Pressures from work,self, and home in the life stages of married women

Following Lopata's (1966) model of the life cycle of the married woman's role, it was predicted and found that a woman's life stage would be related to her role pressures (work, home, self, and time), conflict, and satisfaction. Age and number of roles were not as strongly related to these variables as was life stage. Work activities and pressures declined through the peak child-rearing stage and then increased for women with older children, while pressures from home generally rose throughout the life cycle. The differential impact of various sources of conflict in different life stages was reported, and forms of organizational career support oriented toward particular life stages were suggested.     

Stress and strain in blue-collar and white-collar management staff

Previous research has demonstrated the relationship of work stress to indices of job strain, as well as underscoring the importance of moderating variables. In the present study of a mining organization it was hypothesized that personnel associated with actual mining operations would demonstrate stress-strain relationships different from those associated with administrative and staff work. Measures of stress and strain were obtained from management staff of blue-collar and white-collar groups to assess the moderating influence of collar color. Results strongly support collar color as a moderator variable. In particular, the two groups differ significantly with respect to how role conflict, job security, quantitative work load, variation in work load, and utilization of skills impact various strains. The effect of job function on stress and strain and possible practical implications of these results are discussed.     

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.     

Role ambiguity, employee gender, and workplace friendship

The importance of workplace friendship is recognized by researchers and practitioners, but its antecedents with respect to work roles are not well understood. Employees' gender might moderate a relationship between work roles and friendships. Data from a survey of 221 international tourist hotel employees showed that a key aspect of job support, role ambiguity, was negatively related to having workplace friendships. However, employees' gender did not moderate this relationship. Role clarity (the opposite of role ambiguity) may facilitate workplace friendships.     

Job attachment,satisfaction, and turnover among public sector employees

This study sought (1) to compare the relative predictive powers of job attachment and job satisfaction with respect to turnover among a sample of public employees; and (2) to examine individual and job-related influences on both attitudes. It was found that attachment was a more effective predictor of turnover than overall satisfaction (or any facet of satisfaction), even when the alternative attitude was partialled out. In addition, it was found that individual employee characteristics were more strongly related to attachment than were job characteristics, while the opposite was found for satisfaction. The findings are discussed in the light of previous evidence, and implications are drawn for research in vocational behavior.     

Immigrants preparing for their second career: The behavioral strategies adopted

On the basis of the assumption that career change for immigrants is not generally anticipated and is characterized by status incongruence, this research tested the action of the dissonance model on 89 immigrants who were obliged to prepare for a new occupation. Four coping strategies were found combining high vs low level of self-image and vocational involvement with positive vs negative attitudes toward work and authority figures at the places of work. The comparative efficiency of these strategies was tested—both with regard to an objective vocational criterion and to satisfaction and optimism regarding the future.     

Job satisfaction among students in work education programs

Data were collected from 1016 students in grades 9–14 from 50 work education programs. Data were also collected from 696 similar students who held part-time jobs but were not participating in work education programs. Participating students were significantly more satisfied with their jobs than were the nonparticipating students. Group atmosphere, availability of adult role models, meaningfulness of work roles, and availability of feedback accounted for much of the variation in job satisfaction among students.     

The stability of status orientations among young,white, rural women from three southern states

This paper reports the results of a panel study of young, white, rural women from Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas (N = 138). The study was primarily concerned with how social origin variables affected early educational and occupational orientations and how early states of these orientations affected the orientations themselves at a later point in time. The results indicated that mother's education had a greater effect than father's education, but in either case the effect is mediated by intervening influences such as early aspirations and expectations. These young women held very traditional status orientations (with 60% projecting the occupations of beautician, nurse, stenographer, or school teacher), and their orientations were quite stable between their sophomore and senior years in high school. Since there has been so little work reported on the status attainment process for women, and rural women in particular, this study does offer a limited insight into this phenomenon.     

Volunteerism as an aspect of women's work lives

Results of a mail survey of 292 female volunteers, aged 23–44, indicate that the role of volunteer work may be that of consciously chosen primary work, a supplement to primary work, or a vehicle for entry or return to employment. The three roles are associated with differences in relationship to the labor market, satisfactions sought, nature and amount of volunteer work done, satisfaction, involvement, commitment, and plans for continued membership. The survey instrument incorporated the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire, which was evaluated for its applicability to a volunteer population.     

Extra‐Role Behavior among Mexican Employees: The Impact of LMX,Group Acceptance,and Job Attitudes

The current field study took place within a Mexican work setting, consisting of 100 white‐collar employees representing a variety of professional job categories. The study investigated the direct effect of the supervisor–employee relationship (leader–member exchange) quality and group acceptance on employees' propensity to engage in activities beyond their formal work roles (extra‐role behavior). The mediating influences of the employees' job satisfaction level and organizational commitment were also taken into consideration when accounting for extra‐role behavior. Results suggest that relationships Mexican employees share with their supervisor have a direct impact on their extra‐role behavior. Social exchange, key to both extra‐role behavior and leader–member exchange, is proposed as the operating mechanism associating the two constructs. Results also indicate that organizational commitment plays a partial mediating role between leader–member exchange and extra‐role behavior.     

Sex differences in the patterning of adult roles as a determinant of sex differences in occupational achievement

A sample of 4,035 men and women from the Project TALENT high school class of 1963 cohort was examined to determine the extent to which sex differences in the patterning of adult roles contribute to observed sex differences in occupational achievement. Men and women were found to differ in the comparative timing, ordering, and continuity of educational, occupational, marital, and procreational roles in early adulthood. These differences in role patterns explained only a small portion of the observed sex differences in occupational attainment, as sex appeared to be a strong direct determinant of both role patterns and attainment. However, some aspects of the patterning of these roles appeared to have an independent influence on occupational attainment; in these instances, the patterns associated with lower earnings were more likely to have been followed by women. Further investigation of the impact of variations in the patterning of adult roles on women's (and men's) occupational achievement is recommended.This work was supported by Grant MH29509 from the National Institute of Mental Health.     

Information extraction during visual search: A developmental progression

Five developmental experiments examine the role of context in visual search. Experiments I and II presented either lists or paragraphs that were either in meaningful context or scrambled. Results showed a significant interaction of these variables. Experiment II examined within-item context or predictability and replicated and extended the work of Brand (1971) and Ingling (1972). Experiments IV and V examined search through lists of various widths; results showed a significant interaction of Grade × Position × Width reflecting the different perceptual spans of children and adults. Although these were search tasks, appropriate comparisons between list and paragraph performance were made allowing interpretations of the results to be supportive of a model of reading in which meaningfulness, predictability, and peripheral vision play critical roles.     

Syntactic presupposition in sentence comprehension

Two experiments investigated the role of syntactic presupposition in sentence comprehension. In Experiment I subjects verified cleft, pseudocleft and factive complement sentences with respect to preceding context paragraphs, which contradicted either the assertion or the presupposition of the target sentence. Subjects took significantly longer to verify sentences with false presuppositions than sentences with false assertions. In Experiment II subjects verified cleft and pseudocleft sentences with respect to subsequently presented pictures. Once again, verification times for sentences with false presuppositions were significantly longer than verification times for sentences with false assertions. It was argued that these findings are more adequately explained by a “structural” hypothesis, than in terms of strategies designed to locate given and new information.     

Reaction time, intelligence, and attention

The roles of attention in reaction time and in the relationships among reaction time, intelligence, and achievement were analyzed. The subjects were 105 seventh-grade children. The results were generally consistent with most studies involving the Hick paradigm: both mean reaction time and the standard deviation of reaction time correlated with the intelligence and achievement measures used. Reaction time measures were correlated with attention and perceptual speed as well as with general intelligence, or g. Implications of these results for current theories linking reaction time and intelligence are discussed.     

A comparison of the work needs,attitudes, and preferences of professional accountants at different career stages

Although the concept of career stages has played an increasingly important role in vocational psychology, little research exists on career stage differences among professionals. In the present study, a sample of male professional accountants (N = 764) at different career stages were compared with respect to their work needs, work attitudes (intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction, organizational and professional commitment), and vocational preferences. Accountants at different stages were found to differ significantly in their needs, work attitudes, and the extent to which they fit the Conventional type in Holland's model. In particular, accountants over the age of 60, in the preretirement stage of their career, when compared to their younger counterparts, reported significantly lower levels of job satisfaction but higher levels of organizational and professional commitment, and they demonstrate weaker higher-order needs but stronger security needs.     

Commitment to nonwork roles and job performance: Enrichment and conflict perspectives

An extensive commitment to nonwork roles was negatively associated with the job performance of 182 women legal secretaries. In addition to its direct negative effect on job performance, nonwork role commitment had both a negative indirect effect (through emotional energy expended on nonwork roles) and a positive indirect effect (through resources acquired from nonwork roles) on job performance. Consistent with a family-to-work conflict perspective, the negative effect was stronger than the positive effect. We suggest that the level and type of job occupied by the respondents in the study may have been responsible for the dominance of the negative effect and encourage researchers to examine the contextual influences that might explain the conditions under which commitment to life outside of work dampens or promotes performance in the work domain.     

The "CEO" of women's work lives: how Big Five Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Openness predict 50 years of work experiences in a changing sociocultural context

Few long-term longitudinal studies have examined how dimensions of personality are related to work lives, especially in women. We propose a life-course framework for studying work over time, from preparatory activities (in the 20s) to descending work involvement (after age 60), using 50 years of life data from the women in the Mills Longitudinal Study. We hypothesized differential work effects for Extraversion (work as pursuit of rewards), Openness (work as self-actualization), and Conscientiousness (work as duty) and measured these 3 traits as predictor variables when the women were still in college. In a prospective longitudinal design, we then studied how these traits predicted the women's subsequent work lives from young adulthood to age 70 and how these effects depended on the changing sociocultural context. Specifically, the young adulthood of the Mills women in the mid-1960s was rigidly gender typed and family oriented; neither work nor education variables at that time were predicted from earlier personality traits. However, as women's roles changed, later work variables became related to all 3 traits, as expected from current Big Five theory and research. For example, early personality traits predicted the timing of involvement in work, the kinds of jobs chosen, and the status and satisfaction achieved, as well as continued work participation and financial security in late adulthood. Early traits were also linked to specific cultural influences, such as the traditional feminine role, the women's movement, and graduate education for careers.     

Paths to Late Midlife Well-Being for Women and Men: The Importance of Identity Development and Social Role Quality

Theories of adult development suggest that personality development and social role involvements are sources of adult well-being for both men and women. However, previous research on this topic has focused mainly on (a) women, and (b) early stages of adulthood. We tested an alternative model for predicting late-midlife adults’ well-being, with role quality, number of roles, and healthy adaptation to late midlife (reflected in lower concern about aging) as mediators of the relationship between young adult identity development and well-being in late midlife. Results indicated that the model fit women’s experience very well, and men’s experience somewhat. Follow-up analyses indicated that the model fit men’s experience with respect to family role quality, but that young adult identity played a lesser role in men’s well-being in later midlife, and that problems in the late-midlife work role were reflected in concerns about aging for men, but not for women.     

Father Identity,Involvement and Work–Family Balance: An In‐depth Interview Study

Work and family roles have changed considerably in the past number of decades. Fathers are now expected to fulfil the role of ‘new father’ that involves actively caring and sharing in child rearing and, at the same time, maintain commitment to their occupational role. As a consequence, men are subject to the same pressure that women were when they initially entered the workplace decades ago and indeed still are today. This study aims to explore the meanings fathers attach to their life roles, how these meanings influence behaviour within these roles and how they negotiate the demands of these roles. In‐depth interviews were carried out with 15 fathers, and the results were analysed adhering to the principles of grounded theory. The findings show the variability among fathers in both their commitment to fathering and the meanings they attach to that role. A significant tension between new fatherhood ideals and actual fathering practices is also apparent. These findings are discussed drawing upon traditional definitions of masculinity and wider occupational and cultural influences. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tools and Techniques: Typologies,Themes, Preferences,and Interests: Their Vocational Relationships

This article uses Jones' comparative table for the typology of Holland and the Guide for Occupational Exploration to extend the relationships to include the occupational themes and work roles of Jackson and Kuder.