Why Expecting Conflict Is Good

To understand whether young women's expectations of marriage-career role conflict may lead to strategic plans for combining roles and more successful role combination, data were analyzed from 117 women, primarily Caucasian, completing surveys in the Women's Life Paths Study in 1967 as college seniors and again in 1981. Seniors who wanted careers but anticipated conflict more often combined marriage and full-time career in 1981 than did those who wanted careers but expected no conflict. The latter combined marriage and career even less often than did those not initially wanting careers. Those who expected conflict asserted their career intentions with spouses, postponed childbearing, and had fewer children by 1981. Women not combining roles in 1981 most often reported conflict. Women with supportive partners less often reported conflict.     

Balancing Act: Career and Family During College-Educated Women’s 30s

We assessed career, marriage, and motherhood expectations of 118 White Women and 82 Women of Color in 1993, when they were seniors at five northeastern U.S. colleges. Sixteen years later, in 2009, 77.5 % responded to our survey and answered questions about their career, marriage, motherhood, attitudes, and life satisfaction outcomes. As seniors, they wanted it all, career, marriage, and motherhood. In 2009, nearly two thirds were employed full time, 91 % had married, nearly three quarters were mothers, and about 57 % were combining full-time employment and motherhood. Comparisons are made among three role-status outcome groups: Have It All (mothers, employed full time); Traditional (mothers, employed part time or not at all), and Employed Only (childfree, employed full time). Educational level of the women did not predict role status. Spouses’ educational level relative to the women’s predicted role status, with Have It All women more likely to be married to less educated spouses than Traditional or Employed Only women. The role-status groups did not differ in their attitudes toward women in general, but Have It All mothers had lower levels of employment-related concerns about separation from their children than Traditional mothers. Most of the women still wanted to have it all. Many Traditional women looked forward to returning to employment, and many of the Employed Only women wanted to have children. Being a mother was associated with higher life satisfaction than being childfree. Results are discussed in terms of multiple-role theory and the positive influence of having family roles in the mix.     

THE INFLUENCE OF MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS ON WOMEN'S SENSE OF SELF AND CURRENT ROLE CHOICES

This study investigates the relationship of women's current role choices, role satisfaction, and self-esteem to their perceptions of the earlier relationship with their mothers and to their perceptions of their mothers' role choices and role satisfaction. Sixty-seven married women with preschool children were interviewed and completed self-report inventories. Results indicated that the women's primary role decisions of career, non-career work, or homemaking did not parallel those of their mothers but was related to their mothers' messages to them. In addition, career women and women at home reported having more choice in their decisions than did non-career working women. Women's self-esteem and role satisfaction were significantly enhanced ( p <.05) when the relationship with the mother was perceived as loving and accepting, with low hostility and low psychological control. In contrast, women's self-esteem and role satisfaction were generally unrelated to the retrospective reports of the mothers' roles and role satisfaction.     

Career or marriage?: Aspirations and achievements of able young women

Women who won National Merit Scholarships during the years 1956–1960 were followed up in 1965 to determine their marriage and/or career plans. Each of the 883 women was classified into one of five groups: marriage only, marriage with deferred career, marriage with immediate career, career only, or uncertain. Altogether, 85% of them said that they definitely planned on having a career. The educational and career field aspirations of these groups differed considerably, however, and those seeking an immediate career scored higher on scholastic ability tests than those who either planned no career or who planned to delay entering them. The groups also differed in their expression of problems encountered in making and implementing their plans as well as problems experienced because of being a woman.     

Stability and change in role innovation and life plans

Trends in women's labor force participation between 1967 and 1981 are noted as background to this 14-year longitudinal study of 117 women who graduated from college in 1967 and were studied in 1967, 1970, and 1981. The women represent a stratified random sample of the graduating class of 1967 from one large midwestern university. The three strata are role-innovators (women in male-dominated occupations, traditionals (women in female-dominated occupations), and moderates (women in occupations having 30 to 50% women). Samplewide changes are consistent with national trends: increased employment, increased role-innovation, greater educational achievement, and later and smaller families than expected in 1967. There was also a dramatic increase in perceived conflict between marriage and career. Within these trends, however, large parts of the sample showed strong consistency: 81% of the original role innovators and 69% of the original traditionals were still role-innovators and traditionals, respectively, in 1981. This longer term consistency overrode a great deal of temporary change in the traditional direction between 1967 and 1970, particularly for the role innovators and moderates. Much of this temporary shift was associated with early child rearing. Factors associated with increased role innovation and increased traditionality were the importance women gave to having a career, the relative priorities they placed on career vs family, their expectations of marriage-career conflict, and their expections of husband's acceptance of their career. Increased role innovation was also associated with attaining more education, not marrying, and having fewer children.     

Married with children: the experience of women ministers of word and sacrament in the United Reformed Church

The experience of women being admitted to full ministry has a much longer history within the Free Churches than in the Anglican Church, although from the way in which the Church of England debate on women priests and bishops has been reported this is often not acknowledged. The United Reformed Church (URC) has given equal access for men and women to ministry from the date of the union in 1972 between the Congregational Church and the Presbyterian Church. Both denominations have a long history of women in ministry. This paper examines the experience of 50 URC clergywomen who combine marriage, children and ministry to explore their experience of ministry, marriage and motherhood. The findings demonstrate that, overall, the women’s experience is mixed, although the general expectation among congregations and moderators is that women are the primary care‐givers within the family. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

College attendance and persistence among hispanic women: An examination of some contributing factors

The relationship of various factors associated with college attendance and persistence for Hispanic women was investigated using the High School and Beyond data base. Socioeconomic background, educational aspirations, culture and language background, availability of financial aid, cultural shock, sex role socialization variables, and college preparation courses have all been identified in the literature as important factors influencing the college going and attendance patterns of Hispanic women. Using the 1982 First Follow-up data from the High School and Beyond Survey, the relative importance of these measures on college-going behavior was analyzed. Educational aspirations were found to be the most important predictor of college attendance and persistence. Sex role socialization was also found to be an important factor in explaining the college behavior patterns of Hispanic women. Women who delayed marriage and having a family were found to pursue a college career more often and tended to persist in college longer than those women who followed traditional sex role patterns. In addition, Hispanic women whose mothers had a college education were more likely to attend college themselves. Interestingly, participation in college preparation courses was found to rank much lower in importance than previously mentioned factors.     

The dimensions of career and work orientation in college women

The purpose of this study was to clarify the meaning of the construct, career orientation. Fourteen presumed measures of career orientation as well as Super's Work Values Inventory were administered to college women. Analysis of the relationships among these variables identified two relatively independent clusters. The first cluster most closely approximated the usual definition of career orientation. Career-oriented women were found to be highly career motivated and perceived the career role as primary in their adult lives. The second cluster was called work orientation. This orientation characterized women with well-defined occupational aspirations who placed a high value on both the career role and marriage-family responsibilities in their future. Work-oriented women tended to choose traditionally feminine occupations in contrast to the career-oriented women whose aspirations included higher level and less traditional occupations.     

Studies of the effects of career interest inventories: Expanding outcome criteria to include women's experiences

It is proposed here that the goal of understanding individual satisfaction with work involves the perception of how work fits into a life pattern. This perspective should assist in explaining the occupational patterns and labor force participation of women. Current research on women's experience supports the need for expansion of outcome criteria in studies of effects. In particular, there is a need for outcome measures related to type of role explored (vocational, marital, parental) and decision area (occupation, marriage, and parent). Recently reviews of the effects on students of taking interest inventories and of the effects of career interventions more generally have derived primarily from views of the career development of men. Adding outcome measures in the roles and decision areas should increase the relationship between studies of effects and the experience of women.     

Relation of Maternal Role Concepts to Parenting, Employment Choices, and Life Satisfaction Among Japanese Women

Japanese women are often described as heavily invested in the role of mother, yet young women in contemporary Japan are increasingly likely to postpone or opt out of marriage and child rearing. To understand the psychological dynamics of parenting among Japanese women who have chosen to become mothers, we examined the relation of maternal role salience beliefs, personal maternal role commitment, and parenting self-efficacy to life satisfaction, number of children, and employment status. Survey data were obtained from 116 urban Japanese women with children in the 2nd grade. Mothers with more children expressed greater personal role commitment. Those who had sought employment were less likely to hold strong maternal role salience beliefs. Life satisfaction was predicted by having more children, feeling efficacious as a parent, and being employed. These findings suggest that even in a society characterized by strong normative expectations for women, women's life satisfaction and choices about family life and employment are related to individual beliefs, attitudes, and judgments about their role.     

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.     

Sex Role Expectations in Children's Vocational Aspirations and Perceptions of Occupations

To study sex role expectations, 120 boys and girls from three age groups—preschool, second grade, and fifth grade—in two socioeconomic levels were asked to name their vocational aspirations and to choose whether a man, woman, or both could do the work in 30 occupations depicted in a slide-tape series. Results indicated that sex typing was present in the way their aspirations conformed to traditional sex roles, with a significant relationship (p <.001) between sex typing of aspirations and sex of the respondents. Significant differences in responses to the occupational slides were found on the variables of sex (p <.01), grade level (p <.001), and socioeconomic level (p <.05), with greater sex typing indicated by boys than girls, by preschool children than by older children, and by lower to lower-middle class children than by middle to upper-middle class children. The study revealed a disparity between many children's perceptions of occupations as ones in which both sexes could work and their own personalized, sex-typed aspirations.     

Gender Role Attitudes and Careers: A Longitudinal Study

Data from the Monitoring the Future Study were used to examine the impact of early gender role attitudes on later career outcomes for women and men. We also examined the impact of marriage, children, and labor market outcomes on changes in gender role attitudes. Women’s early gender role attitudes predicted their later work hours and earnings. Women’s work hours predicted their later gender egalitarianism. Children were negatively associated with later gender egalitarianism for both women and men. Findings indicated that gender role attitudes influence subsequent behavior, but they may also be adjusted to accommodate to situational constraints.     

金融危机背景下家庭社会地位对大三学生择业动机的影响：社会支配倾向的中介作用

以504名来自5所高校三年级大学本科生为被试,采用问卷法收集数据,探讨了家庭社会地位对大学生择业动机的影响。结果表明：（1）家庭社会地位对大学生内部择业动机具有显著的预测作用,家庭社会地位越高,内部择业动机越强;（2）社会支配倾向对家庭社会地位与内部择业动机之间的关系起中介作用,家庭社会地位通过社会支配倾向对内部择业动机产生间接影响;（3）未发现家庭社会地位、社会支配倾向与外部择业动机之间的显著相关。     

Intention to communicate BRCA1/BRCA2 genetic test results to the family.

Guided by the theory of planned behavior, this analysis explores the communication skills of women who had genetic testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2. The key outcome was intention to tell test results to adult first-degree relatives. The theory predicts that global and specific attitudes, global and specific perceived social norms, and perceived control will influence the communication of genetic test results. A logistic regression model revealed that global attitude (p < .05), specific social influence (p < .01), and perceived control (p < .05) were significant predictors of intention to tell. When gender and generation of relatives were added to the regression, participants were more likely to convey genetic test results to female than to male relatives (p < .05) and were also more likely to communicate test results to children (p < .01) or siblings (p < .05) than to parents. However, this association depended on knowing the relative's opinion of genetic testing. Intention to tell was lowest among participants who did not know their relative's opinion. These results extend the theory of planned behavior by showing that gender and generation influence intention when the relative's opinion is unknown.     

Interactions between mothers and children: impacts of maternal and child anxiety

This study, an expansion of an earlier study of parenting behaviors of anxious mothers, examined the relationship of both mother and child anxiety disorders to mother behavior in parent--child interactions. Participants were 68 mother--child dyads with children ranging in age from 7 to 15 years. Mothers and children completed diagnostic evaluations and engaged in conversational tasks; behaviors were rated by coders who were blind to diagnosis. Mothers of anxious children, regardless of their own anxiety, were less warm (p <.05) toward their children. They also granted less autonomy (p <.01). There was an interaction between mother and child anxiety in predicting maternal catastrophizing (p <.01), with anxious mothers and nonanxious mothers of anxious children likely to catastrophize. Theoretical and research implications are discussed.     

What’s In a Name? Marital Name Choice Revisited

In two studies we assessed the percentage of brides who chose nontraditional marital names and characteristics that were related to name choice. In Study 1 we analyzed wedding announcements from The New York Times, 1982–2002. In Study 2 we surveyed the name choices, reasons for them, and associated characteristics of a sample of 126 college-educated women who have been part of a longitudinal study since 1993. A substantial minority of brides (29%) chose nontraditional names in Study 1, whereas 46% did in Study 2; the difference reflects the higher proportion of Women of Color and the higher educational level of women in Study 2. Other characteristics associated with nontraditional naming were: older age at marriage, more feminist attitudes, higher career commitment, and less value of the role of mother.     

Abortion outcome as a function of sex-role identification

The present study investigated the relationship between sex-role identification and abortion outcome in 120 women receiving first trimester abortions. The sex-role concept dimension was measured both by self-attributions of sex-role traits (as measured by the Bern Sex-Role Inventory) and by life-style (career vs. homemaker) trait attributions. Psychological and physiological aspects of abortion outcome were included; slightly more than 7% of scores were in the symptomatic range, similar to percentages found in previous studies. Both Androgyny (r = -.42, p <.001) and Masculinity (r = -.23, p <.05) were found to be related to positive abortion outcome. Androgyny was more strongly related, which suggests that a balance of masculine and feminine traits, at least for women in the post-abortion situation, is preferable to high Masculinity scores alone. Congruence between one's self-image and one's image of a career woman was also found to be related to abortion outcome (r =.31, p <.01). In attempting to differentiate between the upper and lower 10% of the distribution of abortion outcome, only two variables, Androgyny and self-career congruence, survived parameter criterion, and accounted for 32% of the variance.     

Personality and Situation in the Prediction of Women's Life Patterns

The present study examined the importance of both personality variables and family situational variables in determining the career activities of young women. In a longitudinal design, family situational variables producing constraint (marriage and children) predicted strongly negatively both career persistence and career activity pattern. Within various family situations, two personality variables—Self-definition and the need for Achievement—predicted these same life outcomes. Results were strongest in indicating that self-definition was associated with professional career activity among relatively unconstrained women, but with "freelance activity in the home" among married women with children. These effects were strengthened further when the length of time a woman had been relatively constrained or relatively autonomous was considered. Results indicate that at least in this sample of young women still caring for small children situational variables may set broad limits on probable behaviors, while personality variables may predict the choice of particular behavior within those broad limits. Personality variables may be most salient and predictive when considered in the context of a temporally stable situation.     

Women's Career Plans and Maternal Employment

Maternal employment, perceived maternal satisfaction and goodness of mothering, and sex role conceptions were studied as they relate to future life plans of college senior women. Twenty-five women in a working mother group and 26 in a nonworking mother group were administered the Strong Vocational Interest Blank for Women, the Sex-Role Stereotype Questionnaire, the Inventory of Feminine Values, the Maternal Satisfaction and Maternal Goodness scales, and the Life Plan Questionnaire. Daughters of working mothers scored higher on career orientation ( p <.01, Life Plan Questionnaire) than did daughters of nonworking mothers. High perceived maternal satisfaction and maternal goodness correlated with low career orientation for the nonworking sample (the averaged r across variable pairs =.48). For the working sample, perceived maternal dissatisfaction with feminine role values correlated significantly with higher career orientation (r =.42), while the other satisfaction measure showed no relation to career orientation. Daughters of working mothers displayed broader sex role conceptualizations (p <0.01).