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The Impact of Having Children on the Lives of Women: The Effects of Children Questionnaire
Author(s) -
Johnson Amber B.,
Lee Rodgers Joseph
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.0021-9029.2006.00123.x
Subject(s) - psychology , test (biology) , perception , developmental psychology , exploratory research , exploratory factor analysis , clinical psychology , psychometrics , paleontology , neuroscience , sociology , anthropology , biology
The current study uses a newly developed questionnaire, the Effects of Children Questionnaire, to examine the impact of having children on women's lives. Participants were lower‐ and lower‐middle‐class women. The questionnaire assessed women's perceptions of their own change and other women's experiences of change as a result of having children in a number of life domains. Exploratory analyses, repeated‐measures analyses, factor analyses, and regression analyses were used to test hypotheses. Results suggested that women do compare themselves with other women, that there are two primary factors underlying perceptions of change, and that there are significant changes from having children in various life domains. Results are discussed in terms of the costs and benefits of having children.