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Educated Women's Career Patterns: Separating Social and Developmental Changes
Author(s) -
Stewart Abigail J.,
Lykes M. Brinton,
LaFrance Marianne
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1982.tb00845.x
Subject(s) - normative , psychology , cohort , perception , social change , developmental psychology , marital status , national child development study , career development , social psychology , cohort study , demography , sociology , millennium cohort study (united states) , political science , medicine , population , pathology , neuroscience , law
This paper presents a secondary analysis of selected work and family variables drawn from a longitudinal study of educated American women. In it, we attempt to separate the effects of normative social change, cohort‐specific change, and developmental or life cycle change. Comparisons within and across time indicate that some relations (for example, between marital status and number of children and labor force participation) may shift due to broad social change. Others (for example, the different relations between age at marriage and career activity) may reflect cohort changes. Finally, some relations (for example, between women's perceptions of their husband's attitude toward their careers and women's actual career achievement) may be best explained in terms of developmental change. These findings suggest that the relations between work and family variables for women are complex and are changing due to the singular and interactive effects of broad social changes, cohort‐specific changes, and processes of personal development.