Changes in desire for control over time: Gender differences in a ten-year longitudinal study

Undergraduate students from a predominantly white middle class student body who were administered the Desirability of Control Scale in 1980 completed the scale again in 1990. Males scored significantly higher on the scale than females, indicating a higher desire for control, in the initial sample. The males' scores did not differ significantly over the ten-year period. However, the female subjects' scores increased over the course of the decade to a point not significantly different from that of the males. Possible explanations of this effect concern changes in gender role expectations in the 1980's and changes in the women's preference for control following school and career experiences.Some of the data reported in this paper were presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, 1991.Reprint requests should be addressed to either Jerry M. Burger at Department of Psychology, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA 95053, or Cecilia H. Solano at Department of Psychology, Box 7778, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109.