Parental relationships,socioeconomic status,and sex-role expectations

The responses of university women to a scale composed of items reflective of traditional expectations for females are examined. Women who reject such stereotyped expectations had poor childhood relationships with their fathers, and the women who endorse the expectations had good paternal relationships. This is a class-specific pattern most characteristic of those of lower socioeconomic background. No similar effect was found when childhood relationships with mothers were considered. Implications of fathers' influence on daughters' sex-role orientations are considered.An earlier version of this article was presented as a paper at the meeting of the Pacific Sociological Association in Victoria, British Columbia, April 1975. The patience and ideas of an anonymous reviewer have considerably strengthened this revision. This research was partially supported by NSF Grant ISP-8011449.