex-role attitudes, sex-role behaviors, fertility, and fertility preferences were conducted with 583 currently married women aged 18 through 49. Separate correlational analyses for blacks, Anglos, and Hispanic women revealed that for Anglos and blacks sex-role attitudes appeared to be more highly associated with children raised and desired fertility than did division of household tasks and decisions. Past and present role behavior outside of the family (i.e., employment experience) were related to fertility and fertility preferences for all three groups. A path analysis, applied for Anglos only, indicated that number of children raised may influence sex-role behavior and attitudes which, in turn, may influence current fertility desires. However, the variable with the largest direct effect on total children desired was the number of children one already has. Various dimensions of sex roles influenced fertility desires in different ways. Traditionalism of attitudes had a positive effect while relative performance of feminine tasks had a negative effect on total number of children wanted.     

The Portrayal of Men's Family Roles in Television Commercials

This study examines the portrayal of men infamily roles, as fathers and husbands, on televisioncommercials. A content analysis of commercials airedduring football, daytime, and prime time is carried out. The sample size of characters is 944, mostof whom are middle-class, non-Hispanic whites. Men withchildren but no spouse are more likely to be shownduring football than are women with children but no spouse. Advertisements for computers andelectronics are more likely to include men with childrenbut no spouse than women with children but no spouse.Men appearing alone with children are more likely to be shown outside than women alone withchildren. Men are less likely to be portrayed cooking,cleaning, washing dishes, and shopping than women. Menwithout spouses are more likely to be shown with boys and less likely to be shown with infants thanwomen without spouses. Men are infrequently shown takingcare of a child and are never shown caring for girls.However, men are often shown teaching, reading, talking, eating, and playing with children. Tothe extent that men are shown as more involved in familylife, they still tend to depend largely on knowledge andactivities that are stereotypically male.     

A Field Study of Sex-role Attitude Change in College Women

Two field studies are presented which examine to what extent women's studies courses are effective in changing sex-role attitudes in college women. Factor analyses were performed on the questionnaire data to produce summary variables for the change analysis and to examine the structure of sex-role ideology. The results, consistent in both studies, showed the women's sex-role beliefs are comprised of definable areas and that awareness of sex discrimination and traditional beliefs regarding the proper roles for men and women are more susceptible to influence than are other types of variables.     

Gender differences in stress reactions: Women filling the gaps

Abstract

Competing hypotheses explaining gender differences in depression were compared in a one-year longitudinal study of parents of ill children in Israel. Women were found to have more depressed mood than men when their children were ill or well, but both men and women responded with increased depression when their child was ill. Women were more likely than men to be with an ill child at the hospital, even if employed, suggesting role overload. Women did not report fewer personal or social resources than men, indicating that poverty of resources could not explain sex differences on depression. Nor did women use their resources less effectively than did men. Women were less depressed the greater their intimacy with their spouse and friends, but at all levels of intimacy were more depressed than men. Men, in contrast, isolated themselves from social support at the time of their child's illness and it was argued that men might be avoiding stress contagion. The importance of examining differential responding of men and women to stressors that have common meaning for both sexes was discussed.     

Self-objectification and ideal body shape for men and women

Objectification theory posits that valuing one's body for appearance rather than performance is associated with a range of negative psychological outcomes. This theory has been tested in women, but has received less empirical attention in men. This study examined the relation between self-objectification and ideal body shape in both men and women. One hundred eighty-three college students (111 women, 72 men) completed a questionnaire containing measures of self-objectification and ideal body shape (using a figure array ranging from non-muscular to very muscular). Consistent with hypotheses, women desired a less muscular body and men desired a more muscular body. Women also self-objectified more than men. In addition, there was an interaction between sex and self-objectification on ideal body shape. For women, higher self-objectification scores were related to a desire for a less muscular body. For men, higher self-objectification scores were related to a desire for a more muscular body. Self-objectification theory is a useful framework for understanding body image issues in men. However, the relation between self-objectification and other body related variables may differ for men and women.     

The role of sex and family variables in burnout

Two survey studies were conducted to assess the relationship of demographic variables to the experience of job burnout. Contrary to earlier hypotheses that women are more vulnerable to this form of job stress, the results show that women do slightly better than men. However, this difference is rather small, which suggests that the sex of the employee is not a major factor in burnout. Other results show that employees who were married or who had children experienced less burnout. Job category was also an important predictor. The findings are discussed in terms of sex-role socialization, sex-typed occupations, and social support systems.The research described in this article was supported by a Ford Foundation grant to the Center for the Study, Education and Advancement of Women, University of California, Berkeley; and by Biomedical Sciences Support Grant 3-SO5-RR-07006-08S1.     

Assessing gender differences in the relationship between religious coping responses and alcohol consumption

The purpose of this study is to see if the use of religious coping responses is associated with alcohol intake. In addition, tests are conducted to see if the relationship between religion and alcohol use varies by gender. Data from a recent nationwide survey (N?=?2173) indicate that greater use of religious coping responses is associated with less alcohol consumption. The findings further reveal that even though women use religious coping responses more often than men, the relationship between the use of religious coping responses and alcohol consumption is stronger for men than for women. This suggests that, with respect to alcohol consumption, men may benefit more from using religious coping responses than women. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed.     

Ambivalent Sexism, Gender, and Major as Predictors of Turkish College Students’ Attitudes Toward Women and Men’s Atypical Educational Choices

The aim of the study was to investigate how ambivalent gender attitudes (hostile/benevolent sexism; hostility/benevolence toward men), plus gender and major predict attitudes toward men studying social sciences and women studying natural sciences in Turkey, where gender attitudes are relatively traditional. Undergraduates (N?=?215, mean age?=?21.16) completed scales of Ambivalent Sexism, Ambivalence toward Men, Attitudes toward Men in Social Sciences (AMSS), and Attitudes toward Women in Natural Sciences (AWNS). Although AMSS and AWNS were positive, men and natural-science majors had less positive AMSS and AWNS. Men in social sciences were perceived more negatively than women in natural sciences. Gender and hostile sexism predicted AWNS; gender, major, and benevolence toward men predicted AMSS. Implications for status relations are discussed.