SEX-ROLE DEVELOPMENT IN WOMEN

Developmental changes in women\u27s sex-roles and the factors influencing those changes were examined. Of particular interest was the impact of age and situational variation on women\u27s sex-role orientation as well as self-perceived change in women\u27s sex-roles from one life-stage to another. Two measuring instruments were used: (A) The Personal Attributes Questionnaire (Spence, Helmreich, & Stapp, 1978), for measuring sex-roles and (B) The Attitudes Towards Women Scale (Spence & Helmreich, 1972), measuring attitudes about women\u27s rights and roles in contemporary society. The influence of two variables were analyzed: (1) age was divided into the young age group of 20-39 years, and the middle age group of 40-59 years, (2) situation was either the Mother-Homemaker , the Dual-Career , or the Career-Only situation. These variables were analyzed first in a cross-sectional design and then in a design that tapped women\u27s self-perceived changes through prospective and retrospective reports. One-hundred and eighty-six women responded to the pencil-and-paper questionnaires. The hypothesized effects of age did not appear to exert a significant influence on women\u27s sex-role development. There was a pervasive main effect of situation on sex-role measures of masculinity and for women\u27s attitudes. In the younger age group, it was the Dual-Career women who reported having the most masculine sex-roles and the most egalitarian attitudes. There was little difference between the Mother-Homemaker and Career-Only women, suggesting the fact that young Career-Only women may still make further life changes. However, in the 40-59 year old sample, the Career-Only women reported having the most masculine sex-roles. Mother-Homemaker women in both age groups had the most traditional attitudes and demonstrated a trend towards greater levels of femininity in their sex-roles. Levels of both masculinity and femininity were found to be higher in Life-Stage II than in Life-Stage I. It remains a question for future researchers to direct their efforts towards a longitudinal study of women as their lives progress and their sex-roles develop