Breadwinner and caregiver: A cross‐sectional analysis of children's and emerging adults’ visions of their future family roles

Participants were 150 school‐age boys and girls, 58 high school students, and 145 university students drawn from communities in the Southeastern United States. In this cross‐sectional study, family role attitudes and expectations were examined across development. Parental work traditionality (occupational prestige and traditionality, and employed hours) predicted daughters’ social role attitudes and plans for future family roles, such that daughters’ envisioned families resembled that of their parents. Sons’ and daughters’ own attitudes about adult family roles predicted their plans to work or stay home with their future children; however, mothers’ work traditionality predicted daughters’ future plans over and above daughters’ own attitudes. The only exception to this was in the case of university daughters, where university women's attitudes about social roles fully mediated this relationship. It may be that, as young women approach adulthood and the formation of families, they adjust their vision of their future self to match more closely their own attitudes about the caregiving role.     

Generational Differences in Gender Attitudes Between Parents and Grown Offspring

This study examined generational differences in gender attitudes between parents and grown offspring, including the extent to which these differences vary in families with daughters vs families with sons and in African American vs European American families. Participants included 158 African American and European American men and women (aged 22 to 49 years), their mothers, and their fathers (N?=?474) recruited predominantly through purchased telephone lists. Participants completed a self-report measure of gender attitudes toward marital and childrearing roles. Mixed method ANOVAs revealed offspring were less traditional than parents, although there were greater generational differences in attitudes between mothers and daughters and in European American families. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for family roles and relationships.     

Avoiding Disappointment or Fulfilling Expectation: A Study of Gender,Academic Achievement,and Family Functioning among Hong Kong Adolescents

This paper explores the relationship between gender, academic achievement, and family functioning in a Chinese cultural background. Primary and secondary school students (n?=?1597) in Hong Kong participated in a survey questionnaire. Two competing hypotheses are derived and empirically tested based on the idea that parents are likely to have higher expectations toward their sons. First, when boys perform well academically, their parents might not feel particularly overjoyed because their sons simply achieved what they were expected to, which would not affect the parents’ attitudes within the family and thus the boys’ perceptions of the family. Second, when parents have such high expectations for their sons, they would feel particularly satisfied when the outcome fulfills their high expectations. The results indicated that boys did well academically to prevent their parents from potential disappointment, whereas parents were actually happier if their daughters overachieve because they have lower initial expectations. Such differences affected parents’ attitudes, family functioning, and thus adolescents’ view of family. The results of this study carry implications for the study of family functioning and parenting among Chinese families. In particular, parents should avoid having gender-based expectations toward their children, which could adversely affect how boys view their family.     

Turkish Family Members’ Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men

This study examined familial patterns of attitudes toward lesbians (AT-Lesbians) and toward gay men (AT-Gay) by using Herek’s (1998) short-form of AT-Lesbian and AT-Gay scales. The participants were 116 college students (47 males, 69 females) and their parents (116 mothers, 116 fathers) located in the West Anatolian region of Turkey. Results point to significant differences between parents and their daughters, but not between parents and their sons. Fathers expressed relatively negative attitudes toward gay men, whereas mothers’ expressed similar attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. Sons’ attitudes did not differ significantly across attitude targets, whereas daughters expressed relatively negative attitudes toward lesbians. Maternal attitudes appeared to be the most effective predictor for young childrens’ attitudes toward lesbians and gay men.     

Attitudes toward women and their work roles: Effects of intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations

This study examined the effects of personal religious orientation, religious denomination, and gender on attitudes toward women and their work roles using a sample of 263 single undergraduate university students. Subjects with a high intrinsic religious orientation put significantly more emphasis on family than career in their anticipated general lifestyle relative to those with a low intrinsic religious orientation. Subjects with a high intrinsic religious orientation were also more likely to anticipate the female spouse spending less time in a profession during the children's early years. Males showed more traditional attitudes toward women than females, but there were no gender effects on measures of preferred general lifestyle, preferred child-care distribution, or preferred career involvement for the wife. Subjects belonging to mainline and conservative denomination did not differ significantly in their attitudes toward women or their work roles.     

Families with disabled children: Stress and social networks in three samples

Mothers and fathers of 125 handicapped/chronically ill children were compared with parents of 127 matched nondisabled children from three separate samples with respect to personal stress, marital satisfaction, and social network size and density. Only mothers of disabled children experienced higher levels of stress than comparison parents. No differences were found in marital satisfaction. Few group differences were found for social network variables, although mothers of handicapped children had higher-density networks than comparison mothers. A series of ANOVAs examined differences among the three types of families of handicapped children. Significant differences among the groups were found for social network but not family stress variables. The results are discussed in terms of general differences between families with and without a disabled child, and point to the need to identify patterns within different types of family systems in conducting future research in this area.Portions of this paper were presented to the annual meeting of the National Council on Family Relations, Family and Health Section, November 1985, Dallas. This research was supported, in part, by grants from the Temple University Biomedical Research Support Program and the Temple University Grant in Aid of Faculty Research. The author wishes to thank staff and participants from St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, Philadelphia, PA, The Children's Rehabilitation Center of the University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville, VA, and The Woodhaven Center, Philadelphia, PA.     

Variables differentiating affective interaction in a family therapy and a control group: Father-child welfare and mother-child emergency affect

In this study of 37 pre-therapy and 23 matched control families who never sought family therapy, father-child welfare affect and mother-child emergency affect were significantly higher in the control families. Control families were found generally to express more Welfare and Emergency emotion. Affective expression between parents did not significantly differentiate the groups.This study has been supported by Grant No. MA-4510 of the Medical Research Council of Canada and was presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, September 1983. The authors wish to express their thanks to Toby Schwartz, Harriet Gold-Kaats, and Terry Tannenbaum-Dascal, who acted as coders and research assistants; Joseph Beltempo, BSc, who helped in the statistical analysis; and James Robbins, PhD, who gave much valuable advice.     

Grandmothers and Mothers: An Intergenerational Comparison of Child-rearing Practices with Pre-schoolers

Changes towards modernity in attitudes and behaviours in child-rearing come slowly. Stresses may arise in families when the developmental understandings of grandparents and parents lead to incompatible beliefs and practices. This research used in-depth, personal and separate interviews with 126 subjects, grandmothers and their grown daughters, to ascertain domains of congruence and of disparity in the child-rearing attitudes and techniques reported by each respondent. Greater awareness of areas where grandparents and parents agree and where they differ can lead to more efforts to understand each other's viewpoints and to reconcile differences which otherwise might lead to feelings of alienation or rejection between family members from different generations.     

A Study of Black and White College Women

In an examination of career aspirations, 101 black and 530 white college women were asked to indicate their occupational and educational plans, important considerations for career choices, and their attitudes toward combining the roles of career and family. Results indicated that women who planned careers in male-dominated occupations had higher career and educational aspirations than women who desired careers in femaledominated occupations. Black women who planned careers in male-dominated professions showed high levels of aspirations, planned more education than was necessary for the desired occupations, and perceived less conflict in combining the roles of career and family than their white counterparts. There were few differences between black and white women in their attitudes toward the traditional roles of men and women. Those choosing female-dominated careers, however, had more traditional attitudes regardless of race. Implications of these findings for the influence of occupational gender dominance on career aspirations are discussed.     

Permanency planning and social service systems: A comparison of two families with prenatally substance exposed infants

An innovative program developed to work with families in which substance use during pregnancy leads to Child Protective Services involvement is introduced in this article. The Vulnerable Infants Program of Rhode Island (VIP‐RI) was established to facilitate permanency planning for substance‐exposed infants by focusing on the interface of social service systems with one another and with the families affected by perinatal substance use. Permanent placement within the time frame mandated by federal legislation places increased pressures on parents and the social service systems designed to provide them with assistance. The Vulnerable Infants Program of Rhode Island promotes collaboration, coordination, and communication among social service systems engaged with families of substance‐exposed infants. The Vulnerable Infants Program of Rhode Island works to increase the efficacy of social service systems in order to optimize the resources that are available to a family in their attempts at reunification with their infant. Case examples illustrate the complexities of the families of substance‐exposed infants, the breadth of social service systems that become involved with these families, and the vastly different placement outcomes that substance‐exposed infants may experience.     

Links between family gender socialization experiences in childhood and gendered occupational attainment in young adulthood

Gendered occupational segregation remains prevalent across the world. Although research has examined factors contributing to the low number of women in male-typed occupations – namely science, technology, engineering, and math – little longitudinal research has examined the role of childhood experiences in both young women's and men's later gendered occupational attainment. This study addressed this gap in the literature by examining family gender socialization experiences in middle childhood – namely parents' attitudes and work and family life – as contributors to the gender typicality of occupational attainment in young adulthood. Using data collected from mothers, fathers, and children over approximately 15 years, the results revealed that the associations between childhood socialization experiences (~ 10 years old) and occupational attainment (~ 26 years old) depended on the sex of the child. For sons but not daughters, mothers' more traditional attitudes toward women's roles predicted attaining more gender-typed occupations. In addition, spending more time with fathers in childhood predicted daughters attaining less and sons acquiring more gender-typed occupations in young adulthood. Overall, evidence supports the idea that childhood socialization experiences help to shape individuals' career attainment and thus contribute to gender segregation in the labor market.     

Perfectionism,social problem-solving ability,and psychological distress

The present research examined the relation between dimensions of perfectionism and self-appraised problem-solving behaviors and attitudes. Specifically, in two separate studies, we tested the hypothesis that socially prescribed perfectionism (i.e., the perception that others demand perfection from the self) is associated with poorer social problem-solving ability. In addition, measures of psychological adjustment were included in Study 2 so that we could (1) examine whether socially prescribed perfectionism and poorer problem-solving ability were still associated after removing variance associated with psychological distress; and (2) compare depression and anxiety in terms of their respective associations with social problem-solving ability. Correlational analyses of the data from both studies confirmed that socially prescribed perfectionism is associated with more negative self-perceptions of problem-solving orientation, and that the link between socially prescribed perfectionism and negative perceptions of problem-solving orientation remains present after removing variance due to levels of negative affectivity. Both depression and anxiety were associated with a negative problem-solving orientation, but only depression was associated with more negative appraisals of actual problem-solving skills. The results suggest that perceived exposure to imposed standards of perfection undermines the problem-solving process and that individuals with high levels of socially prescribed perfectionism are particularly in need of counseling interventions designed to provide a more positive problem-solving orientation.This research was supported by grants #410-91-0856 and #410-93-1256 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1994 annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association in Providence, Rhode Island. The authors wish to thank Shawn Mosher for his assistance with the data collection.     

Work–family planning attitudes among emerging adults

Using social learning theory as a framework, we explore two sets of antecedents to work and family role planning attitudes among emerging adults: their work–family balance self-efficacy and their perceptions of their parents' work-to-family conflict. A total of 187 college students completed a questionnaire concerning their work–family balance self-efficacy, their perceptions of their parents' work-to-family conflict, and their work and family role planning attitudes. Participants' work–family balance self-efficacy was positively related to their knowledge of and commitment to future work and family roles. In addition, perceptions of their same-gender parent's work-to-family conflict were positively related to knowledge of, commitment to, and involvement in planning for future work and family roles. Results suggest that enhancing emerging adults' self-efficacy to balance work and family may improve their attitudes toward planning for future work and family roles. Also, emerging adults appear to be more knowledgeable of, involved in, and committed to planning for work and family roles when their same-gender parents expose them to, rather than shield them from, work-to-family conflict.     

Young Adults' Anticipated Identity Importance of Career, Marital, and Parental Roles: Comparisons of Men and Women with Different Role Balance Orientations

This article discusses two studies that exploredcollege students' role balance expectations for theirfuture career, marital, and parental identities.Participants were primarily Caucasian. In the first study, men and women who were family, balanced,career, or career/marriage oriented were compared.Variation within gender, especially for women, in theareas of gender attitudes, gender attributes, role identity salience, and anticipated roleacquisition were found. Similarities between gender alsoemerged. The second study examined young adults'perceptions of their parents' identity importance androle balance orientations. Although some genderdifferences emerged, young men and women holding thesame role balance orientation were often similar intheir perceptions of their parents. Taken together,these studies provide evidence that contradictsprevious assumptions about gender differences inexpectations for work and family roles.     

Parent-child conversations about science: the socialization of gender inequities?

This study investigated the family as a context for the gender typing of science achievement. Adolescents (N = 52) from 2 age levels (mean ages = 11 and 13 years) participated with their mothers and fathers on separate occasions; families were from predominantly middle-income European American backgrounds. Questionnaires measured the parents' and the child's attitudes. Each parent also engaged his or her child in 4 structured teaching activities (including science and nonscience tasks). There were no child gender or grade-level differences in children's science-related grades, self-efficacy, or interest. However, parents were more likely to believe that science was less interesting and more difficult for daughters than sons. In addition, parents' beliefs significantly predicted children's interest and self-efficacy in science. When parents' teaching language was examined, fathers tended to use more cognitively demanding speech with sons than with daughters during one of the science tasks.     

Parent and Adolescent Gender Role Attitudes in 1990s Great Britain

Using data from the British Household Panel Survey, this short-term longitudinal study examined relationships between early- and mid-adolescents' gender role attitudes and the attitudes of their parents. Between 1994 and 1997, 602 families answered questions about the roles of husbands and wives, and whether or not having a working mother is harmful to families. Results confirmed that the gender differences that have been found consistently in the literature regarding adults extend back into early adolescence. Adolescent girls' attitudes were markedly more nontraditional than all other family members. However, results only partially supported our hypotheses regarding family influence on attitudes. In particular, we found little evidence that adolescent attitudes would more closely resemble those of the same-gender parent. Analysis of individual questions supports arguments that gender roles are complex and socially determined, and that British men of both adult and adolescent generations have begun in principle to accept nontraditional roles for wives but are less willing to support any erosion of male power in the family.     

The relationships of career salience,attitudes toward women,and demographic and family characteristics to marital adjustment in dual-career couples

Facilitation of women's increasing involvement and satisfaction in career pursuits necessitates understanding of ways in which multiple roles may be managed and integrated by both women and men. Accordingly, the present study was designed to investigate predictors of levels of marital adjustment in dual-career couples. Both husbands and wives in 42 dual-career couples completed Greenhaus' Career Salience scale, the Attitudes toward Women scale, the Dyadic Adjustment scale, and a demographic information questionnaire. Results indicated, first, that the dual-career couples studied reported relatively high levels of marital adjustment, relatively profeminist attitudes toward women, and moderate levels of career salience; family interests were ranked as more important than were career interests. Second, higher levels of marital adjustment in both husbands and wives were found in couples in which the wife was more highly educated and which had relatively high combined incomes. In addition, greater marital adjustment in husbands was related to higher levels of career salience among wives. Contrary to expectation, husbands' attitudes toward women's roles were unrelated to their levels of marital adjustment. Implications for further research on dual-career couples and for the successful integration of career and family roles are discussed.     

Relationship of Children's Daytime Behavior Problems With Bedtime Routines/Practices: A Family Context and the Consideration of Faux-ADHD

The study examined the relationship between childhood daytime behavior problems and bedtime routines and practices. Participants were 704 parents of children ages 2–13 who completed a questionnaire in 14 pediatric offices in Providence, Rhode Island. Of particular interest was the highly significant relationship (p-value < 0.0001) between children who bed share or lack regular bedtimes and whose parents are told they should take medicine for behavior or learning problems; and between children who bed share and have physically aggressive behavior toward a parent. Recommendations were made regarding integration of the results in the context of family treatment as well as the consideration of a faux-ADHD.     

Parents' gender-based attitudes toward marital roles and child rearing: Development and validation of new measures

Factor analysis of 18 Likert-type items dealing with gender stereotypes about family roles was conducted and yielded two measures: one focused on marital roles and one focussed on child rearing. Respondents were parents of children in the third and fourth grades of a large industrialized city in the Midwest. The sample included 364 families equally divided between middle and lower class with 23% African American and 77% European American. For both scales, more stereotyped scores were obtained by parents who were lower in social status, less educated, full-time homemakers, African Americans, and fathers. Parents' scores related to a separate measure of children's stereotypes and the marital-role attitudes related to actual roles reported by family members. Daughters whose parents obtained less stereotyped scores had a more internal locus of control, showed a trend toward more independent coping skills, and—in the middle class—obtained higher scores on achievement tests.This research was supported by Grant No. 91-1437-91 from the William T. Grant Foundation.     

Young Adults' Attitudes toward Multiple Role Planning: The Influence of Gender, Career Traditionality, and Marriage Plans

This study examined personal and relationship influences on attitudes toward multiple role planning, specifically preparing to combine work and partnership roles. Survey data were collected from 66 young adult heterosexual couples. Results revealed that marriage plans related positively to knowledge and certainty about multiple role planning. Gender and career traditionality interacted with marriage plans in its influence on commitment to and involvement in multiple roles. Moreover, attitudes toward multiple role planning mediated the association between marriage plans and planning activity for work-family balance. Implications for research and application in multiple role planning are addressed.