Women\u27s Gender Role Orientation and Attitudes toward Family and Occupational Roles: Influences of their Perceptions of Maternal Gender Role Orientation and Protection

Attitudes about family and occupation are influenced by gender roles and a relationship between mother-daughter gender role attitudes has been empirically established. In addition, the significant impact of maternal care and protection on daughters\u27 overall development has been documented. The current investigation examined the associations between women\u27s perceptions of maternal gender role orientation, care, and protection, and their attitudes towards family and occupational roles. Furthermore, the association between these variables and mothers\u27 level of education and employment status was explored. Participants (231 females, aged 18 to 30 years), completed the Attitudes toward Women Scale, Parental Bonding Instrument, and the Orientation to Occupational-Family Integration scale. Results demonstrated that women\u27s gender role orientation is associated with their perceptions of maternal gender role orientation. Augmenting prior research, this study found that perception of maternal overprotection was associated with decreased perception of maternal egalitarian gender role attitudes, while perception of maternal care was associated with increased perception of maternal egalitarian gender role attitudes. Results replicated prior findings that women with highly educated or full-time employed mothers were likely to endorse egalitarian gender role attitudes. Adding to previous research, results demonstrated that these women endorsed an egalitarian orientation toward family and occupational roles and perceived their mothers as endorsing egalitarian gender role attitudes. Regression analyses revealed women\u27s own gender role orientation was significantly predictive of their own attitudes toward family and occupational roles. Implications for parenting, as well as for school and clinical psychology, are discussed