Work involvement among college-educated women: A methodological extension

This paper has two objectives: (1) to develop a more complex measure of work involvement than that typically used, and (2) to correlate this measure with selected lifestyle/family and work variables. The data were drawn primarily from a 1981 survey of 110 female graduates of a large Midwestern university who completed their undergraduate degrees in 1967. Respondents were categorized as high, moderate, or low on a work involvement index based on four variables: work continuity, work status, current or most recent occupation, and educational achievement. Findings in the area of lifestyle/family suggest that high work-involved women are more likely to be single and to marry later when they do marry, less likely to have children, and less likely to perceive conflicts between marriage/relationships and/or children and a career. Findings in the area of work suggest that high work-involved women are significantly more likely to work in male-dominated occupations and to earn salaries of $20,000 or more. High work-involved women are also significantly more likely to be supervisors, to report that most of the people in their work group or branch are below them in rank/position, to be working with all or predominantly men, to have men above them in rank, and to have experienced sex discrimination on the job. In the area of job satisfaction, the differences by work involvement are not as pronounced. High work-involved women are significantly more likely to be employed and not job hunting — one measure of job satisfaction. However, they are no more or less likely than moderate or low work-involved women to perceive their job as a compromise with what they expected or to report overall job satisfaction. Some directions for future research are discussed.Environmental Strategies, Inc.Preparation of this report was supported, in part, by the Providence College Fund to Aid Faculty Research. Thanks are due to the staff of The Henry A. Murray Research Center of Radcliffe College for access to the 1970 questionnaires, to Sharon R. Jenkins for data processing consultation, and to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions.     

Stress,self-esteem,and mental health: How does gender make a difference?

Questionnaire responses of 804 women and 127 men were compared to assess sex differences in college students' stress levels and reactions to stress, and the extent to which their self-esteem, interpersonal self-confidence, and self-concepts are associated with their experiences with stress. The men and women reported similar stress levels in most areas of life, but the women reported greater stress regarding family relationships and concern about their mental health. The women reported that when they are under stress, they experience more symptoms of depression and anxiety, and are more likely to express their anger and feelings, whereas the men reported that they become more active in response to stress. For both men and women, levels of stress and reactions to stress were associated with self-esteem, interpersonal self-confidence, and self-concepts. The results indicate that sex differences in dysfunctional reactions to stress can be explained by sex differences in self-concept more persuasively than can differences in areas of stress.The author wishes to thank the presidents of the seven colleges for their support and encouragement; the Seven College Study Advisory Board, campus coordinators, and staff for their contributions; and the students for their interest and participation. The author also expresses her appreciation for the support of the Henry A. Murray Research Center of Radcliffe College. This research was supported in part by a grant from the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.     

Testing the investment model of relationship commitment and stability in a longitudinal study of married couples

This study tested Rusbult’s (1980, 1983) investment model of relationship commitment and stability using data from both partners of 3,627 married couples. As pre-dicted, spouses’ satisfaction, investments, and quality of alternatives were unique predictors of their commitment to the marital relationship. Additionally, commitment assessed at the initial testing predicted marital termination or stability 18 months later. Multiple-group path analyses showed that the investment model provided an adequate fit to the data and that the associations among variables were similar for husbands and wives. Limitations of the model as well as directions for future research are consid-ered. This research used the American Couples, 1975-1978, data set [made accessible in 1992, computer data]. These data were collected by Philip Blumstein and Pepper Schwartz and are available through the archive of the Henry A. Murray Research Center of Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts (Producer and Distributor). This paper is based on work supported under a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship awarded to Emily A. Impett and a UCLA Academic Senate Research Grant to Letitia Anne Peplau. The authors are very grateful to Kevin Kim and Jodie Ullman for statistical consulting and Brian Doss for comments on an earlier draft.     

Group Membership,Status, and Social Power Preference1

The power literature supports the notion that power‐base preferences can serve as a means for gaining advantage over others, thereby satisfying the personal self. Here, we inquired whether the use of power bases also serves as a means for gaining in‐group advantage, thereby satisfying the social self. A 2 × 3 × 2 design, including group membership (in‐group/out‐group), influencing agent's status (low, same, high), and gender as independent variables was employed. After reading scenarios describing work‐situation conflicts that differed by the relative status of the influencing agent and group membership of the target person, students and workers completed the Interpersonal Power Inventory for assessing power usage. In general, participants attributed greater use of harsh bases toward the out‐group. Status effects were obtained for in‐group targets and were less clear for out‐group targets. The discussion addresses theoretical implications for both the power interaction model and social identity theory, as well as practical ones for intergroup relations in organizations.     

On the Relationship between Subordinates' Compliance to Power Sources and Organisational Attitudes

Social power involves the potential to influence others and is important in explaining organisational outcomes. Based on the assumptions posited in Raven's (1992, 1993) power interaction model, we examined a set of potential antecedents and correlates of power sources. Participating in the study were 232 nurses and 32 supervisors from two municipal hospitals. Nurses and supervisors were asked to complete a battery of questionnaires including demographic items, the Interpersonal Power Inventory, job satisfaction, and organisational commitment. Convergent and discriminate validity of the power inventory yielded satisfactory results. Principal component analyses of the power inventory revealed a two‐factor solution (harsh/soft sources) which was then used for comparison with predictors and outcome data. Among the major findings were the fact that compliance to power sources appears to be contingent on objective and subjective indices of professional distance between supervisors and subordinates, supervisor seniority in the department, and the type of promotion (from without or within department). Job satisfaction was found to be positively related to compliance with soft sources and negatively with harsh sources whereas commitment was positively associated with both.     

POWER AND THE QUALITY OF SAME-SEX FRIENDSHIPS

Does the quality of same-sex friendship depend on the gender of the friends and the balance of power between friends? Fifty-four men and 60 women undergraduates evaluated two of their same-sex friendships, one equal in power and one unequal in power. The quality of each friendship was rated in terms of emotional closeness, satisfaction, liking, self-disclosure, and rewards. In general, most young adults evaluated their friendships positively. Mixed-model multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) found significant main effects of gender and power on ratings of quality, but no interactions. Consistent with previous research, women generally evaluated their same-sex friendships more positively than did men. Gender differences were relatively small in magnitude and were not found for all indices of relationship quality, however. As predicted, participants rated equal-power friendships significantly higher than unequal-power friendships on all measures of quality. Power appears to be an important but largely neglected element of friendship.     

Powerlessness and the Use of Indirect Aggression in Friendships

Aggression in girls, especially indirect aggression perpetrated by girls toward other girls, has received increasing attention in the popular press. Various explanations have been offered to explain why girls might use indirect methods more so than boys, including both biological and social explanations. We tested a social contextual explanation; that is, that powerlessness is associated with the use of indirect aggression strategies. Power was conceptualized as both an individual difference variable and as an interpersonal variable. In two studies, we found that for both men and women, lack of power in same gender friendships (defined as anxiety about one’s status in friendships) was associated with greater use of indirect aggression strategies. Further, individual differences in deferent personality characteristics and lack of relational control in a friendship were unrelated to the use of indirect aggression. Study 1 was based, in part, on the second author’s undergraduate Honors Thesis, which was supported by a grant from Smith College’s Tomlinson Fund. Study 2 was supported by a grant from Smith College to the first author.     

依恋与大学生人际适应——个人自主的中介作用

采用问卷法对638名大学生的依恋、个人自主及人际适应状况进行测查,运用结构方程建模技术对数据进行分析,结果发现：（1）依恋与个人自主均能显著预测大学生人际关系适应;（2）依恋焦虑通过个人自主间接预测大学生人际适应,个人自主在依恋焦虑与人际适应间起完全中介作用;（3）依恋回避直接预测人际适应。该结果对进一步制定提高与改善大学生人际适应的干预措施具有重要的指导意义。     

BOOK REVIEWS

Story, Text and Scripture: Literary Interests in Biblical Narrative. By Wesley A. Kort, Pp.xii, 159, University Park, The Pennsylvania University Press, 1988, £20.00 A Manual of Hebrew Poetics (Subsidia Biblica 11). By Luis Alonso Schökel. Pp.xi, 228, Rome, Biblical Institute, 1988, L.24,500. History and Ideology in Ancient Israel. By Giovanni Garbini. Pp.xvi, 222, London, SCM Press, 1988, £10.50. The Tradition that You Received from Us: 2 Thessalonians in the Pauline Tradition (Hermeneutische Untersuchungen zur Theologie 24). By Glenn S. Holland. Pp.vii, 174, Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1988, 98 DM. Paul and his Converts (The Sprunt Lectures 1985). By Ernest Best. Pp.xiv, 177, Edinburgh, T. & T. Clark, 1988, £11.95. Christ and the Cynics: Jesus and Other Radical Preachers in First-Century Tradition (JSOT Manuals 4). By F. Gerald Downing. Pp.xiii, 232, Sheffield, JSOT Press, 1988, no price given. Human Agents of Cosmic Power in Hellenistic Judaism and the Synoptic Tradition (Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 41). By Mary E. Mills. Pp.184, Sheffield, JSOT Press, 1990, £25.00 Scripture, Tradition and Reason: A Study in the Criteria of Christian Doctrine: Essays in Honour of Richard P.C. Hanson. Edited by Richard Bauckham and Benjamin Drewery. Pp.viii, 297, Edinburgh, T. & T. Clark, 1988, £14.95. Biblical Theology and the Spiritual Exercises: A Method toward a Personal Experience of God as Accomplishing within us His Plan of Salvation (Modern Scholarly Studies about the Jesuits, in English Translations 7). By Gilles Cusson, S. J. Pp.xv, 385, St Louis (Mo), The Institute of Jesuit Sources 1988, $24.00/$19.50. Easter in Ordinary. By Nicholas Lash. Pp.viii, 311, London, SCM Press, 1988, £12.95. Church, Ecumenism and Politics. By Joseph Ratzinger. Pp. vii, 278. Slough, St Paul Publications, 1988, £9.95. The Theology of Joseph Ratzinger: An Introductory Study. By Aidan Nichols. Pp. vii, 338, Edinburgh, T. & T. Clark, 1988, £9.95. Charisma and Community: A Study of Religious Commitment within the Charismatic Renewal (New Observations). By Mary Jo Neitz. Pp. xxi, 294, New Brunswick NJ, Transaction Books, 1987, £24.50. The Living Christ: ‘In Christ’ through Scripture and Liturgy. By J.D. Crichton. Pp.ix, 133, London, Collins, 1988, £2.50. The Liturgical Meaning of Holy Week. Jerusalem Revisited. By Kenneth Stevenson. Pp. vii, 104, Washington DC, The Pastoral Press, 1988, $6.95. The Creative Suffering of God. By Paul S. Fiddes. Pp.x, 281, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1988, £29.50. God and Creation in Christian Theology. By Kathryn Tanner. Pp.vii, 196, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1988, £25.00. The Status of the Human Embryo: Perspectives from Moral Tradition. Edited by G.R. Dunstan and Mary J. Seller. Pp.119, Oxford University Press for the King Edward's Hospital Fund for London, 1988, £15.50. Health Rights and Resources: King's College Studies, 1987–8. Edited by Peter Byrne. Pp.201, London, King Edward's Hospital Fund for London/Oxford University Press, 1988, £16.95. Doctors' Decisions: Ethical Conflicts in Medical Practice. Edited by G.R. Dunstan and E.A. Shinebourne. Pp.x, 248, Oxford University Press, 1989, £22.50. The Limits of Love: Some Theological Explorations. By Gilbert Meilaender. Pp.156, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1988, $17.50. Conscience and Casuistry in Early Modern Europe. Edited by Edmund Leites. Pp.ix, 269, Cambridge University Press, 1988, £27.50 ($39.50). The Abuse of Casuistry: A History of Moral Reasoning. By Albert R. Jonsen and Stephen Toulmin. Pp.ix, 420, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1988, $45.00. Moral Conflict and Christian Religion (American University Studies, Series VII Theology and Religion, Vol.35). By Anthony J. Blasi. Pp.x, 180, New York, Peter Lang, 1988, $33.50. The Psychology of Religious Knowing. By Fraser Watts and Mark Williams. Pp.x, 169, Cambridge University Press, 1988, £19.50. The Form of Transformed Vision: Coleridge and the Knowledge of God. By James S. Cutsinger. Pp.xix, 136, Macon, Georgia, Mercer University Press, 1988, $24.95. The Philosophy of Religion, 1875–1980. By. Alan P. Sell. Pp.252, Beckenham, Croom Helm, 1988, £35.00. The Puzzle of God. By Peter Vardy. Pp.224, London, Collins, 1990, £5.95. Faith after Foundationalism. By D.Z. Phillips. Pp.xviii, 341, London, Routledge, 1988, £40.00. Weakness of Will. By William Charlton. Pp.vii, 196, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1988, £8.95. The Question of ‘Eclecticism’: Studies in Later Greek Philosophy. Edited by J.M. Dillon and A.A. Long. Pp.xv, 271, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1988, $32.00. Sincerity and Truth: Essays on Arnauld, Bayle and Toleration. By John Kilcullen. Pp.xii, 228, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1988, £25.00. Exceedingly Nietzsche: Aspects of Contemporary Nietzsche Interpretation (Warwick Studies in Philosophy and Literature). Edited by David Farrell Krell and David Wood. Pp.xvi, 179, London, Routledge, 1988, £22.50. Wittgenstein, A Life: Young Ludwig, 1889–1921. By Brian McGuinness. Pp.xiv, 322, London, Duckworth, 1988, £15.95. Hartshorne and the Metaphysics of Animal Rights. By Daniel A. Dombrowski. Pp.ix, 159, Albany, SUNY Press, 1988, $39.50/$12.95. Early Christian Art and Architecture. By Robert Milburn. Pp.xviii, 318, Avebury, Scolar Press, 1988, £35.00. Friendship and Community, The Monastic Experience, 350–1250 (Cistercian Studies Series 95). By Brian Patrick McGuire. Pp.1,571, Kalamazoo MI, Cistercian Publications, 1988, $52.95/$19.95. Augustine (The Arguments of the Philosophers). By Christopher Kirwan. Pp.viii, 247, London, Routledge, 1989, £40.00. Agostino e la conversione cristiana (Augustiniana, Testi e Studi, I). Edited by Adriano Caprioli e Luciano Vaccaro. Pp.96, Palermo, Edizioni Augustinus, 1987, L.20,000. L 'opera letteraria di Agostino fra Cassiciacum e Milano, Agostino nelle terre di Ambrogio (Augustiniana, Testi e Studi, II). Edited by Mauro Nicolosi. Pp.221, Palermo, Edizioni Augustinus, 1987, L.32,000. Agostino a Milano: Il Battesimo, Agostino nelle terre di Ambrogio (Augustiniana, Testi e Studi, III). Edited by Mauro Nicolosi. Pp.111, Palermo, Edizioni Augustinus, 1988, L.28,000. Medieval Popular Culture: Problems of Belief and Perception (Cambridge Studies in Oral and Literate Culture 14). By Aron Gurevich. Pp.xx, 275, Cambridge University Press; Paris, Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, 1988, £27.50. God Within: The Mystical Tradition of Northern Europe. By Oliver Davies. Pp.xii, 224, London, Darton, Longman and Todd, 1988, £7.95. English Wycliffite Sermons, Volume II. Edited by Pamela Gradon. Pp.xcv, 378. Oxford, Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1988, £80.00. English Wycliffite Sermons, Volume II. Edited by Pamela Gradon. Pp.xcv, 378. Oxford, Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1988, £80.00. Humanism, Reform and the Reformation: The Career of Bishop John Fisher. Edited by Brendan Bradshaw and Eamon Duffy. Pp.ix, 260, Cambridge University Press, 1989, £27.50. Mary Queen of Scots: A Study in Failure. By Jenny Wormald. Pp.206, London, George Philip, 1988, £14.95. Church Courts, Sex and Marriage in England, 1570–1640 (Past and Present Publications). By Martin Ingram. Pp.xiii, 412, Cambridge University Press, 1988, £35.00. The Women's Movement in the Church of England, 1850–1930. By Brian Heeney. Pp.xi, 144, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1988, £19.50. Between Heaven and Charing Cross: The Life of Francis Thompson. By Brigid M. Boardman. Pp.xvii, 410, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1988, £19.95. The Catholic Missionaries and the Liturgical Movement in Nigeria: An Historical Overview, Vol. 1: The Holy Ghost Fathers and Catholic Worship among the Igbo People of Eastern Nigeria. By Donatus Emeke Onyemaobi Ogudo. Pp.xiii, 388, Paderborn, Bonifatius, 1988, DM38. C.J. Cadoux: Theologian, Scholar and Pacifist. By Elaine Kaye. Pp.xiv, 228, Edinburgh University Press, 1988, £15.00.