Women's ideological development in adulthood: A study of the course of political and religious commitments over four decades.

The religious and political development during the adult years of two groups of women (N = 133) who graduated from college in the late 1950s was examined within a social, historical, and life-span context. The ideological development of women who combined professional and family roles conformed to the generational/persistence model (Alwin, Cohen, & Newcomb, 1991; Sears, 1981; 1987), which posits stability in adulthood after a period of openness to change during late adolescence. Traditional, family-oriented women underwent political growth during the middle adult years instead. Persistence models described political development, while religious development was less systematic. Personality, parental ideology, marital, family, educational, and career involvement contributed to patterns of stability and change in political and religious patterns of identification and engagement from late adolescence to mid-life. Authoritarian personality structure was linked to stable and conservative ideological patterns, while divorce, further education, and career involvement led to liberalized stances. Increases in religiosity were associated with stressful life events. Social change experienced during the adult years affected political engagement but not basic religious or political identifications. Mid-life political interest and action was linked to subjective well-being in the traditional women. It was concluded that a contextualized approach was useful for detecting non-normative patterns in ideological development.PhDPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/103654/1/9332146.pdfDescription of 9332146.pdf : Restricted to UM users only