Women's bonds and self-esteem

This study explores women's homosocial bonds and their impact on a woman's self-esteem. In addition, the relationships between liberated behaviour and homosocial bonds, and between liberated behaviour and self-esteem, are explored. The research examines societal devaluation of women in terms of its effect on a woman's sense of self. Five measurement instruments were used to test the various constructs measured in this study: Homosocial Bonds were measured by the Bonds Between Women Scale (Woolsey, 1986); social support by the Social Provisions Scale (Russel & Cutrona, 1984); sexist attitudes by the Liberated Behavior Questionnaire (Ghaffaradli-Doty & Carlson, 1979); mastery by the Spheres of Control Scale (Paulhus & Christie, 1981); and self-esteem by the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). One hundred and twelve unmarried, childless women between the ages of 18-26 made up the sample used in this study. All these women were students at a local city college and volunteered their time to complete the questionnaire packet after an announcement was made by the researcher. The first hypothesis, derived from Rawlings and Carter’s (1977) theory, that women who behave in a more liberated manner would have significantly higher scores on measures of homosocial bonds and social support, was supported. The second hypothesis, derived from Bernard's (1976) theory that women who behave in a more liberated manner would have significantly higher scores on the measures of self-esteem and mastery, was also supported. The third hypothesis, drawn from Bernard's (1976) theory that women with stronger homosocial bonds would have significantly higher scores on measures of self-esteem and mastery, was mostly unsupported. The implications of these findings for counselling and suggestions for further research are discussed.Education, Faculty ofEducational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department ofGraduat