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This is to certify that the

dissertation entitled

Toward an Ecology
of Early Adolescent Sex Role Development:
Attitudes and Behaviors

presented by

Christine Seipke Nelson

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

Ph.D. Family and Child Ecology

degree in

 

 

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TOWARD AN ECOLOGY
OF EARLY ADOLESCENT SEX ROLE DEVELOPMENT:
ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS

BY

Christine Seipke Nelson

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Family and Child Ecology

1985

ABSTRACT
TOWARD AN ECOLOGY

OF EARLY ADOLESCENT SEX ROLE DEVELOPMENT:
ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS

BY

Christine Seipke Nelson

This study examined the development of male and female
early adolescent sex role attitudes and behaviors in an
ecological context as defined by Urie Bronfenbrenner (1979).
Based upon the concepts, hypotheses, and propositions
described by Bronfenbrenner, selected exosystem, microsystem,
and human variables and their relationship to early adolescent
sex role attitudes and behaviors were examined. The exosystem
variables were maternal employment, duration of maternal
employment, and father's attitude toward mother's employment.
The microsystem variables were interactions between the
parents' sex role attitudes and the amount of time the parent
spent with the child and the parents' sex role attitudes and
the level of closeness that the child reported feeling for
the parent. The human variables were chronological age and
parental perceptions of the early adolescents' pubertal age.

Data were the results of a state-wide survey of early
adolescents and their parents conducted in 1983. Youths were

interviewed in their homes and parents responded to a

questionnaire. Subjects were selected using a stratified
multi-stage cluster sampling technique.

Hierarchical multiple regression was used to test both
early adolescent sex role attitude development and behavior
development models for females and males. The same models
were tested for female early adolescents. Two significant
models were found. These were for male and female early
adolescent sex role attitude development. The models included
no common significant variables. The level of traditionalism-
of female early adolescent sex role attitude development was
significantly influenced by maternal employment, the level of
traditionalism of the father's sex role attitudes in '
interaction with the amount of time he spent with his
daughter, and chronological age. The level of traditionalism
of male early adolescent sex role attitude development was
significantly influenced by the level of traditionalism of the
mother's sex role attitudes in interaction with the level of
closeness that the son reported feeling about the mother, and
the mother's and father's perceptions of their son's pubertal
age. The exosystem variables accounted for the most variance
in the female model; the human system variables accounted for

the most variance in the male model.

Bronfenbrenner, U. y The ecology ‘9; human development:
Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 1979.

 

 

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This dissertation, as well as the other work leading to
the degree for which this is the final requirement, would have
been impossible without the love and support of many people
who gave a variety of gifts in order that it could happen. I.
would like to acknowledge a very few of these people.

My doctoral committee was always demanding, yet patient.
Joanne Keith, as the chairperson of this committee, was a
model for these qualities. Her high expectations, coupled
with loving support, stretched me to not only acheive my
potential, but to develop new potentials. I also want to
acknowledge Dr. Margaret Bubolz, not so much for her work with
my dissertation, although I appreciate that, but for her
presence in this department. Her quiet, but steadfast,
commitment to an ecological approach provided the context for
my six years of work in the department.

My parents, as well as those of my husband, were also a
part of this support process. Their commitment to my growth,
even though it accompanied concerns about their grandchildren,
is cherished. My academic work must have seemed very far
removed from them and not nearly as important as other
commitments in my life, but because of their trust in and
commitment to me, they tried hard to understand what I was

doing and why it was important. This may be most true of my

ii

mother. My need to live my life in a way different than she
had was sometimes difficult for her. I appreciate and
acknowledge her sacrifices.

My friend, Hildi, too, needs to be acknowledged. Often
when longtime friends develop different goals it means the end
of their friendship. My dream was not Hildi's dream. But
this never stopped her from supporting this dream as mine and
as such, something to be honored and treasured.

I will be anxious, in the future, to see how my daughters,
as grown women, see their role in this accomplishment.
Certainly, their lives have been different than they might
have been if their mother had not been pursuing an academic
goal. I am grateful to Katie, who, even, as a little one,
seemed to appreciate the importance of this in my life.
Emily, too, seems to understand and accept the role of "work"
in her mother's life, although she is just two years old. I
hope that as they grow they see that any time I spent away
from them was also for them, as well as for me.

The most sustaining support in this long, difficult
process of earning this degree was my husband, Randy. His on-
going commitment to my growth as a person and the development
of all that I can be is the gift of a lifetime. I am truly
fortunate to be able to share our children and my life with
him.

There are many others. I hOpe that over the past six
years that I have acknowledged them in our daily interactions

and that they understand why I couldn't include them here.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
LIST OF TABLES...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 00000000 O ....... OVi

LIST OF FIGURES ........................ . ............. .vii
Chapter

I. INTRODUCTION ..... ... .............. ... ....... .

....

Background of Problem............ ........... .
Purpose of the Research......................
Research Questions...........................
Conceptual Framework.........................
Definitions..................................

\OUlubWH

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

Early Adolescence as a Stage of Development. 17

Sex Role Development Theory................. 22

Environments which Influence Early Adolescent
Sex Role Development...................... 29

III. HYPOTHESIZED RELATIONSHIPS AND METHODOLOGY

Hypothesized Relationships.................. 38
Methodology................................. 47
Sample Selection.......................... 48
Sample Description........................ 55
Measurement Procedures.................... 59
Overview of Statistical Methods........ 63
Limitations of this Study................. 65

IV. ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

Overview of Analysis........................ 67
Findings.................................... 72
Female Early Adolescents.................. 72
Male Early Adolescents.................... 84
Comparisons of Male and Female Adolescents 94

V. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
Conclusions. ......... . ..................... . 99
Implications ............................... 109

iv

APPENDIX ........................... . ........... ... 116

A-l. Percentages on Items Which Make up the Sex
Role Attitudes Scale by Gender of Child....... 116

A-2. Percentages on Items Which Make up the Sex
Role Behaviors Scale by Gender of Child....... 117

A-3. Percentages on Items Which Make up the
Parental Sex Role Attitudes Scales by Gender
of Parent by Gender of Child.................. 118

A-4. Percentages on Items Which Make up the
Parental Time Spent with Child Index By Gender
of Parent by Gender of Child.................. 119

BIBLIOGRAPHY 00000000000000000 ......OOOOOOOOOC...OO 120

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 1-1. Percentage of Early Adolescents Part-
icipating in the Michigan Early Adoles-
cent Survey by Selected Demographic
Variables.............................. 56

Table 1-2. Percentage of Households Participating
in the Michigan Early Adolescent Survey
by Selected Demographic Variables...... 56

Table 1-3. Percentage of Parents Participating in
the Michigan Early Adolescent Survey by
Selected Demographics.................. 58

Table 2. Pearson Correlation Coefficients
for Hypotheses for Female and Male
Early Adolescents...................... 79

Table 3. Hierarchical Multiple Regression
Analyses with Female Early Adolescent
Sex Role Attitudes as the Dependent
Variable............................... 80

Table 4. Hierarchical Multiple Regression
Analyses with Male Early Adolescent
Sex Role Attitudes as the Dependent
Variable................................ 83

Table 5. Hierarchical Multiple Regression
Analyses with Female Early Adolescent
Sex Role Behaviors as the Dependent
Variable................................ 90

Table 6. Hierarchical Multiple Regression
Analyses with Male Early Adolescent
Sex Role Behaviors as the Dependent
Variable................................ 93

vi

LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 1. Historical Roots of an Ecological
Perspective.........COOOOOOOOOOOIOOOO. 8

Figure 2. Overview of Research.................. 39

Figure 3. Overview of Item and Scale
Formulations by Variable.............. 40

vii

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND 9: PROBLEM

 

Early adolescence has been defined as the years between
ten and fourteen years of age. The study of early
adolescence as a stage of development is a fairly recent
phenomenon. The reason for this is sometimes difficult to
understand, for as Kagan (1972) states, it is clearly a stage
unto itself, marked by rapid growth, second only to that in
infancy. In addition to these biological changes are
psychological, social and emotional changes.

Lipsitz (1980) refers to the group of individuals
this age as "growing up forgotten”. She cites the dearth of
research on biological, socio-emotional, and cognitive
changes which early adolescents are undergoing. Hill (1983)
also discusses the need for early adolescent research and
identifies six research priorities:

1. Foster basic programmatic research which relates
directly to the major issues in psychological development
during adolescence.

2. Foster basic and applied research on the effects of
organizations on adolescent behavior and development.

3. Foster basic and applied research on various kinds
of ”health “ education.

4. Foster research on socialization for work and family

roles.

5. Foster research on the social perception of

adolescence and its determinants.

6. Foster the establishment of at least four
university-based, regional centers of excellence for the

study of adolescence.

This research incorporated aspects of two of the
recommendations; first, research related to sexuality and
second, socialization for work and family roles. Sex roles
are related to sexuality when sexuality is defined in its
broadest context. In our culture, the concept of sex roles
is vitally linked to socialization for work and family roles.
In a section on sex roles, Hill (1983) discussed the need to
look beyond parents as sex role influences. He commented
that an ecological approach, such as that of Urie
Bronfenbrenner (1979), provides a framework for the
examination of the many influences on early adolescent
development. This approach chosen for this study
incorporates aspects of traditional sex role development
theory and two of the newer approaches.

The most recent theories that attempt to explain sex
role development are the life span approach theories
(Worrell, 1981; Katz, 1979). This model “recognizes that sex
roles are complex and consist of multiple sets of attitudes,
values, preferences, behaviors, activities, and aspirations“
(Worrell, 1981). The life span model has several age related
stages which each have specific content and influences. From
this standpoint, this model goes far beyond other theories
because it looks at the individual, as Hill suggested, and
the many layers of his or her environment. It does not limit
itself as do the older, psychological theories of

identification, social learning and cognition, to the

immediate environments of family and peers. A major drawback
to the life span approaches, is, however, the division of
early adolescence into two life stages: childhood and
adolescence. As we have seen in the previous discussion, it
is necessary to study early adolescence in its own right.

It is also necessary to contrast the development of
girls and boys. In our culture, gender differences are so
prevalent that two models of sex role development are
necessary: one for males and one for females. Worrell
(1981) discusses this in her review and Katz (1979)
incorporates this differentiation in her model.

PURPOSE 9}: THE RESEARCH

 

The primary purpose of this research was to develop
models for early adolescent male and female sex role
development using an ecological approach. In order to
accomplish this, Bronfenbrenner's theory of human development,

as articulated in his book, The Ecology pf Human Develgpment,

 

was applied to early adolescent sex role development.
Hypotheses were generated from Bronfenbrenner's hypotheses and
propositions as well as the related literature. The ‘
microsystem environment of the parent-child dyad, the
exosystem environment of maternal employment, and the
macrosystem of societal beliefs about sex roles were examined
for their impact on early adolescent male and female sex role
attitudes and behaviors. Bronfenbrenner discusses one more
subenvironment, the mesosystem, in his book. This subsystem,

made up of those having direct impact on the daily life of the

early adolescent, such as peers and teachers, was not examined
in this study.

A secondary purpose of the study became the testing of
sections of Bronfenbrenner's theory. Published in 1979, this
work has expanded many professionals' concepts of
development. The framework has been applied to the area of
child maltreatment (Belsky, 1980; Garbarino, 1979),
adolescent development (Hamilton, 1982) and school crime
(Garbarino, 1978). These researchers did not, however, test
the propositions and hypotheses. They simply used the major
concepts as a framework for looking at their topics.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions were posed in an
effort to understand the relationship between early
adolescent male and female sex role development and their
relationship to the environment:

1. What is the role of the parent-child dyad
(microsystem) in early adolescent male and female sex
role development?

2. What is the role of maternal employment
(exosystem) in early adolescent male and female sex

role development?

3. What is the role of societal beliefs (macrosystem)

in early adolescent male and female sex role
develOpment?
4. What age-related characteristics of the early

adolescent male and female organisms are important to
his or her interactions with the subsystem environments?

5. What is the relationship between these
subsystems and early adolescent male and female sex
-role attitudes and behaviors?

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

 

An ecological approach to the study of any living thing
has three major components: the system (or organism), the
environment, and the interactions between these two concepts.
Urie Bronfenbrenner articulates his theory of the ecology of

human development in his book, The Ecology pf Human

 

Development (1979). In it, Bronfenbrenner specifies the
organism as the individual. He then defines the layers of
the environment which surround the individual as the micro-,
meso-, exo—, and macro- systems. These environments have
biological, sociological, psychological, physical and
economic characteristics which influence the development of

the individual.

 

Historical roots pf a3 ecological approach

 

Ernest Haeckel coined the term "oecology" in 1870 in an
attempt to formulate a logical scheme of the zoological
sciences. "It was defined as the study of the
interrelationships between organisms or life and the
environment, both organic and inorganic" (Bubolz, 1969).
Bubolz describes how by the turn of the century this concept
was divided into two sub-concepts: autecology and
synecology. Autecology became used for the ecology of
animals; synecology became the term used for the ecological
study of plants. Tansley reunited these concepts with the
term "ecosystem" in 1935 (Boughey, 1968). This term was
defined as all living things in interaction with their non—

living habitat.

During this time (1920's), Park and Burgess introduced

the concept of human ecology to sociology. Based upon the
Darwinian concepts of web of life, balance, and competition,
human ecologists in sociology chose to study the biotic level
of humankind. They examined the basic, non-thoughtful,
subsocial adjustments made in the struggle for existence.
Cultural factors were excluded. In the 1930's the exclusion
of cultural factors came under severe criticism. The study
of relationships restricted to the biotic level were found
lacking. There was a growing concern that cultural factors
must be explored. An example is Burgess' concentric zone
theory, developed to explain land use. Empirical studies did
not support this theory. Cultural values needed to be
addressed in order for the theory to more closely fit the
data.

While human ecology was developing in sociology, Kurt
Lewin (1935), a psychologist, introduced his equation
B=f(PE). This equation stated that behavior is a function of
the interaction between the person and the environment.
Although few psychologists disagreed with this major tenet,
psychology on the whole continued to build a body of
knowledge about individuals without studying those
individuals as organisms in their environments. When the
environment was studied, the research was conducted primarily
by environmental psychologists whose areas of interest were
human spatial behavior, territoriality, privacy, and

crowding. There seems to be a parallel here with the

sociologists; an early focus on the physical environment. In

the 1950's Barker and Wright (1954) studied the
"psychological ecology of an American town", breaking from
the tradition of primary focus on physical environments.
Bronfenbrenner (1979), criticizes both the Barker and
Wright (1954) study and the later 1973 Barker and Schoggen

research:

Both groups have adapted to the study of human
behavior a model originally developed for the
observation of subhuman species. Implicit in this
model is a concept of the environment that may be quite
adequate for the study of behavior in animals but that
is hardly sufficient for the human case: it is limited
to the immediate, concrete setting containing the living
creature and focuses on the observation of the behavior
of one or, at most, two beings at a time in only one
setting (p.21).
Bronfenbrenner then states that the understanding of human
development requires examination of multiperson systems of
interaction not limited to a single setting and must take
into account aspects of the environment beyond the immediate
situation containing the subject. This position is much like
that of the human ecologists at Michigan State University at
the present time. Figure 1 illustrates the historical roots
of an ecological approach.

Bronfenbrenner's theory of the ecology of human
development was chosen as the conceptual framework for this
research. It fits the concepts of the research and the

perspective of the researcher. It also provided a well-

developed theory which has not been verified.

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Main assumptions pf the Bronfenbrenner approach

 

The following assumptions are implied or articulated by
Bronfenbrenner (1979):

1. In order to examine developing humans, it is necessary to
examine their interactions with their environments and to
look beyond single settings to the relationships between
those settings.

2. The person's development is profoundly affected by events
occurring in settings in which the person is not even present.

3. Within any culture or subculture, settings at all levels
of the ecological environment tend to be very much alike.

4. Settings (see 3) can change. This assumption has
implications for changes in environments other than the one
in which it is the setting. Because the environments are

interrelated, a change in a setting in one environment has
implications for changes in settings in other environments.

5. "Perceived" reality has greater implications for human
development than does "objective" reality.

6. Environments need to be analyzed in systems terms, as
opposed to linear terms.

7. The capacity of a setting to function effectively as a
context for human development is dependent upon the existence
and nature of social interconnections between settings and
the existence of information in each setting about the other.

DEFINITIONS

 

Definitions of the theoretical concepts relevant to the
research questions stated earlier are outlined below. The
theoretical concepts are matched to the parallel research
concepts important to the research questions.

Em

The humans in this study were early adolescent males and

females, ages ten to fourteen .

Development

 

Development is defined as the person's evolving

10

conception of the ecological environment, and his or her

relation to it as well as the person's growing capacity to
discover, sustain, and alter it (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). This
study focused on a particular type of development, sex role
development.

Environment

 

The environment is a set of nested structures surrounding
the individual. Bronfenbrenner (1979) delimits four of these
structures, definitions for which follow.

Microsystem

 

The microsystem is a pattern of activities, roles, and
interpersonal relations experienced by the developing person
in a given setting with particular physical and material
characteristics. The microsystem for this study was the
activities, roles, and interpersonal relations which an early
adolescent experienced with his or her mother and/or father.
Setting

A setting is a place where people can readily engage in
face-to-face interaction (Bronfenbrenner, 1979).
Bronfenbrenner states that the most powerful primary settings
are the family and workplace. He suggests that the peer
group is a "close third (p.285)."

Sex Roles

 

A role is a set of activities and relations expected of a
person occupying a particular position in society, and of
others in relation to that person (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). To

extend this concept to that of sex role, we examined the

11

activities and relations expected of a person based upon
their gender. This is consistent with the definitions of
Worrell (1981) in her clarification of the terms sex, gender,
and sex roles: "The concept of sex roles, then, in contrast
to sex or gender, includes a set of organized expectancies
for behaviors and activities that are considered to be
appropriate and desirable for males or females in a
particular culture (p. 315)."
Gender

Gender is the social determination that a person is
female or male (Worrell, 1981). It is assigned automatically
at birth based upon the person's external genitalia.
Relation

A relation obtains whenever one person in a setting pays
attention to or participates in the activities of another
(Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Relations, in this study, were
between early adolescents and their parents. The relations
between the two parents (where applicable) were also of
interest.

Exosystem

 

An exosystem refers to one or more settings that do not
involve the developing person as an active participant, but
in which events occur that affect, or are affected by, what
happens in the setting containing the developing person
(Bronfenbrenner, 1979). In this study, the concept of
maternal employment was chosen as an illustration of how the

exosystem may affect the sex role development of an early

12

adolescent.

Macrosystem

 

A macrosystem refers to the consistencies in the form and
content of lower-order systems (micro-, meso-, and exo-) that
exist, or could exist, at the level of the subculture or the

culture as a whole, along with any belief systems or ideology

underlying such consistencies (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). In
this study, traditional sex role ideology served as the
underlying ideology for early adolescent sex roles. The

consistencies of how that ideology was acted out were
analyzed.

THE ECOLOGY gr; HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

 

 

The following discussion will examine how the assumptions
and concepts delimited previously provide the basis for a set
of propositions and hypotheses generated by Bronfenbrenner
(1979). The discussion is limited to the concepts,
prOpositions, and hypotheses relevant to this study.

Macrosystem/sex role attitudes

 

Bronfenbrenner (1979) posits five hypotheses in his
chapter "The Macrosystem and Human Development". None of
these are satisfactory because they all refer to settings,
usually primary ones, and yet the original definition of
macrosystem does not include ”settings":

A macrosystem refers to the consistencies, in the
form and content of lower-order systems (micro-, meso-,
and exo-) that exist, or could exist, at the level of
the subculture or the culture as a whole, along with any

belief systems or ideology underlying such consistencies
(p.26).

13

This definition implies that the macrosystem is embedded in
settings at all levels of the environment, but not that it is
a setting itself. The definition of setting excludes it from
being a macrosystem because it refers to places where people
can engage in face-to-face interaction. If we consider the
definition of macrosystem with relation to the ecology of sex
role development, we can examine sex role ideology as a
belief system of the macrosystem. Traditional sex role
ideology is so called because it is the ideology that has
been accepted in the past. It implies that men and women are
separate types with separate attributes, often Opposite of
each other. Thus, we have men's roles and women's roles;
men's work and women's work (Hoffman, 1977). It is precisely
because this belief system, as part of the macrosystem,
permeates all other environmental systems, that we would
expect it to exert a strong influence on the exosystem,
microsystem, and human.

Bronfenbrenner discusses an aspect of role development,
related to the macrosystem, in his chapter on roles as
contexts for human development. This discussion examines
consensus in the culture about traditional sex role ideology:

The tendency to evoke perceptions, activities, and
patterns of interpersonal relation consistent with role
expectations is enhanced when the role is well
established in the institutional structure of the
society and there exists broad consensus in the culture
or subculture about these expectations as they pertain
to the behavior both of the person occupying the role
and of others with respect to that person (1979, p.92).

The implication is that if there is consensus in the

macrosystem, consistent patterns should be apparent in the

14

other subsystems.

Exosystem/maternal employment

 

 

The exosystem refers to the settings which do not involve
the developing person as an active participant, but which can
affect or be affected by the developing person.
Bronfenbrenner (1979) states that in order to demonstrate the
operation of the exosystem as a context influencing
development, it is necessary to:

establish a causal sequence involving at least two
steps: the first connecting events in the external
setting to processes occurring in the developing
person's microsystem and second linking the microsystem
processes to developmental changes in a person within
that setting. (p.237)
He acknowledges that the causal sequence also may run in the
opposite direction. Maternal employment meets the criteria
to be considered an exosystem.
Microsystem/parent-child dyads
The microsystem refers to the pattern of activities,
roles and interpersonal relations experienced by the
developing person in a given setting. In Bronfenbrenner's
(1979) microsystem hypotheses, delimited in his chapter on
interpersonal structures, the unit of analysis is the dyad:

Hypothesis 2: Once two persons begin to pay
attention to one another's activities, they are more
likely to become jointly engaged in those activities.
Hence, observational dyads tend to become transformed
into primary dyads (p.59).

Hypothesis 3: Once two persons participate in joint
activity, they are likely to develop more differentiated
and enduring feelings toward one another. Hence, joint
activity dyads tend to become transformed into primary

dyads (p.59).

Another microsystem hypothesis which Bronfenbrenner

15

(1979) posits that has implications for sex role development

is related to the affective nature of a dyadic relationship:
The developmental impact of both observational
learning and joint activity will be enhanced if either
takes place in the context of a primary dyad
characterized by mutuality of feeling (one learns more
from a teacher with whom one has a close relationship).
Conversely, mutual antagonism occurring in the context
of a primary dyad is especially disruptive of joint
activity and interferes with observational learning

(1979, p.60).

In the traditional sex role literature, the same gender
parent and child has been the dyad under examination. Some
of the more recent literature has looked at both parents and
their relationship to the adolescent's sex role development
(Kelly and Worrell, 1976; Orlofsky, 1979).

Bronfenbrenner (1979) devotes a section of his theory to
roles as contexts of human development. The discussion can
be applied to the microsystem as well as the other
subsystems. He offers this hypothesis:

The placement of a person in a role tends to evoke
perceptions, activities and patterns of interpersonal
relations consistent with expectations associated with
that role as they pertain to the behavior both of
persons occupying the role and of others with respect to
that person (1979, p.92).

Children are placed in a sex role at birth, or sooner, if the
gender of the child is known. Even before a child is born,
parents have dreams and expectations for their unborn child
based upon gender. Parents act on their perceptions of these
attributes and a set of reciprocal interactions develop.

There is one other proposition which has implications for

the study undertaken. It has to do with indirect influences,

16

second-order effects:

Proposition E: In a research setting containing
more than two persons, the analytic model must
take into account the indirect influence of third
parties on the interaction between members of a dyad.
This phenomenon is called second-order effect (p. 68).

Thus, if the mother-child relationship is examined, the
father's influence on that relationship needs to be
addressed. In this study, the father's attitude toward the

mother's employment was examined as a second-order effect.

Human/Early Adolescent

 

As the organism, the human cannot be considered an
environment. However, the early adolescent does bring him or
herself to this network of reciprocal interactions with the
micro-, exo-, and macro- systems. Bronfenbrenner (1979)
acknowledges early in his book that the developing person is
not a tabula rasa. He does not expand on this, however. He
commits his discussion entirely to the environments. This
approach is as unbalanced as his earlier criticism of
psychologists who only studied the individual. This study
deviated from testing the Bronfenbrenner theory by including
variables relevant to the early adolescent as an individual:

chronological and pubertal age.

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
In the following section, the literature reviewed
includes early adolescence as a stage of development, sex
role development theory, and the macro-, exo-, and micro-
system influences on the development of early adolescent male
and female sex role attitudes and behaviors.

EARLY ADOLESCENCE AS. A STAGE 93 DEVELOPMENT

 

 

Early adolescence is often defined as those years
between ten and fourteen. These years have been singled out
as a separate stage of development only recently. This is
difficult to understand, for as Kagan (1972) observed, it is
clearly a stage unto itself, marked by rapid growth second
only to that of infancy with corresponding social, emotional
and psychological changes. Lipsitz (1980), in an extensive
review of research on development and programs, refers to
these children as "growing up forgotten." She cites the lack
of research about and programming for this group of children.
The following sections will discuss concepts and research
related to early adolescence and puberty, measuring puberty,
chronological and pubertal age, and the relationship between
early adolescence as an age or stage and sex role development.

Early adolescence and puberty

 

The reason for conceptualizing early adolescence as a

stage of development separate from childhood and adolescence

17

18

is due in large part to the occurrence of puberty. Early

adolescent scholars have as their premise, not always stated,
that puberty is accompanied by both internal and external
changes. Tanner (1978) discusses the relationship between
puberty and the early adolescent shift from a concrete way of
looking at the world to one of formal Operations as described
by Inhelder and Piaget (1958). This is an internal change
with implications for how the early adolescent perceives the
external world. Tanner (1978), states that "There seems
every reason to suppose that Piaget's sucessive stages depend
on progressive maturation or at least organization of the
cortex (p. 79)." He implies that changes at puberty may be a
factor in this maturation, but states that we must wait the
results of future research. In contrast, Petersen, Tobin-
Richards, and Boxer (1983), in their analysis of the effect
of pubertal stages on cognition, state, "Therefore, we do
not feel that we have any strong evidence linking cognition
and puberty."

The other side of the relationship between puberty and
early adolescence is how the persons external to the early
adolescent perceive the changing early adolescent and the
effect puberty has on their interactions with the pubescent
early adolescent (Petersen and Spiga, 1982). What is the
reaction of parents, teachers, friends, and society to the
developing adolescent? Hill and Lynch (1983) theorize that
the pubertal changes during early adolescence lead to changes

in the ways in which parents interact with their children.

19

These changes, then, lead to changes in the way that the

early adolescent behaves. With relation to sex roles, it is
theorized that when parents perceive their adolescents as
becoming men and women, they begin to interact with them in
more sex differentiated ways than they did in the past. This
leads to more stereotypic behavior on the part of the early
adolescent. Preliminary reports from Steinburg and Hill
(1978) confirm this for male early adolescents.

It is apparent that opposite outcomes can be
hypothesized with relation to the role of puberty and early
adolescent sex role behaviors and attitudes, dependent on the
independent variable and the intervening variables.

Difficulties of measuring pubertal development

 

 

Petersen et a1. (1983) discuss the difficulties
inherent in obtaining a strong measure of pubertal
development from hormonal or physical measurements. Hormonal
measurements require repeated sampling of plasma controlling
for exercise, food intake, medications, sleep and other
activities. Even under the most Optimal of conditions,
interpretation is difficult because even when the hormonal
levels are accurately known, other aspects affect how the
body responds to this hormonal level. There are also ethical
problems with repeated blood sampling of healthy children.

Physical measures are another method of measuring
pubertal development. Peterson et al. (1983) report that
regular and frequent measures of stature can be fitted to a

curve which has statistical parameters of growth that have

20

validity as indicators of pubertal development. These
authors also report that Tanner and others have been
successful in scaling pubertal changes in secondary sex
characteristics which provide objective ratings. The
preferred use of this scale is by a trained rater observing a
nude child. Sometimes a series of three photographs are
used. Petersen et al. (1983) were not able to use this
method because school districts would not give their
permission to do so. The present situation is that
researchers are asking the subjects to rate themselves in
comparison with either standard drawings, photographs, or
indices of pubertal change (Duke, Litt, and Gross, 1980;
Morris and Urdy, 1980; Peterson et al., 1983). These reports
have reliablity and validity (Petersen et al., 1983).

Pubertal and chronological gge

 

The previous discussion leads to the concept of
pubertal age as opposed to chronological age. Tanner (1978),
in his section on implications for educational practice and
policy, provides a rationale for examining pubertal age when
making decisions about early adolescents that should not be
lost to fields other than the educational one to which he is
speaking. He discusses the large variance in the level of
pubertal development among early adolescents and concludes
that there is no average fourteen year old, for example.
Given this variety, Tanner (1978) discusses the need to look
at this group in terms of pubertal development as opposed to

chronological age.

21

Early adolescence and sex role development

 

If pubertal development is related to cognition, or if
chronological age is related to cognition, certain pubertal
or chronological age trends could be hypothesized related to
sex role attitudes and behaviors. Formal thought, whether
dependent on pubertal or chronological age, implies a growing
level of abstraction with which the early adolescent
perceives the world. If this growing level of abstraction is
applied to sex role attitudes and behaviors, early
adolescents would be expected to be more flexible or
nontraditional in their attitudes and behaviors with age.

Rust and Lloyd (1982), in a study of junior high
students, found that there is still stereotyping of female
and male characteristics in this population. This is
contrary to the finding of Payne (1981). She found that male
early adolescents were more likely to stereotype male and
female roles, but that in general, the level of stereotyping
was low.

Payne (1981) found that sex role stereotyping occurs
less in fifth graders than in third graders. Rust and Lloyd
(1982) found no age differences (as assessed by grade) in the
level of stereotyping. Other studies which examine the
relationship between age and sex role attitudes and behaviors
are discussed under the heading "Environmental influences on

early adolescent sex role development."

22

SEX ROLE DEVELOPMENT THEORY

 

Worrell (1981) discusses the need to be conceptually
clear and specific when examining sex role development. This
need becomes apparent when the literature on sex role
development is examined. The ambiguity of some terms and
how those terms are used can be demonstated with a discussion
of the concept of gender. Most studies report what is
commonly thought of as sex of child as male or female.
Worrell, however, differentiates the differences between the
concepts of sex, gender, and sex roles.

Sex is determined chromosomally (Grady 1979).

Money and Ehrhardt (1972) determine sex chromosomally as well

as anatomically and hormonally. Sex is a biological term.
Gender is the parallell sociological term. It is the social
determination that a person is either a male or female. Sex

roles are the set of organized expectancies for behaviors and
activities that are considered appropriate and desirable for
either males or females in a given culture. However, each of
these terms is under scrutiny as evidenced by
Constantinople's work "A Critical Examination of the Concept
of Gender." This review will attempt to use consistently
these concepts as labelled and defined by Worrell (1981).
Worrell (1981) stated that at the present time no
single theory adequately explains sex role behavior
acquisition, continuity and change. While new theories are
being developed, the traditional theories continue to

influence our conceptualization of sex role development. The

23

traditional psychological theories are identification theory,

social learning theory, and cognition theory.
Traditional psychological theories

Identification theories, rooted in Freud's earlier
work, are based upon the assumption that children adopt the
behaviors, attitudes, and values of the same gender parent by
age five or six. These behaviors, attitudes, and values are
then consistent across time and Situations. Failure to be
consistent leads to deviations from the stereotyped model.
Worrell (1981) points out the many drawbacks of these

theories:

Critics of identification theories point to the
early consolidation, and therefore the inflexibility of
sex typing; the requirement of same-sex parent as the
major role model; the assumption that moral and ethical
structures are tied into successful sex typing; the
treatment of sex-role adoption as a trait that resists
situational influences; the explanation of female
development in terms that are analogous, but different
from the male; the devaluing and stereotyping of female
development and characteristics; and the assumption

that non-traditional sex-role adoptions are deviant (p.
326).

Cognitive theories emphasize the acquisition of
knowledge about one's own and others' gender and the
processes an individual uses to acquire and retain this
information. This process is a structured, sequential one
and the person is motivated by the positive value attached to
his or her own gender assignment. Criticisms of these
theories are that they are androcentric (based on a male
prototype); individual differences within each gender are

ignored; sex role stereotypes are seen to reflect some fixed

24

prototype from nature; and that the goal of cognition related

sex roles is to be a stereotypic female or male.

Social learning theory emphasizes observational
learning, various reinforcement types, and punishment as the
major factors in sex role development. Children are assumed
to learn many behaviors from a variety of models and to
choose which of these models to display. Thus, flexibility
is very possible. Criticisms of this theory are that it
overestimates the importance of parents; underestimates the
child's cognitive and motivational functions of self-
labeling; and is too bound by external behaviors as
descriptions of the child's sex typing as opposed to
descriptions that the child might use for his or her own sex
typing.

Recent theoretical developments

 

One of the newest sets of theories that attempt to
explain sex role development is social cognition theory. In
the process of being defined, social cognition theory
attempts to integrate cognitive and social learning theory
variables into a whole. Worrell (1982) discusses the
application of social cognition theory to sex role
develOpment. She cites the emphasis on the stimulus function
of gender and mediation labels in providing information about
the appropriateness of, an activity for the self or for
others, the relevant antecedents and consequences of modeled
behavior for the imitation of sex typed patterns, and the

possibility of flexible sex typing based upon variations in

25

models, reinforcers, novel situations and the child's gradual

formulation of personal sex role standards that the child
self-monitors. An example of one of these theories is
Constantinople's (1979) model of sex roles as rules. In this
model, the complex cognitive and affective nature of the
child are taken into account as well as the varieties of
cognitive-developmental and social learning processes at work
in the acquisition of sex roles. For the most part, the
social cognition theorists have been interested in children
younger than the early adolescent, except for the antecedent
studies of college students.

A life span approach to sex role development is an
attempt to move beyond the limited age span of the theories
discussed previously. Emmerich discussed the need for such a
perspective as early as 1973. Worrell (1981) delimits four
ideas from Baltes, Reese, and Lipsett (1980) that are
particularly relevant to the examination of sex role
development over the life span:

A life span view assumes that development (a) is a
life-long process, in which behavior change can occur at
any point in time in the individual's life; therefore,
maturity is not an end state, nor can an ideal end state
be determined; (b) is influenced by the historical time
in which it is occurring so that cohort (generational)
effects must be considered; (c) is multidetermined and
complex for any one area of behavior, so that an
individual exhibits considerable heterogeneity over time
and across situations and age is not the primary
determinant of change; and (d) is best described, not in
terms Of traits or orderly sequences of change, but by a
flexibility model in which multiple determinants may

induce continual change (p. 328).

Worrell (1981) discusses the need for a life span

26

approach to be a set of multiple life span considerations,

culturally relevant, free from the use of gender
psychological constructs, and accommodating of individual
histories. She reports that Katz meets these qualifications.
Katz's theory will be described below.

Katz's (1979) model of the development of sex roles
suggests that there are three overlapping but distinctive
developmental levels of sex roles: Level Izlearning what is
appropriate for a male or female child; Level II: acquiring
concepts about what is appropriate as a potential male or
female adult; and Level III: behaving in ways that are deemed
approriate for male and female adults across the life span.
Her model proposes that each level has stages during which
cognitive and social tasks are to be acquired. These tasks
are different for males and females, and have differing sets
of social influences.

Katz (1979) does not consider the ages of ten to
fourteen as a specific stage in her developmental schema.
Grade school is conceptualized at the end of Level I and is
defined as the years from six to twelve. The developmental
tasks of this stage are the same for girls and boys : the
elaboration of sex role content and the development of strong
same-sex friendships. Katz suggests that the sources of
influence, in order of importance, for this stage are same—
sex peers, television, books, teachers, and parents. The
stage, early adolescence, is the beginning of Level II, and

encompasses the ages of twelve to fifteen years. In this

27

stage, the tasks are different, primarily in level of
intensity, according to gender. For females, the tasks are:
adjusting to menstruation, adjusting to sexual body changes,
adjusting to feelings, and concern with physical
attractiveness. Male tasks are: adjusting to ability to
ejaculate (for early maturing), adjusting to sexual body
changes (early maturing), adjusting to sexual feelings, which
has a greater intensity than for girls, and concern with
physical attractiveness, to a lesser extent than for
females. Katz lists the sources of influence as biological
factors, same-sex peers, television, books, teachers and
parents.

The strengths of Katz's model are its life-span
framework conceptualization of developmental tasks and
ecological approach to influences on sex role development.
However, its relegation of early adolescence to the years of
twelve to fifteen is inappropriate, considering the growing
recognition of early adolescence as what has previously been
considered the end of childhood and beginning of adolescence.
An example may clarify this. In Katz's model, biological
influences are ranked as the strongest influence on the
developmental tasks of adjusting to menstruation and sexual
body changes. Tanner (1978) states that the average for
menstruation is 12.8 years of age. Most sexual body changes
have taken place previous to that time. Over one half of the
young women in Katz's stage of early adolescence have been or

are presently adjusting to the changes discussed by Katz.

28

Need for a life-span, ecological approach

 

 

If we consider that most of the research on sex role
socialization has been limited to the mother-child dyad when
children are at ages birth to six years of age (Block, 1978)
it makes logical sense that there is a need for other
environments than that of the mother to be examined in
relation to sex role development. Block (1978) points out
the need for the role of fathers to be given more attention
in sex role research. She also calls for research on children
other than those who are young: "...and suggests the need
for systematic studies of differential socialization among
parents of older children, studies that would seek to
identify the nature of the relationship between socialization
emphases, the stimulus value of the child (of which sex and
age are determinants), and the situational press (of which
sex and age are determinants)" (p.38).

The influence of environments other than those provided
by parents is also a concern for those interested in sex role
development. Katz, as discussed previously, clearly sets the
stage for the examination of environments other than the
parentalenvironment. She is not the only one to do so,
although she expresses the need the most specifically.
Constantinople, a social cognitivist states: "We need,
therefore, to look more broadly in our search for experiences
which contribute to the child's developing store of
distinctive features for sex roles (1979, p.131)." She gives

as examples the need to examine the role of siblings, peers

29

and outside figures.

ENVIRONMENTS WHICH INFLUENCE EARLY ADOLESCENT SEX ROLE
DEVELOPMENT

 

 

 

 

 

Macrosystem/Societal Beliefs

 

Bronfenbrenner's (1979) definition of the macrosystem
implies that culture is so pervasive that it structures all
other environments. He refers to the consistencies in the
exo-, meso-, and micro- systems. The implication is that in
the design of things, influence moves from the top, the
macrosytem, down through the exo-, meso-, and micro-systems.

Yankelovich (1981) takes this approach in his
examination of cultural and economic forces in contemporary
society. Although he was not interested specifically in sex

roles, this area forces itself to the reader's attention in

Yankelovich's examination of the new quest for self-
fulfillment. Using the concept of culture as "shared
meanings", Yankelovich illustrates how changes in the

psychoculture have created a tremendous number of options for
women, especially, and the resulting consequences of those
changes.

Hoffman (1977), in a discussion of changes in the
family roles of men and women and the effects of these
changes on the child's socialization, implies a different
model for change and development. She acknowledges that
traditionally sex differences in socialization experiences
reflect adult role expectations that women will be mothers

and men will be workers. She examines the role of smaller

30

family size, longer life expectancy, and higher employment

rates for women and their implications for sex role
development. Hoffman theorizes that as awareness of these
social changes increases, sex linked differences in

socialization may be expected to diminish with resulting
diminished sex differences in behavior. This model is one of
change occurring from the bottom, up. That is, changes in
people's daily lives create changes in the societal beliefs
and structures.

Worrell (1982) reviews the cultural expectations for
gender differences in behavior of children and their
reflection in the play interests and sex role conceptions of
elementary school children and concludes "During the
elementary school years, it appears that the children
themselves live out the sex role prescriptions of the larger
society (p.4)." This is confirmed by Jones (1981). Later,
in a discussion of the historical time in which contemporary
children have been reared, she states that for most
preadolescent children, liberated attitudes have not filtered
into their behavior.

Jones (1981) reports that his findings on adolescent
interests are a reflection of existing societal values and
expectations that are probably mediated and perpetuated by
beliefs concerning sex-appropriate behaviors.

Documentation that changes in sex role attitudes have
indeed taken place is presented by McBee (1984). In her

discussion of the baby-boomers, that group of adults born

31

between 1946 and 1964, she states that a key diffence between

this generation and others is their attitude toward marriage
and the changing role of the sexes, with a majority in favor
of women working. Many of the older "baby-boomers" are
parents of early adolescents.

Exosystem/Maternal Employment

 

 

During the past two decades, large numbers of women
have entered the work market. This has been particularly
true of women with children. For example, in families with
children ages six to seventeen years, the rate of maternal
employment in 1980 was 61 percent as Opposed to 49 percent in
1970. Almost immediately, those interested in children and
their development began looking at the effects of maternal
employment on all area of children's development. This
review will examine two areas related to maternal employment;
the develOpment of sex role attitudes and sex role
behaviors. It will focus on early adolescence, although
where appropriate, literature from childhood and adolescence
may be included.

Maternal employment and sex role attitudes

 

Early adolescents with employed mothers have
consistently been found to differentiate less in their sex
role concepts (Gold and Andres, 1978a, 1978b; Hoffman, 1974,
1975; Marantz and Mansfield, 1977; Dellas, Gaier, and
Emihovich, 1979; Lamb, 1982; Chandler, Stawicki, and
Styffeler, 1981; Etaugh, 1974). They are less likely to

stereotype males and females and do not look at sex roles as

32

narrowly as do early adolescents of non-employed mothers.

Daughters of employed mothers are more likely to be more
nontraditional in their sex role attitudes than are sons of
employed mothers (Dellas et al., 1979; Chandler, Sawicki, and
Stryffeler, 1981; Gold and Andres, 1978a, 1978b). Dellas et
a1. (1979) observed that early adolescents in managerial and
working class families were more likely to approve of their
mothers' employment than early adolescents in professional
families. This is in contrast to the findings of Rollins and
White (1982). In their study of traditional, dual employed,
and dual career families, they found that mothers and
daughters in dual career families had more nontraditional
attitudes about marriages and careers than the other family
types.

In high school and college samples, findings were much
less consistent. Griggs (1972) reported a negative
relationship between maternal employment and contemporary
ideology. Other studies found no relationship between
maternal employment and nontraditional sex role attitudes
(Baruch, 1972; Lipman-Blumen, 1972). King, McIntyre, and
Axelson (1968), Meier (1972), and Broverman, Vogel,
Broverman, Clarkson and Rosenkrantz (1972) report a positive
relationship between maternal employment and contemporary sex
role ideology. These findings imply that the relationship
between maternal employment and sex role attitudes gets
weaker as children move through early adolescence into

adolescence.

33

Maternal employment and sex role behaviors

The effects of maternal employment on early adolescent
sex role behavior have been studied less, especially those
activities of interest to this project, household work and
leisure activities.

Cogle, Tasker, and Morton (1982) found that adolescents
with employed mothers spent more time on housework than did
other adolescents (ages 12-17). Medrich, Roizen, Rubin, and
Buckley (1982) found that daughters, not sons, do more
housework when their mother is employed. Conversely, Dellas
et al. (1979) found no differences. Propper (1972), in her
analysis of housework responsibilities of early adolescents
of employed and non-employed mothers, found that girls were
more likely to do more housework whether their mother was
employed or not. Clearly, the results are mixed for this
area of research.

The focus of the household work research has been the
amount of time that girls or boys have spent on housework and
who is doing more of it. This study examined the type of
household work being done by early adolescents and the degree
to which it is sex role stereotypic. This is a different
perspective than that which has been examined in the past.

Maternal employment: recommendations for research

 

 

Two major recommendations for research have emerged in
the maternal employment literature: (1) examination of
maternal employment as a proxy for a set of attitude

variables and (2) the need for maternal employment to be

34

examined in a family context. The second recommendation
refers to the need to examine family variables related to
maternal employment and their first or second order effects
on it.

Rodgon, Gralewski, and Hetzel (1977) argue that it is
not maternal employment itself that is responsible for the
attitudes in children but the mother's attitudes toward a
variety of things, including employment, time Spent with
children, proper roles for men and women, and the role of
husbands and fathers in child-rearing and housework which are
communicated to the child. They argue that maternal
employment has been treated as a proxy for these other
variables, and that this has been inappropriate. This is
related to the conclusions of Rollins and White (1982) in
their paper on traditional, dual career, and dual working
mothers and their daughters. They reported that the
differences that they found were related to the
nontraditional responses of the dual career mothers and
their daughters.

The other need in maternal employment research is that
of a family approach. As early as 1972, Propper wrote:

The methodological implications of the findings are
that it may be incorrect to assume that maternal
employment affects both sexes in the same way, or that
girls and the mother-child relationship are most
crucially affected by the mother's employment. It would
be in nadvisable for future studies to neglect boys and
the father-child relationship. The relationship to each
parent separately, as well as to parents generally,

should be examined for both males and females.

Wallston (1973) stated early in the research history:

35

"What is necessary is studies which deal with these factors as

interacting dependent variables." Hoffman (1974) suggests
that the maternal employment literature must examine the "many
steps in between family roles and interaction patterns, the
child's perceptions, the mother's feelings about her
employment, the child rearing practices..." The implication
is that the effects of maternal employment on children is a
very complex set of interactions that needs to be addressed
from a family systems perspective.

Microsystem/Parent-Child Dyads

 

The majority of the research that has been conducted on
the relationship between parental sex role attitudes and
behaviors and those of their children has examined those
variables in relation to young children, usually those under
five years of age. The explanation for this lies in the
theoretical bases of these studies. The traditional
psychological theories assume that sex typing occurs at an
early age and is then fixed. The implication is that related
dimensions of sex role development also are fixed at this
time. A life span approach, however, assumes that people
change over their life time, based on the cognitive,
biological, and psychological development of the person and
the times in which that person is alive.

Parent-child dyads SE microsystem and sex role attitudes

 

 

Because the life span approaches are recent, little
research has been conducted to examine the relationship

between early adolescent sex role attitudes and behaviors and

36

the family microsystem. Baruch (1975) studied the

relationship between parental preference in girls, which
measured which parent the child would like her life to be
like, and sex role attitudes. She found no significant
pattern. Emmerich, Goldman and Shore (1971) found that there
was a positive relationship between early adolescents' sex
role attitudes and those of their parents. This relationship
was stronger in females than it was in males.

Parent-child dyads a5 microsystem and sex role behaviors

 

 

In studies of the antecedents of college students sex
role orientations, which imply behaviors, Orlofsky (1979)
found that traditional sex typing occurred where both parents
modeled traditional sex role attributes and that for females,
this traditional model occurred in the context of a very
close father-daughter relationship in the absence of
cognitive or intellectual encouragement by the mother. Kelly
and Worrell (1976) report similar results. In males, it is
parental affection that is related to nontraditional sex role
behaviors; in females, it is cognitive or achievement
encouragement and permisiveness that are related to
nontraditional sex role behavior.

Orlofsky (1979) discussed the need for longitudinal
studies that can begin to dissect the interactional nature of
sex role development by examining the characteristics of the
individual and parental reactions. He cited the limitations
of a retrospective report and correlational analysis that can

lead only to the examinination of relationships but not

causality.

37

CHAPTER 3
HYPOTHESIZED RELATIONSHIPS
AND METHODOLOGY

HYPOTHESIZED RELATIONSHIPS

The following hypotheses were developed from
Bronfenbrenner's (1979) concepts, hypotheses and propositions
with support from the related literature or from the related
literature only. They are grouped by environmental subsystem
and thus directly parallel the research questions stated
previously.

The overall research design is illustrated in Figure 2.
An overview of item and scale formulations by variable follows
(Figure 3) and provides an easy method for examining the
variables in the following hypotheses. It includes the
variable name, operational definition, question as stated and
scale formulations.
Macrosystem/sex role attitudes

NO formal hypotheses were developed with relationship to
the macrosystem. However, the findings of this study are
discussed in relation to the macrosystem in a later chapter.

Exosystem/maternal employment

 

Maternal employment was the exosystem environment
considered in this study. Bronfenbrenner's (1979) hypotheses
in relation to the exosystem examine the relationship of
setting potentials to power settings. As such, they do not
relate directly to the research questions being considered.

However, given the definition of this environment and the

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44

basic assumptions, logical hypotheses can be derived.

Maternal employment has not been a part of the recent
traditional female sex role norms of our society. Therefore,
theoretically, maternal employment would be expected to be

negatively related to early adolescent level of traditionalism

in sex role attitudes and behaviors. The literature supports
this. Maternal employment has been indicated as one of the
major influences on children's sex role development. The

data consistently agree that adolescent sons and daughters of
employed mothers have a less differentiated perception of
gender roles than those children of mothers who do not work
outside of their homes for pay (Gold and Andres, 1978a, 1978b;
Dellas, Gaier, and Emihovich, 1979; Broverman, Vogel,
Broverman, Clarkson, and Rosenkrantz, 1972; Marantz and
Mansfield, 1977; Etaugh, 1974; Hoffman, 1974,1979; Lamb, 1982;
Chandler, Stawicki, and Styffler, 1981).

The following hypotheses were based on both logical
deductions from Bronfenbrenner's theory and the cited
empirical evidence:

Hypothesis 1: Maternal employment is inversely
related to the level of traditionalism of early
adolescent sex role attitudes and behaviors.

Hypothesis 2: The number of years that the mother has
been employed since the birth of the child is inversely
related to the level of traditionalism of early
adolescent sex role attitudes and behaviors.

The father's attitude toward the mother's employment was
the basis for another set of variables to be examined. These

examined the indirect influence of the father on the early

adolescent‘s sex role attitudes and behaviors with relation to

45

maternal employment. The hypothesis is deduced from

Bronfenbrenner's Proposition E (second order effects):
Hypothesis 3: The interaction of the amount of
maternal employment with the level of father's feeling
about maternal work is related to the level of
traditionalism of the early adolescent sex role
attitudes and behaviors.

Microsystem/Parent-child Dyads

In the traditional sex role literature, the same gender
parent and child has been the dyad under examination. Some of
the more recent literature has looked at both parents and
their relationship to the adolescent's sex role development
(Kelly and Worrell, 1976; Orlofsky, 1979). Emmerich, Goldman
and Shore (1971) found a positive relationship between sex
role attitudes of early adolescents and their parents.

The following hypothesis was based on the previous
discussion:

Hypothesis 4: The level of parental traditionalism of
sex role attitudes is positively related to the level
of traditionalism of early adolescent sex role attitudes
and behaviors.
These hypotheses were analyzed for each of the parent-child
dyads: mother-daughter, mother-son, father-daughter, father-
son.

In order to examine the role of each parent, the
variables which are inherent in Bronfenbrenner's hypotheses
are amount of time spent in joint activities and the
level of positive feeling between those involved in the
activities. Important to a discussion of the development of

sex role attitudes and behaviors is the level of

traditionalism of these behaviors and/or the attitudes

46

communicated or observed during the activities. The

assumption is made that these behaviors and attitudes are what
the early adolescent is learning during the joint activities.
Based upon Bronfenbrenner's hypotheses related to
primary dyads, it is critical to examine the variables of time
spent with parent and level of feeling in interaction with the
parental level of traditionalism of sex role attitudes. Given
the importance of the interactive effects between the
variables of time spent with parents and level of feeling
with parental level of traditionalism of sex role attitudes,
it would be conceptually irrelevant to develop hypotheses
which examined the variables' single effects. The following
hypotheses were developed in order to examine the interactive
nature of these variables:
Hypothesis 5: The interaction of the amount of time
spent with parents with the parental level of
traditionalism is related to the level of traditionalism
of early adolescent sex role attitudes and behaviors.
Hypothesis 6: The interaction of the child's level of
feeling about the parent with the parental level of
traditionalism of sex role attitudes is related to
traditionalism of early adolescent sex role attitudes
and behaviors.
These hypotheses were analyzed for each of the following
dyads: mother-daughter, mother-son, father-daughter, father-

SOD.

Human/Early Adolescents

 

The following hypotheses were posited in an effort to
provide a balance between the study of the individual and his
or her environment. Age, both chronological and pubertal, was

chosen as the variable based upon the literature's stated need

47

for such a distinction (Tanner, 1978; Petersen et al., 1983).
Based upon Payne's (1981) finding of chronological age
differences and their relationship to sex role attitudes, the

following hypothesis was developed:

Hypothesis 7: There is an inverse relationship
between chronological age and the level of
traditionalism of early adolescent sex role attitudes
and behaviors.

Based upon the work of Steinburg and Hill (1978) and Hill and
Lynch (1983), the following hypothesis related to pubertal age
was developed:

Hypothesis 8: There is a positive relationship
between parental perceptions of early adolescents'
pubertal age and the level of traditionalism of early
adolescent sex role attitudes and behaviors.

METHODOLOGY

 

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence
of selected variables of the microsystem, exosystem, and
macrosystem as defined by Bronfenbrenner (1979) on early
adolescent sex role development. Two areas of sex role
development were measured; attitudinal and behavioral. These
were assessed as part of a structured interview with the early
adolescent in his or her home. These interviews were
conducted as part of a larger study, the Michigan Early
Adolescent Survey (MEAS).

The sample design for the Michigan Early Adolescent
Survey was a cross-sectional survey of 304 Michigan early
adolescents and their parents. Early adolescents were
interviewed by trained interviewers while parents completed

questionnaires in the family's home. Interviews took

48

approximately one hour.

Interviewers were recruited in the twenty participating
counties by 4-H county program leaders and program assistants.
As volunteers, the interviewers were trained in an intensive
ten hour session over two days in February, 1983. Training
consisted of sensitizing the interviewers to early
adolescents, familiarizing them with the interview schedule, a
presentation on nonverbal cues, guidelines on the interview
process, critiquing videotaped interviews, and group
interviewing practice with an early adolescent. The parent
questionnaire was discussed also.

At the end of the interviewer training, introductory
letters explaining the survey were sent to each potential
family. Interviewers then made telephone contacts to ascertain
family interest and set up interview appointments. Most
interviews were completed by June, 1983. Others, due to
county administrative problems, were completed in September.

Interviewer description

 

Interviewers were much the same age as the parents of
the early adolescents that they were interviewing. Over one
half were between the ages of 31 to 45. They were likely to
have had some college or to be college graduates and to be
employed.

SAMPLE SELECTION

 

The population for this study was Michigan early
adolescents, in grades five through eight, who lived with

either one or two parents and were on official state of

49

Michigan enrollment lists (1982) for public and private

schools. Children in group homes, institutions, or boarding
schools were not part of the population. The sampling
procedure chosen was a stratified multi-stage cluster sample.
The sample was chosen using an Equal Probablity Selection
Method (EPSEM). This method insured that all state youths had
equal probability of being selected for the study. This
method increased the external validity of the project. Based
upon the discussion by Cornfield and Tukey (1956), this study
is not statistically generalizable to the entire population of
Michigan early adolescents who live with their families
because of substitutions made during the sampling procedure as
well as self-selection by the respondents. However, based
upon comparisons of the sample with the parallel State of
Michigan census data, it can be said to be generalizable to
early adolescents and their families, in Michigan, in families
where the parents are somewhat older and more educated.

County Selection

 

An administrative decision was made to conduct 300
interviews: 25 clusters in 18 counties. Michigan counties
were stratified by population size to create homogeneity in
the substratum. Stratification by socio-economic status would
have been ideal because we anticipated it to be highly
correlated to the outcomes. However, since it was impossible
to obtain these ratings ahead of time for the project,
population size was chosen as a stratifier. Three strata were

identified. Stratum 1 was highly urban. Stratum 3 was highly

50

rural. Stratum 2 was composed of counties which had large

cities and rural areas. It is important to note that income
and urbanicity are highly correlated, so that for the most
part, these strata also reflected income stratifications.

Each county's population of ten to fourteen year olds was
assigned random numbers according to its population. Eighteen
counties were selected randomly. This is approximately one-
fourth of the number of counties in the state. This number
was chosen because it seemed manageable and because it was
anticipated that there would be county 4-H staff available to
work on the project in this number of counties.

Because the counties were stratified, stratum 1 needed
eight clusters of early adolescents, stratum 2 needed nine
clusters of early adolescents and stratum 3 needed eight
clusters of early adolescents in order to adequately represent
the proportion of early adolescents in each stratum.

The following shows the counties chosen and number of
clusters for each county at this stage of the sampling
procedure:

Initial Counties and Number of Clusters for Sample

 

 

Wayne (5) Eaton (1)
Oakland (3) Lenawee (1)
Macomb (1) Allegan (1)
Kent (1) Van Buren (1)
Saginaw (2) Tuscola (1)
Washtenaw (1) Chippewa (1)
Kalamazoo (1) Emmett (1)
St. Clair (1) Benzie (1)
Calhoun (1) Delta (1)

1 cluster = 12 children
Total sample = 300

Problems became apparent as the random selection was

51

examined. They were:

1. Wayne and Oakland would be unable to interview the numbers
of students indicated because of lack of county 4-H staff
people to supervise this large a number of volunteers. There
was also concern that not enough volunteers could be recruited
to do such a large number of interviews. In order to make
this administratively possible, three of Wayne county's
clusters were assigned to Genessee and Jackson counties.
Genessee county became responsible for two clusters of
interviews and Jackson county became responsible for one
cluster of interviews. This substitution was based upon
geographical and population similarities between the counties.
Wayne county's sample was to have been drawn from the Detroit
Public Schools. The population is primarily a black, inner-
city population. In order to make the substitution as much
like the Detroit sample as possible, students were sampled
from the Flint and Jackson public schools. They, too, are
primarily black, inner-city youth. Thus, a logical argument
can be made that the substitutions are very much like the
orginal sample.

In order to remove the excessive number of interviews
from Oakland, one cluster was subtracted and given to Macomb
county which was demographically similar to it.

2. Washtenaw, Emmett, and Chippewa counties chose not to be a
part of the study. In an attempt to replace these counties
with counties that were similar geographically as well as
demographically, the following substitutions were made:
Ingham for Washtenaw, Presque Isle for Emmett, and Marquette
for Chippewa. The least satisfactory of these substitutions
was the last one. Although Marquette and Chippewa are
geographically similar, they are demographically less alike
than are the other substitutions. However, commitment to
maintaining an upper peninsula county and availability of
personnel made this the best substitution. This substitution
brought the largest amount of sampling bias into the sample.

The final list of counties and clusters looked like
this:

Final Counties and Number of Clusters for Sample

 

 

Wayne (2) Eaton (1) St. Clair (1)
Oakland (2) Lenawee (l) Calhoun (1)
Macomb (2) Allegan (1) Benzie (1)
Kent (1) Van Buren (1) Delta (1)
Saginaw (2) Tuscola (1)

Ingham (l) Marquette (l)

Kalamazoo (1) Presque Isle (1)

Genessee (2) Jackson (1)

52

School District Selection

 

Two school districts per each county were selected using
the same procedure as had been implemented with the counties.
Random numbers were assigned to all public and private school
districts in the county based upon their population. As
element of bias may enter the study at this point. Because
school districts could not provide numbers of ten to fourteen
year olds in their districts, the districts were assigned
random numbers based upon their total population. If a
district had a disproportionately larger or smaller amount of
early adolescents compared to their total population, the
sample is biased to that extent.

County staff members in fourteen of twenty counties
received permission to acquire students' names from the first
two randomly selected school districts chosen. It was
necessary to make substitutions in six counties. In four of
these, permission was received from the next school district
randomly selected. Oakland county needed to contact four
school districts before receiving permission to sample in two
of them. The substitution made in Jackson county because of
refusal to help supply names from the Jackson Public Schools
brought the largest amount of bias into the sample.

Jackson county was a part of the sample as a
substitution for one of the Wayne county clusters. In order
to make the substitution as parallel to Wayne county as
possible, sampling was to have taken place in the Jackson

Public Schools, based upon their inner city population. When

53

Jackson Public Schools refused to cooperate with the survey,

the sample was selected from the Catholic inner city schools
in Jackson. This Opened up the possibility for both racial

and religious differences in the Jackson county sample.

Student Selection

 

An equal number of students in grades five, six, seven
and eight as well as an equal number of males and females were
chosen at the next stage. This occurred in two ways. Some
school districts provided lists of fifth, sixth, seventh, and
eighth graders. In these cases, student lists for each grade
were numbered and four names for each intended interview
position were chosen, using a table of random numbers. This
was often the case in school districts which had one or two
elementary schools and one middle school. In other cases,
often in large districts, schools were assigned random numbers
based upon their population of ten to fourteen year olds, and
two schools were picked for each school district. Students
were then assigned random numbers and selection took place
using a table of random numbers. Four potential students'
names were selected for each name necessary to conduct the
study.

Students for each position were randomly numbered so
that no bias would enter into the order in which the student‘s
families were contacted about interviews. For example, if a
female fifth grader were needed, four names were randomly
selected and then randomly numbered as to order of interviewer

contact. Slightly over two times the number of families

54

needed were called in order to fill each interview position.

The amount differed greatly county to county. In general, it
was more difficult to fill interview positions in the inner
city situations and when the potential respondent was a
fourteen year old male.

Weighting the Sample

 

At the end of interviewing, all counties were not able
to complete all of the interviews assigned to them. In order
to ensure that all strata were proportionately represented,
cases were weighted based upon the stratum in which they
occurred and the percentage of incomplete interviews in the
stratum. The percentages of incomplete interviews and weights
for the strata were: Stratum 1, 13.5 percent, 1.1566265;
Stratum 2, 4.5 percent, 1.046729; Stratum 3, 1.1 percent,
1.0105263.

Constraints of Sampling Technique

 

 

Cluster sampling has possibilities for the most bias of
any survey sampling technique. However, it was the best
choice given the administrative constraints of this study. A
procedure was needed that allowed the study of approximately
one-fourth of the counties in the state in a manner that would
be as statistically generalizable as possible. It was
recognized from the beginning that not all counties were
staffed in a manner that would allow them to be a part of the
study and that some counties would need to be omitted for that
reason. The random selection of counties was fortunate in

this respect. Another major difficulty in a study such as

55

this one is the unavailablility of early adolescent names. No
list of student names exists at the state level. Subject
names must be obtained at the local level through the schools.

SAMPLE DESCRIPTION

 

 

In the following section, the sample and its
relationship to the state of Michigan 1980 census information
on families with early adolescents is described.

Early Adolescents

 

Slightly more than one-half of the early adolescents who
completed the survey were females. Three-fourths of the
youths were evenly distributed over the ages of eleven,
twelve, and thirteen with the remaining fourth Split between
the ages of ten and fourteen. These students were evenly
distributed over grades five, six, seven, and eight. Eighty-
two percent were Caucasian, sixteen percent were Black, and
one percent were Mexican-American. (See Table 1-1).

Household information

 

The household infomation is detailed in Table 1-2.
Eighty-two percent of the youth lived in two parent homes.
Sixteen percent lived only with their mother and two percent
lived only with their father. These proportions are very muchi
like the 1980 Michigan census data.

Ninety-five percent of the youth lived with their
natural mothers; seventy-six percent lived with their natural
fathers. Almost two percent lived with adoptive mothers or
adoptive fathers. Step-mothers accounted for one percent of

the sample and step-fathers accounted for almost five percent.

56
Table 1-1.

Percentage of Early Adolescents Participating in the Michigan Early Adolescent
Survey by Selected Demographic Variables

Gender ' Age Grade

lmle (49.8%) 10 13.0
11 22.6 S 28.0
12 24.5 6 23.1
13 25.2 7 24.2
14 14.6 8 24.7

Female (50.2%) 10 11.2
11 22.9 S 23.6
12 28.9 6 22.1
13 25.3 7 26.6
14 11.8 8 27.7

Ethnicity

Caucasian 82.3

Black 16.2

Mexican-American 1.1

Table 1-2.

Percentage of Households Participating in the Michigan Early Adolescent Survey
by Selected Demographic Variables

 

 

 

Head of household Guardianship

lbther Father
T“° P're"‘5 82'” Natural 95.1 76.3
Single mother 16.0 Adoptive 1.6 2.0
Single father 2.0 Step- ‘ 1.3 4.9
Geographical location Family income
Fara 9.5 Below $10,000 13.6
Rural 28.3 310,001-20,000 19.9
Snail town 16.3 $20,001-30,000 29.0
Town 13.4 $30,001-SS,000 32.8
Small city 13.1 855,001-7S,000 3.4
Suburbs 8.5 Over $75,000 1.3
Cities 10.9

57

Almost one third of the sample lived in a rural area;

another ten percent lived on farms. Eight percent lived in
large cities of 100,000 or more persons with an accompanying
eleven percent in the suburbs. Approximately 13-16 percent of
the youth lived in each of the following settings: small
towns (under 5000 people), towns (5000-25,000 peOple), and
cities.

The MEAS sample was very much like the 1980 Michigan
census information on families in this stage of the life cycle
when it came to income. Almost one third of the households
earned $20,001 to $30,000. Another third earned $30,001 to
$55,000. One fifth earned $10,001 to $20,000. Fourteen
percent earned under $10,000 and five percent earned more than
$55,000.

Parents

Percentages for selected parent demographics can be
found in Table 1-3. In general, the sample parents were a
little older than the parents in the Michigan census. The
majority of them were between 31 and 45 years of age: 31-35
years, 23.8 percent; 36-40 years, 31.7 percent; 41-45 years,
21.5 percent. Five percent of the parents were thirty years
of age or under. Slightly over ten percent were between the
ages of 46 and 50. Six percent were over 50.

Fathers were most likely to be employed by someone other
than themselves (72.1%). Over half of the fathers reported
doing skilled work. One fifth of the fathers were

professional people. Almost fifteen percent were in

58

Table 1-3.

Percentage of Parents Participating in the Michigan Early Adolescent Survey by
Selected Demographics

Ass 2222:: 5312.1:
less than 25 years 0.8 0.0
26-30 6.1 3.0
31-35 33.6 14.0
36-40 30.5 32.9
41-45 16.5 26.4
46-50 9.0 14.1
51-55 3.4 7.6
56-60 0.0 2.0
61 or older 0.0 0.0
Employgent

Self-employed 10.2 18.0
Smployed by someone else 51.8 72.1
Full time in home 27.7 1.5
Unemployed 8.4 5.4
Retired 0.0 1.4
Student 1.9 1.6
Occupation

Trained technician or craftsperson 6.5 48.0
Farm management/farmer 1.4 5.4
Service 18.4 4.0
Business executive, owner 3.3 14.8
Community or government 4.1 2.0
Secretary/clerical 21.1 1.1
Professional 13.1 21.1
Homemaker 3|. 7 1.0
Education

8th grade or less 4.3 6.0
Some high school 8.9 7.0
High school graduate » 37.4 26.4
Some college 28.7 30.1
College graduate 11.8 14.3
Graduate or professional school 8.8 16.1

59

mangagement positions. Almost twenty percent were self-
employed.

Twenty-seven percent of the mothers reported being full
time homemakers. Ten percent were self-employed and fifty
percent were employed by someone other than themselves. One
fifth of the mothers were employed in service positions,
another third in office work. Thirteen percent were
professional peOple.

The parents in the MEAS sample were more educated than
the Michigan population of parents with early adolescents.
Almost twice as many parents in the sample had attended
graduate or professional school (12.5%, 6.9%). Almost twice
as many MEAS parents were college graduates (13.1%, 6.9%).
Half again as many parents in the MEAS sample as in the
Michigan census had some college education (29.4%, 20.5%).
Thus, less sample parents had a high school education only
(31.9%, 43.1%); had attended some high school only (8.0%,
17.1%); or ended their education at the eighth grade (5.2%,
7.0%).

MEASUREMENT PROCEDURES

 

A parent questionnaire and child interview schedule were
the two major instruments used to collect data for this
project. Each parent in the household (whether there were one
or two) responded to the questionnaire while the interviewer
interviewed the child. Other data gathering documents were
the Household Questionnaire and the Interviewer Observation

Sheet. The Household Questionnaire provided household

60

demographic information. The Interviewer Observation Sheet

provided pubertal age information, ethnicity, and interviewer
subjective information regarding the family and the interview
process. Items in the interview schedule and parent
questionnaire items came, for the most part, from sources used
in other studies.

Instruments

 

None of the assessments used to measure independent and
dependent variables for this study were adopted in their
entirety from the original assessment from which they were
taken. The primary reason for this is that few assessments
were available which were appropriate for this age group.
Most assessments have been developed for younger children, or
high school, college and adult populations. This is another
indication of the lack of research which has been conducted on
early adolescents.

All scales were created using a ten percent rule with
regard to missing data. This meant that when scales had less
than ten items, when one item was missing, the scale was not
created for that person. The result of this was that a
reduction in the number of subjects in the analyses.

Parents' sex role attitude scales (SCMATTG, SCMATTB, SCDATTG,
SCDATTB)

Mothers' and fathers' sex role attitudes were
independent variables assessed by an adaptation of the Sex
Role Questionnaire developed by Broverman et al. (1972). In
the original Broverman et al. scale, male and female college

students were in almost perfect agreement about the items as

61

descriptors of feminine or masculine traits (r=.95, r=.96).

Because of this, originally, the parents' sex role attitudes
were to be measured by reversing the scores if the attribute
was for the opposite gender of that cited by Broverman et a1.
and totaling the responses. Scores were to range from
nontraditional to traditional. Inclusion of items was based
upon the anticipation of understanding by a ten year old of
the attribute and language used to describe the attribute. The
scale was pretested for understanding by early adolescents in
an informal pilot conducted in December, 1982.

The scale was conceptualized as the absolute difference
between each parent's responses to the feminine and masculine
subscales. The range remained non-traditional to traditional.
That is, if parents responded in the same manner to items
about feminine traits as they did about masculine traits, the
absolute difference between the total scores for the subscales
would be small, indicating a more nontraditional attitude.
Reliability scores for the feminine and masculine subscales
were in the .50 to .70 range (see chart below). Considering
that half of them were four item scales, these subscales were
respectable and could be used.

Unfortunately, difference scores are less reliable than
single scores (Mehrens and Lehmann, 1978). This means that
the reliablities of these scales are somewhat less than the
reliablities of the subscales on which they were scored. How
much less is difficult to assess since there is no SPSS

program that computes difference reliabilities.

62

Reliabilities of Parental Attitudes Subscales

For boys:

Fathers' feminine attitudes subscale score .59
Mothers' masculine attitudes subscale score .64
Fathers' feminine attitudes subscale score .58
Mothers' masculine attitudes subscale score .69

For girls:

Fathers' feminine attitudes subscale score .55
Fathers' masculine attitudes subscale score .71
Mothers‘ feminine attitudes subscale score .48
Mothers' masculine attitudes subscale score .54

Pubertal age (CHANGMSO, CHANGDSO)

 

The indexes used to assess mothers' and fathers'
perceptions of their early adolescents pubertal age were based
upon Tanner's work (1978). This index is an attempt to locate
early adolescent females and males on a developmental

continuum based upon physical body changes as rated by

 

 

 

parents. As such, it measures parents' perceptions of their
early adolescents' pubertal ages. It should be considered
exploratory.

Early adolescent sex role behaviors scales (SCGSXBHV,
SCBSXBHV)

The dependent variables, level of traditionalism of
male and female early adolescent sex role behaviors, were
measured by examining in which household tasks boys and girls
were engaged and which leisure activities they said that they
liked to do or were interested in learning. These activities
were coded traditional or nontraditional based upon the gender
of the early adolescent. Resources for the coding of behaviors
were Medrich et a1. (1982); Cogle, Tasker, and Morton (1982);
Dellas et al. (1979); Propper (1972), Jones (1981), and Eagly

and Anderson (1978). The Girls' Sex Role Behaviors Scale had

63

a reliability of 0.97; the Boys' Sex Role Behaviors Scale had

a reliability of 0.95.

 

 

Early adolescent sex role attitudes scales (SCGSXATT,
SCBSXATT)

Male and female early adolescent sex role attitudes were
the other dependent variables. Youths were asked how
important twelve of the Broverman et a1. (1972) attributes
were for men and for women. Scores were formed by totaling the
differences between each set of parallel statements and
dividing by the total number of items. These scales have the
same drawbacks as the difference scales disussed previously.
Conceptually, they are more reliable than the parental scales
because the difference between the items was used as opposed
to the difference between the totals for the subscales. This
was possible because the items were parallel. The subscale
reliabilities are reported below.

Reliablilities of Early Adolescent Attitudes Subscales

For boys:
Masculine Attitudes Subscale .59
Feminine Attitudes Subscale .69

For girls:
Masculine Attritudes Subscale .63
Feminine Attritudes Subscale .67

OVERVIEW OE STATISTICAL METHODS

 

The major purpose of this study was to examine the
relationship of selected maternal employment (exosystem),
parental (microsystem), and early adolescent (human) variables
and their relationship to the development of male and female
early adolescent sex role development. The specific types of

sex role development were sex role attitudes and sex role

64

behaviors. Multiple regression analysis was the major
statistical tool used to examine these relationships.

Cohen and Cohen (1975) state that "Multiple
regression/correlation analysis (MRC) is a highly general and
therefore very flexible data analytic system that may be used
whenever a quantitative variable (the dependent variable) is
to be studied as a function of, or in relationship to, any
factors of interest (expressed as independent variables)
(p.3)." The general equation for multiple regression as
provided by Lewis-Beck (1980) is:

Y=a+b1x1 + b2x2 + b3x3 + ... + bnxn + e
where Y represents the dependent variable; a, the intercept or
constant; b, the slope; and X the independent variables.

Like all statistical analysis techniques, multiple
regression has a set of assumptions that necessarily must be
met if it is to be considered "robust." (Although how
violation of the assumptions affects robustness is open to
interpretation and debate.) Lewis-Beck (1980) lists the
following assumptions of bivariate regression, of which
multiple regression is an elaboration:

1. No specification error
a. The relationship between X and Y is linear.
b. No relevant independent variables have been excluded.

0. No irrelevant dependent variables have been included.

2. No measurement error
a. The variables X. and Y are accurately measured.

3. The following assumptions concern the error term:
a. Zero mean: For each observation, the expected value of
the error term is zero.

b. Homoskedacsticity: The variance of the error term is
constant for all values of X .

65

c. No autocorrelation: The error terms are uncorrelated.

d. The independent variable is uncorrelated with the
error term.
e. The error term is normally distributed. (p.26)

In the following chapter the application of this
statistical technique to the data collected for this study
will be discussed. Significance levels of individual
variables are reported if they are at or above the probability
level of 0.10 due to the relative newness of the testing of
Bronfenbrenner's theory.

LIMITATIONS 93 THIS STUDY

 

 

The following limitations are organized and discussed in
order of descending importance.

Measurement

 

The area of this study that limited it the most was
measurement of sex role attitudes. This was true for both
parents and early adolescents. In both cases the reliabilites
of the scales were somewhat less than .50 to .80. This has
implications for the reliability of the entire study. This
problem is not confined to this study, as a survey of
available assessments and scales for this age group will
confirm. However, until sex role attitudes can be measured
with more consistent reliability, the knowledge gained through
their use can be seen only as tentative.

Survey research

 

Survey research has its own limitations. The assumption
must be made that the self-reports made in both the parental

questionnaires and the early adolescent interviews reflect

66

the attitudes and opinions of the respondents. Related to

this limitation is that of controlling for interviewer and
respondent gender. There is some indication that the gender
of the interviewer is related to differential imformation
shared by the respondent. There was no attempt, in this
study, to control for the gender of the interviewer and the
respondent. This should be a consideration in another study.
Analysis

Although hierarchical multiple regression was, for the
most part, adequate to analyze the data for this study, it was
not entirely satisfactory. This is due to the three-

dimensional ecological nature of the study and the two

dimensional nature of multiple regression. Multiple
regression assumes a linear model. An ecological model does
not. At present, a linear model must be used, but hopefully

in the future analysis methods will be created which will alow
for a "better fit" between humans, who live in a holistic

world, and the statistical models used to study them.

CHAPTER 4
ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

Overview of Analysis

The overall purpose of this research was to examine the
relationship between selected exosystem, microsystem, and
human variables and early adolescent male and female sex role
attitudes and behaviors. It was necessary to chose an
analysis method for examination of each environmental variable
and its relationship to the dependent variables, a set of
environmental variables and the interactions between these
variables, and the relationships between all variables in the
study.

SPSS Multiple Regression was the statistical tool chosen
to analyze the data. Specifically, hierarchical multiple
regression was chosen as the most appropriate analysis method
due to the theory on which this study was based. There are
two important reasons for the selection of hierarchical
multiple regression as opposed to simultaneous multiple
regression. One is that Bronfenbrenner (1979) hypothesized
that the direction of influence in learning is from the top
down, that is, from the macrosystem, through the exosystem,
mesosystem, and microsystem to the individual. This implies a
causal direction. Hierarchical multiple regression is the
appropriate statistical tool when causal direction is implied.

The second reason to employ hierarchical multiple
regression analysis is because of the ecological nature of the

study. One of the assumptions of an ecological approach is
67

68

that each variable is related to all the other variables, that

indeed, true independence in the statistical sense does not
exist. When variables are too highly correlated, the problem
of multicollinearity exists. Multicollinearity is a problem
because it presents serious estimation problems. Parameter
estimates become unreliable (Lewis-Beck, 1980). In order to
partial out the influence of one variable from another,
hierarchical multiple regression is employed. It has the
capacity to examine the influence of each variable after the
influence of the variables which were entered before it have
been taken into account. Thus, it relieves the problem of
multicollinearity.

The multiple regression equations tested in this study

were:

Y1=a + blx1+b2x2+b3x3+b4x4+b5x5+b6x6+b7x7+b8x8+b9x9+b10x10 +e

Y2=a + b1x1+b2x2+b3x3+b4x4+b5x5+b6x6+b7x7+b8x8+b9x9+b10x10 +e
Where Y1 = early adolescent sex role attitudes
Y2 = early adolescent sex role behaviors

and x =maternal employment; x =duration of maternal employment;
x =father's attitude toward mother's work; x =(mother's
sex role attitude with time spent the early adolescent);
x =(father'ssex role attitude with time spent with the
early adolescent); x =(ear1y adolescent's report of
level of closeness to mother with mother's sex role attitude);
x =(early adolescent's report of level of closeness to father
with father's sex role attitude); x =chronological age;
x =mother's perception of the child8s pubertal age; x =father's
perception of child's pubertal age 10

and . . .
x2, x4, x5, x6, and x7 were 1nteract1ve variables.

Preparation of Data

 

These data were part of a larger study, the Michigan

Early Adolescent Survey. A separate file for variables in

69

this study was produced and frequencies were run; any outliers

or unexplainable values were checked and corrected. Scales,
indexes, and interaction variables were created in accordance
with the SPSS manual (Nie, Hull, Jenkins, Steinbrenner, and
Bent; 1975). The develOpment of these scales, indexes, and
interaction variables is found in Figure 3.

The formulation of scales was discussed earlier in the
methodology section on measurement. The creation of
interaction variables was addressed in the manner prescribed
by Kleinbaum and Kupper (1978). (For conceptual rationale,
see p.45). In their discussion of the concept of interaction
related to multiple regression, they define an interaction as
the situation where the relationship between a given
independent variable (a) and the dependent variable is
dependent upon the second independent variable (b). Nie et al.
(1975) describe the interaction process in their SPSS manual
(p.372-373). It is a multiplicative process that allows the
interaction between two independent variables to be examined
resulting in a better fit of the regression model. A new
variable is created whose values are the products of two other
variable values. One of the interactive variables in this
study was the interaction of the level of traditionalism of
the mother's sex role attitudes with the level of closeness
that the son reported for the mother. The new variable is
created by multiplying the values for these two variables.
This means, in this data set, that when the mother's level of

traditionalism was high and the relationship with her son was

 

 

70

high (positive), the new variable carried a high score. When

the mother's level of traditionalism was low and the
relationship with her son was low (not close), the new
variable carried a low score. Combinations of opposite
extremes or middle level values are middle level scores in the
new variable.
Meeting the Multiple Regression Assumptions

It was assumed that the data in this study met the
assumptions for multiple regression analysis discussed earlier
with the exception of the assumption of linearity. The SPSS
test for linearity as provided by the breakdown program was
conducted on all variables except those that were continuous.
The variable, maternal employment, was found to be non-linear
(F-ratio significant at the .05 level) and was converted into
a dummy variable. This was significant because the maternal
employment variable was the first to be entered into the
hierarchical multiple regression equation and had implications
for how all other variables would be analyzed. It was also
used to compute the interaction variable: Fathers' attitude
toward mothers' work (FATTMW). Once the variable was
transformed into a dummy variable, it passed the test for
linearity.

Testing for multicollinearity

 

Multicollinearity is often looked at after the
statistical analysis has been completed in order to understand
the data, especially when few or any variables approach

significance (Lewis-Beck, 1980). In this study, the presence

71

of multicollinearity was assumed because of the ecological

nature of the study and the creation of interactive variables
for the original multiple regression equation. These
interactive variables were developed based on
Bronfenbrenner's theory (1979).

In order to assess multicollinearity, each independent
variable was regressed on each of the other independent
variables, as suggested by Lewis—Beck (1980). Those variables
for whom the explained variance approached 1.0 were
considered problematic. This method is more satisfactory than
the usual examination of bivariate correlations between the
independent variables because it takes into consideration the
relationship of an independent variable with all the other
independent variables. The following chart shows the variables
which were highly collinear in the female and male early
adolescent models.

Highly collinear variables

Variable 3 Females R Males
Maternal employment .89 .79
Father's attitude toward

mother's work .89 .79

Interaction variable:

mother's sex role attitude

with time spent with child .91 .91
Interaction variable:
father's sex role attitude

with time spent with child .90 .88
Interaction variable:

child's level of closeness

to mother with mother's

sex role attitude .92 .92
Interaction variable:

child's level of closeness

to father with father's

sex role attitude .91 .90

72

FINDINGS

In the following sections, the findings for female and
male early adolescents will be reported. Frequencies for the
dependent variables will be addressed first. Then the
independent variable frequencies, grouped by environment, will
be addressed. Next, the multiple regression models will be
discussed. Because these models are exploratory, variables
will be considered significant with an alpha level of .10 or
less. Hypotheses findings will be discussed in relation to.
the multiple regression models. (Relationships were
considered significant at the alpha level of 0.05 or less.)
Finally, differences between the two genders will be compared
and constrasted.

FEMALE EARLY ADOLESCENTS

 

The dependent variables: frequencies

 

Sex Role Attitudes

There were two dependent variables for female
adolescents: level of traditionalism of sex role attitudes
and level of traditionalism of sex role behaviors. Table A-1
(appendix) provides the frequencies for the female adolescent
responses for the subscale items used to compute scores for
these variables. Over eighty percent of the female early
adolescents reported that it was important or very important
for both men and women to have seven of the twelve attributes:
to be gentle, able to make decisions easily, neat in their
habits, well educated, independent, able to express their

tender feelings, and self-confident.

73

The similar responses that females had for both men and

women is apparent in the dependent variable scale- a scale
based on twelve statements about what men should be like and
twelve parallel statements about what women should be like
(see Figure 3). The scale was created by finding the total of
the absolute differences between the parallel items and
dividing that total by the number of items. The potential
range of the scale is 0-4. The actual range was from 0 to
1.25 with a mean of 0.314. This means that the attitudes of
female early adolescents lay on the nontraditional end of the
continuum of this scale.
Sex Role Behaviors

The frequencies for the items in the sex role behaviors
scale are found in Table A-2 in the appendix. In general,
female early adolescents performed traditionally feminine
household tasks and were involved in traditionally feminine
leisure activities. These activities were coded non-
traditional or traditional and the sex role behavior scale was
created by adding the responses and dividing by the number of
responses. The potential range for this scale is 0 to 1. The
actual range was 0.1333 to 0.7647 with a mean of 0.516.

The exosystem (maternal employment) frequencies

 

Thirty-five percent of mothers of the early adolescent
females studied were not employed; sixty-five percent were
employed either part-time or full-time. About half of
employed mothers had entered the work force before their

daughter entered school. The other half had entered after

 

1:3..."

 

74

that time.

Fathers of daughters were supportive of the mothers'
work (either at home or outside of the home). There was no
significant difference between fathers' attitudes toward wives
who were employed and wives who were at home. Ninety-one
percent indicated that they were happy or somewhat happy with
what their wives were doing. Only nine percent indicated that
they were not. When this variable was combined with maternal
employment to form the interaction variable father's attitude.
toward the mother's work, a continuous variable was formed
with a range of 0 to 4.

The microsystem (parent-child dyad) frequencies

 

There were four microsystem variables. All were
interactive varibles. Two concerned the amount of time that
daughters spent with their parents in interaction with the
parents' sex role attitudes. The other two concerned the
level of closeness the daughter reported toward her parents in
interaction with the parents' sex role attitudes.

Both interaction variables were created using one of two
scales: the level of mother's sex role traditionalism and the
level of father's sex role traditionalism. These scales were
based on the same twelve items as the early adolescent sex
role attitude scales (Broverman et al., 1972). The
frequencies for these items can be found in Table A—3 of the
appendix. In general, mothers were less traditional in
their attitudes than were fathers. Over ninety percent of

mothers and fathers said that it was important or very

75

important that their daughters develop nine of the twelve
attributes listed. They said they wanted their daughters to
be gentle, able to make decisions easily, well educated,
ambitious, able to express their tender feelings, very
independent, and self-confident. The exceptions to these
attributes were never crying, making a lot of money and always
acting as a leader.

The interaction variables (mother's amount of time spent
with her daughter with the level of traditionalism of the
mother's sex role attitudes) and (father's amount of time
spent with his daughter with the level of traditionalism of
the father's sex role attitudes) were computed using the
parental attitude scale scores and a time index. The time
index was the total of the responses that reflected the amount
of time that the early adoescent spent with her mother and
father.

The frequencies for the items that made up the time
index can be found in the appendix in Table A-4. Fathers were
less likely than mothers to eat breakfast, do homework and
attend sports events with their daughters than were the
mothers.

The potential range for the time index was 1 to 6;
higher numbers indicated more time. The actual range for the
mother's amount of time spent with her daughter was 1.5 to 4.4
with a mean of 3.1. The actual range for the father's amount
of time spent with his daughter was 1.5 to 3.8 with a mean of

3.0.

76

The interaction variables (mother's amount of time spent

with her daughter with the level of traditionalism of the
mother's sex role attitudes) and (father's amount of time
spent with his daughter with the level of traditionalism of
the father's sex role attitudes) were continuous variables.
The range for the mother's variable was 0 to 27.8 with a mean
of 9.7. The range for the father's variable was 0 to 23.3
with a mean of 7.8.

The interaction variables (level of feeling child
reports for mother with the level of traditionalism of the
mother's sex role attitudes) and (level of feeling child
reports for father with the level of traditionalism of the
father's sex role attitudes) were computed using the parental
attitude scale scores and a one item variable that measured
how close the child felt to the parent. Female early
adolescents reported the following levels of closeness to
their mothers: very close, 66 percent; close, 30 percent, not
close, 4 percent; and not close at all, 0 percent. For
fathers, the responses were: very close, 46 percent; close,
42 percent; not close, 11 percent; and not close at all, 1
percent.

The interaction variables (level of feeling daughter
reports for the mother with the level of traditionalism of the
mother's sex role attitudes) and (level of feeling daughter
reports for her father with the level of traditionalism of the
father's sex role attitudes) were continuous variables. The

range for the mother's variable was 0 to 40 with a mean of

77

12.3. The range for the father's variable was 0 to 36 with a

mean of 9.3.
The human system (early adolescent) frequencies

Three variables made up the human system set of
variables: female chronological age, the mother's perception
of her daughter's pubertal age, and the father's perception of
his daughter's pubertal age.

Approximately three-fourths of the girls in this study
were evenly distributed over the chronological ages of eleven,
twelve, and thirteen. The other one-fourth were divided
between ages ten and fourteen.

Parents assessed their daughter's pubertal age on a
continuum from 10 (physically a child) to 50 (physically an
adult). This assessment was discussed under the Measurement
section in Chapter 3. Mothers reported that 8 percent of the
daughters were physically still children; 25 percent of the
fathers reported this level of pubertal age. Approximately 30
percent of mothers and 32 percent of fathers assessed their
daughters as close to physically an adult. The remaining
percentages (mothers, 60%; fathers, 45%) reflect females who
were between these ends of the continuum.

The multiple regression model

 

The findings for the female early adolescent regression
were based on 83 cases. The hypotheses tests of significance
using Pearson correlations were based on 95 to 154 cases. It
is important to note that while several relationships were

found to be significant, all correlations were low, with none

. - Arum

 

‘F‘-F- fl

 

78

exceeding 0.34.
Sex Role Attitudes

The explained variance for the multiple regression model
which looked at the relationships between the selected
exosystem, microsystem, and human variables and their
relationship to female early adolescent sex role attitudes was
0.21829. This means that this model accounted for about one—

fifth of the variance in the dependent variable female early

adolescent sex role attitudes. The model had an overall F-
ratio of 2.01058 with a significance level of .044. (See
Table 3.)

When the variables as clusters were examined by sub-
system, the exosystem accounted for almost half of the
variance (9.4%). The microsystem variables accounted for 6.6
percent of the variance and the human variables accounted for
5.8 percent of the variance.

Three variables within the model achieved a probability
of less than or equal to 0.10. Those were maternal employment
(p=.012); the interaction (level of traditionalism of father's
sex role attitudes with the amount of time that the father
spends with his daughter) (p=0.100); and chronological age
(p=.027). These variables accounted for 8 percent, 5
percent, and 3 percent of the variance in the dependent
variable, respectively. They were all inversely related to
the level of traditionalism of female early adolescent sex
role attitudes.

Post hoc examination of the data for the meaning of the

.. ..y

 

79

 

mNoo.u cacam.
o—mo.n Hand.
ammo.u move.
cumvu.a noun.
mama. whoa.
OCNQON.I ohhmu.
mama. ooo~.
«mac. «mama.
«mnc. vvmc.
ch—o. omoo.
muse. w-o.-
mbmo. vvmo.
"odd! numflaum

 

 

nuo«>u:om cans wow

ammh~.u
nwmo.

ocONNN.a
nuwc.
undo.

oswo.n
ammo.

mafia.
NMOO.
nvmo.u
mfioo.
mmo~.u

 

«and!

goo. . a nouauaucs ...
go. A a nouuunvcw .c
we. a m nouauavnu .

mmv«.- cum uuuucnan n.v~«=u mo cowunouuoa .nuonuau
mooo.- can unuuunan n.uH«:u mo nodunouuom .nuozuaz
oovm~.- . ou< Hangmanocougu
ooo~.- Anxuxmmaoumv nvua
na-.- ~u\uxmm¢:umo qua:

“wean-a «pm «doom vawao unecono~u
mo ~o>o~ saw: novauuuuu anon «on
anaconda mo Inuaucouuwvaku mo ~o>oau "cauuouuoucu

vhc~.u anxuhzuaumv made

.83 . - Exezufimo n8:

auawzu an“: nvcunu ucuwua
olwu mo vase-a saw: novauuuuu ouch won
"mucouum mo InwancoHuavauu mo ~o>04u "canuouuounn

 

no-.- Am\op<xmaumc «unauauuu asap no» .nuoguaa
.32.- 83.3"ng 8338a :8 no» .328:
c.1032- REFS“: xuo: .3050: Pun-.3 nova—um»: .3059.—
coo~.- ascxazmao unosxo~amu sucuouua mo coauuusa
..4umu.- nonzozuoo ago-Rosana ~¢=uo».=
nuauaom

 

novauwuu< Odom Rom

353303. 3.3m can: 38 338m

you mononuon»: you nucowuammuou newuu~ohhou canuaoa

.n mqmdk

8(1

O

«99.0 «unausuaguum mmo~0.~ canny - a HauuoSO

 

 

akvnu.- kmnoo. onus". mom. nun suuuoaaa mo coauaoouoa ».uocual
oo~o~.- «Nooo. NBQHN. Nam. on“ snuuonaa mo casuaouuoa u.uocuo:
somw~.- oammo. ovvsm. awe. ou< sauuuosocougu
umnmo. nuns:
ooo-.- cvoao. wnoofl. mun. Annocono~u mo Ao>o~ n.vuunu
. saw: novauuuua ouch no» n.uo:u¢uv “cumuouuoucu
33o. onus. ~33. man. 32:33? .«o 1;: 333".
an“: novauuuua oaou won n.uoguozv "cowuuauoucn
ommo~.o avano. momma. ooH. field» mo annals
nu“: nouauwuua odou no» n.uo:uamv "cowuuauoucu
newno.- moooo. mnqao. oma. moan» mo acne-a
5? 333»: 38 no» 3.359: 3.33335
”mooo. enunxnouofi:
-mo~.- ~wn~o. ovvoo. oHN. sue) n.uo:uoa phase» ovsufiuun n.uo£uam
homo~.- endoo. mmono. vvn. acoaxOHQEu «wanna-s mo newuauno
Hmvh~.- mmmuo. unmno. -o. acnaxOAnlo manhood:
ovvmo. nounxnoxm
~m sounanSm u omcagu ~m ~m vocauMmMcmflm I odaawuu> unencumvvcu

ounawum> uconeomoo on» an
novSuMuu< o~oa xom ucuunoaov< xduau «amend

:3: 31:5. c333»; 333:: 30203qu:
.m mqm<H

81

significant interaction variable produced the following
observations. The group of daughters who spent the most time
with their fathers held the least traditional attitudes,
regardless of the level of traditionalism of the father's sex
role attitudes. Those daughters who Spent the average amount
of time in comparison with their peers grew less traditional
as their fathers grew more traditional.

It is interesting to note that three relationships which
attained significance in the hypotheses testing using Pearson
correlations were not included in the model. The three
inverse relationships were father's attitude toward mother's
work (p=0.001), mother's level of traditionalism of sex role
attitudes (p=0.032), and the interaction of the mother's level
of traditionalism of sex role attitudes and the amount of time
mothers spent with their daughters (p=0.030). These findings
have implications for the concept of maternal employment as a
proxy and will be discussed later.

The following variables were inversely, but not
significantly, related to the level of traditionalism of
female early adolescent sex role attitudes: duration of
maternal employment, father's level of traditionalism of sex
role attitudes, the interaction of father's level of
traditionalism of sex role attitudes with the amount of time
that the father spent with his daughter, the interactions of
the level of traditionalism of both parents sex role attitudes
with the level of closeness that the daughter feels for the

parents, and both parents' perceptions of the daughter's

82

pubertal age.
Sex role behaviors

As summarized in Table 4, the explained variance of the
multiple regression model which looked at the relationship
between selected exosystem, microsystem, and human variables
and their relationship to female early adolescent sex role
behaviors was 0.14393. Fourteen percent of the variance in
the dependent variable was accounted for with this set of
variables. The model, however, was not significant. It had
an overall F-ratio of 1.21053 with a significance level of
0.299.

There were no significant variables in this model.
However, three relationships were found to be significant in
the hypotheses testing using Pearson correlations. (See Table
2). They were father's sex role attitudes (p=0.014); the
interaction (level of traditionalism of father's sex role
attitudes with the amount of time that the father spends with
his daughter) (p=0.020); and the father's perception of the
daughter's pubertal age (p=0.019). All were positively
related to the level of traditionalism of female early
adolescent sex role behaviors.

The following variables were positively, but
not significantly related to the level of traditionalism of
female early adolescent sex role behaviors: maternal
employment, father's attitude towards mother's work, level of
traditionalism of mother's sex role attitudes, the interaction

( level of traditionalism of mother's sex role attitudes with

833

ao~.o eucauHmwnuum mmc-.H oauau - a -apo>o

 

euwmm. omwmo. manna. cNH. own Huuuonam mo sawumouwom n.uo:uum
owns". unwmc. nnm—H. He”. can Huuuoaan mo acauaoouom m.uo:uoz
onmoo.- mnsoo. cameo. men. ou< suuuuo_o=ougu.
NNNmo. . cuss:
~emv~. omeoo. oksoo. com. Ammucumosu mo ~o>o~ n.vmanu
an“: mucouwuua ouch won n.uo:uauu "somuuauoucn
Nmmmo. asooo. svkmo. was. amnoconosu mo ~o>o~ n.8uanu
an“: movauuuua oflou «an n.uo:uozv “couuuauoucu
muons. kefino. N~Hmo. was. gong» mo peso-u
an“: novauwuua udou no» n.uonuamv "cowuuuwoucu
cams”. ensue. maaso. 4mm. ”can" mo usaoaa
spa: novsuwuuu ouch non n.no:uozv "acupunuoucu
«ammo. nounanRufi:
ww~nc.- mnooo. mmkoo. new. xuo: n.uozuoa unwrap ovauwuua m.uo=uam
mmowo.- «whoa. «mace. eve. ucoexOHnau nucuouua mo coauanno
movHo.- omooo. cwooo. mam. acoaxoaaau Hucuouuz
mwnoo. sounxmoxm
Nm acumanam u «mango mm ~m oucmuwmficmfim mofipafiua> acoacomovcu

o~om~um> ucovcodoo ozu mu
unaw>agom oHom xom wcoumoaon< saumm ouueum
cu“: momxfiac< sawmmouwom oanwuqnz aquacuuwuoaz
.e mqm<h

84

the amount of time that the mother spends with her daughter),

the interactions (level of traditionalism of both parents' sex
role attitudes with the level of closeness that the female
early adolescent feels for the parent), chronological age, and
mother's perception of the daughter's pubertal age. Duration
of maternal employment was inversely, but not significantly
related this same variable.

MALE EARLY ADOLESCENTS

 

FREQUENCIES

The dependent variables: frequencies

 

 

Sex Role Attitudes

The dependent variables for male adolescents were the
same as those for the females: level of traditionalism of sex
role attitudes and level of traditionalism of sex role
behaviors. They were measured in the same manner that the
variables for the female early adolescents were.

Table A-1 (appendix) provides the frequencies for the
male early adolescent responses for the subscale items. The
frequencies were very similar to those of the females. Over
eighty percent of the males reported that it was important or
very important that both men and women be gentle, able to make
decisions easily, neat in their habits, well educated,
ambitious very independent, and self-confident.

The similar responses that males had for both the men
and women items is illustrated in the scores for the dependent
variable. The potential range of the scale is 0-4. The

actual range is from 0 to 1.6 with a mean of 0.4. This means

85

that the attitudes of male early adolescents lay on non-

traditional end of the continuum on this scale.
Sex Role Behaviors

The frequencies for the items included in the sex role
behaviors scale are included in the appendix in Table A-2.
In general, males did the traditionally feminine as well as
the traditionally masculine household tasks. They preferred
to do traditionally masculine leisure activities.

The sex role behaviors scale measured the level of
traditionalism of male early adolescent household work and
leisure activities. The scores had a potential range of
between 0 (nontraditional) and 1 (traditional). The actual
range was between 0.3529 and 1.000 with a mean of 0.714.

The exosystem (maternal employment) frequencies

 

Forty-seven percent of the mothers of male early
adolescents were not employed; fifty-three percent were
employed. One-fifth of the mothers had been employed since
before their son had entered school. Four-fifths had entered
the work force since that time.

Fathers of sons were supportive of the mothers' work
(either at home or outside of the home). There was no
significant difference between fathers' attitudes when their
wives were employed or when they were at home. Eighty-nine
percent indicated that they were happy or somewhat happy with
what their wives were doing. Only eleven percent indicated
that they were not. When this variable was combined to form

the interaction variable father's attitude toward the mother's

86

work, a continuous variable was formed with a range of 0-4.

The microsystem (parent-child dyad) frequencies

 

There were four microsystem variables. All were
interactive variables. Two concerned the amount of time that
sons spent with their parents in interaction with the parents'
sex role attitudes. The other two concerned the level of
closeness the son reported toward his parents in interaction
with the parents' sex role attitudes.

Both interaction variables were created using one of two
scales: the level of mother's sex role traditionalism and the
level of father's sex role traditionalism. These scales were
the same as those discussed in the female early adolescent
section. The frequencies for these items can be found in Table
A-3 of the appendix. Over ninety percent of mothers and
fathers said that it was important or very important that
their sons develop nine of the twelve attributes listed. They
said they wanted their sons to be gentle, able to make
decisions easily, well educated, ambitious, able to express
their tender feelings, very independent, and self-confident.
The exceptions to these attributes were never crying, making a
lot of money and always acting as a leader.

The interaction variables (mother's amount of time spent
with her son with the level of traditionalism of the mother's
sex role attitudes) and (father's amount of time spent with
his son with the level of traditionalism of the father's sex
role attitudes) were computed using the parental attitude

scale scores and the time index discussed earlier in the

87

female early adolescent section.

The frequencies for the items that made up the time
index can be found in the appendix in Table A-4. Fathers were
less likely than mothers to do homework with their sons and
more likely to play games. The potential range of the time
index is l to 6. The actual range for the mother's amount of
time spent with her son was 2.0 to 3.9 with a mean of 3.1.
The actual range for the father's amount of time spent with
his son was 0.5 to 3.8 with a mean of 3.0.

The interaction variables (mother's amount of time spent
with her son with the level of traditionalism of the mother's
sex role attitudes) and (father's amount of time spent with
his son with the level of traditionalism of the father's sex
role attitudes) were continuous variables. The mother's
variable had a range of 0 to 34 with a mean of 8.2. The
father's variable had a range of 0 to 32 with a mean of 8.1.

The interaction variables (level of feeling that the son
reports for mother with the level of traditionalism of the
mother's sex role attitudes) and (level of feeling that the
son reports for father with the level of traditionalism of the
father's sex role attitudes) were computed using the parental
attitude scale scores and a one item variable that measured
how close the child felt to the parent. Male early adolescent
reported the following levels of closeness to their mothers:
very close, 64 percent; close, 30 percent, not close, 4
percent; and not close at all, 1 percent. For fathers, the

responses were: very close, 52 percent; close, 34 percent;

88

not close, 12 percent; and not close at all, 2 percent.

The interaction variables (level of feeling that son
reports for the mother with the level of traditionalism of the
mother's sex role attitudes) and (level of feeling that son
reports for his father with the level of traditionalism of the
father's sex role attitudes) were continuous variables. The
range for the mother's variable was 0 to 40 with a mean of
9.7. The range for the father's variable was 0 to 32 with a
mean of 8.5.

The human system (early adolescent) frequencies

 

Three variables made up the human system set of
variables: male chronological age, the mother's perception of
her son's pubertal age, and the father's perception of his
son's pubertal age.

Male early adolescents were distributed over the
chronological ages of ten to fourteen in a manner very similar
to that of the females. Approximately three-fourths were
evenly distributed across the ages of eleven, twelve, and
thirteen. The remaining one-fourth was divided between ages
ten and fourteen.

The parental assessment of pubertal age for males was
also on a continuum from 10 (physically a child) to 50
(physically an adult). Twenty-seven percent of the mothers
and 10% of the fathers assessed their son as being close to or
physically a child. Both mothers and fathers assessed 16
percent of the sons as being close to or physically a man. The

remaining males were somewhere in the middle of puberty

89

(mothers, 57%; fathers, 74%).

The Multiple Regression Model

 

The findings for the male early adolescent regression
were based on 77 cases. The hypotheses tests of significance
using Pearson correlations were based on 97 to 147 cases. As
in the female model, it is important to note that while there
were several significant correlations, none had a higher
correlation coefficient than 0.30.

Sex Role Attitudes

Twenty-seven percent of the variance in the dependent
variable level of traditionalism of male early adolescent sex
role attitudes was accounted for by the multiple regression
model which included the same selected independent variable as
those examined in the female early adolescent models. The
overall F-ratio was 2.40210 which was significant (p=0.017).
(See Table 5.)

More than half of the explained variance was accounted
for by the human subsystem variables (16.8%). The exosystem
accounted for 2.5 percent of the variance in the dependent
variable; the microsystem accounted for 7.4 percent of that
variance.

There were three variables which had a significance
level less than 0.10. The microsystem interaction variable
(the level of traditionalism of mother's sex role attitudes
with the level of closeness to the mother reported by the son)
was significant at the 0.062 level. It accounted for 4.8

percent of the total variance accounted for in the model.

9C)

kso.o cannonmacusm os~ov.~ onus» - a asauo>o

 

nfiwmfi.- omo~fi. «meow. Nae. ouo aouuonsn mo acaudouuon n.uo:uom
wanna. acnoo. anew”. use. ouo Houuonsn mo newuaouuom o.uo:uoz
nmomfi.u "coco. mowed. "mo. ou< "ouwuo~o=ou:u
omnofi. cons:
ammo“. mmofio. mummo. Nun. monocomo~u mo ~o>o~ n.vnfiso
nu“: nounuauuo omen no» n.uoguouv ”cowuoououcm
oomoo.- above. mnwwo. woo. ammoconOHu mo Ho>o~ o.o~azu
:33 novsuwuuo o3." no» Phozuflb Eofluouous
mmuofi. BNomo. hmqoo. oBN. noawu mo unsold
so“: novsuwuuo oqou xon n.uo:uouv "sawuuououcn
omnoo.- ooooc. ommwo. oma. Aosfiu mo unsoao .
saw: novSufiuuo ouch no» n.uo:uozu "cofiuuououcn
wmmno. aouoxnouuax
mammo.- Noooo. ommNo. mom. xuo: m.uo:uoa photo» ovsufiuuo m.uo:uom
mwwwo. monuo. nwmno. me. acoexoualo Hocuouoa mo coauouso
ovomo.- wfimoo. mfimoo. «no. ucoaxOHQEo Hocuouoz
ommwo. loumxmoxm
Na aoumxmnsm p oncogu Na Na cocoUSmwcmMm moanuwwo> acovcomovcu

mo~nomuo> ucovcodoo on» no
mooauauu< use“ new unoonosoo< ssuom can:

no“: momxaoc< :onmowmom odnfiuasz moowguuouoaz
.m mam<~

91

The variable father's perception of the son's pubertal age was

significant at the 0.012 level and accounted for 12 percent of
the variance in the dependent variable. The mother's
perception of- her son's pubertal age was also significant
(p=0.077). It accounted for four percent of the variance.
The variables which had to do with the mother-son dyad were
positively related to the level of traditionalism of male
early adolescent sex role attitudes; the father-son variable
was inversely related to the dependent variable.

Post hoc examination of the data for the meaning of the
significant interaction variable revealed two things. In the
group of mothers with the most traditional sex role attitudes,
the male early adolescent sex role attitudes became more
traditional as the closeness of the mother-son relationship
decreased. In the group of males who reported that their
relationship with their mother was not close, boys' attitudes
were likely to mirror their mothers' attitudes.

It is interesting to note that the interaction variable
discussed above was not significant in the hypotheses testing
using Pearson correlations. Chronological age was found to be
significant in the hypotheses testing (p=0.003), but was not
significant in the model. The father's perception of his
son's pubertal age was significantly related to the level of
traditionalism of male early adolescent sex role attitudes in
both hypotheses testing (p=0.041) and in the model.

The following variables were inversely, but not

significantly related to the level of traditionalism of male

92

early adolescent sex role attitudes: maternal employment,
father's attitude toward maternal employment, and the
interaction (level of traditionalism of father's sex role
attitudes with the amount of time that the father spends with
his son). Those variables which were positively, but not
significantly related to the level of traditionalism of male
early adolescent sex role attitudes were duration of maternal
employment, level of traditionalism of both parents' sex role
attitudes, the interaction (level of traditionalism of
mother's sex role attitudes with the amount of time that the
mother spends with her son), the interactions (level of
traditionalism of both parents' sex role attitudes with the
level of closeness that the child feels for both parents), and
the mother's perception of her son's pubertal age.

Sex role behaviors

Only 8.1 percent of the variance in the dependent
variable male early adolescent sex role behaviors was
accounted for in the multiple regression model which had the
same independent variables as the female early adolescent
model. The model was not significant (p=0.820) and had no
individual variables which were significant at the alpha of
0.10. (See Table 6.)

Two variables were inversely and significantly related
to the level of traditionalism of male early adolescent sex
role behaviors when analyzed using Pearson's correlations.
They were the interaction of the level of traditionalism of

father's sex role attitudes with the amount of time that the

93

o~».o oucuunmficuam o»»m».o canon - a snauoSo

ouo Houuonad mo newumoowom ».ho:uom

 

omfioo. swocc. oofiwo. mom.
~kswo. mouse. amonc. us». can quuuoaaa mo cowaaouuoa ».uo=uo:
wmmfic. nuooo. nnmoo. mum. om< Houfiuo~oconnu
mmofio. noes:
mmwn~.- mmooo. combo. mom. A»»o:o»oHu mo ~o>o~ ».o~wgu
no“: »ov=uuuuo oqop no» ».nosuomv "cofiuuouounu
chemo. nuwoc. cameo. "we. a»»o=o»ouu mo ~o>o~ ».v~a:o
no“: »ou:uuuuo ouch no» ».uoguozu "cofiuuououam
mo~w~.- mmmmc. mecca. "ea. Aoswu mo acne-o
gum: »ov:u«uuo ogou no» ».uosmomv "cofiuuouounm
ommmc. cameo. nfiono. ovv. noawu mo pane-o
an“: »ov:u«uuo ouch no» ».uo:uozv "coauoonoucm
nmnvo. aopoz»onu«z
Nmooo.r onooo. nooNo. Nam. nun: ».uo:uoa ouoTOu ovaumuuo ».uoguou
nfinmfi. comuo. mnmuo. Sea. unoaxo~nao noguouos mo :oHuouso
Hmofio. Naooo. «Hooo. on. ucoano~nno nocnouoz
Boone. sou»x»onm
4
~¢ sou» »a=m u wmconu Na Na oucoofimwcwfim ounofino> ucovcomwvnn

ogaofiuo> unovconoo ozu »o
»uofl>o:om o~oz now acouno~ov< xduom oaoz

cu“: »o»x~o=< ceammouuom oflnwuasz aouwguuowow:
.o mqm<H

94

father spent with his son (p=0.001), and the interaction of

the level of traditionalism of father's sex role attitudes

with the level of closeness that the son feels for his father
(p=0.046).

The variables which were positively, but not
significantly related to the level of traditionalism of male
early adolescent sex role behaviors are: maternal employment,
duration of maternal employment, father's attitudes toward
mother's work, the level of traditionalism of mother's and
father's sex role attitudes, the interaction (level of
traditionalism of mother's sex role attitudes with amount of
time that son spends with mother) and the interaction (level
of traditionalism of mother's sex role attitudes with the
level of closeness the son feels for the mother). All human
system variables were inversely, but not significantly related
to the level of traditionalism of male early adolescent sex
role behaviors. They are chronological age, and both parents'
perceptions of their son's pubertal age.

COMPARISONS 92 FEMALE AND MALE EARLY ADOLESCENTS

 

 

The multiple regression models: comparisons

 

 

 

Sex role attitudes

Both the male and female multiple regression models for
the development of early adolescent sex role attitudes may be
considered significant without reservation. The models are
very different for male early adolescents and female early
adolescents. There were no common significant variables.

The multiple regression model for female early

95

adolescent sex role attitudes had one significant variable
from each subsystem. Maternal employment (exosystem), the
interaction (level traditionalism of father's sex role
attitudes with amount of time father Spends with daughter)
(microsystem), and chronological age (human) were the
significant variables in the female multiple regression model
for sex role attitudes.

The multiple regression model for male early adolecent
sex role attitudes had no significant variables from the
exosystem. One microsystem variable was significant: the
interaction (level of traditionalism of mother's sex role
attitudes with the level of feeling the son reports for
mother). Both of the pubertal age variables from the human
system were significant in the male model.

Sex role behaviors

The models for the development of male and female early
adolescent sex role behaviors will not be compared because of
the lack of significance of either model. There were no
significant variables in the male or the female model.

The exosystem (maternal employment) hypotheses: comparisons

 

 

Sex Role Attitudes

The exosystem variables were more important to the
female early adolescent sex role attitudes hypotheses than
they were to the male hypotheses. Both maternal employment
and the father's attitude toward the mother's work were
signficantly and inversely related to the level of

traditionalism of female early adolescent sex role attitudes

96

in such a way that girls whose mothers worked and whose
husband's approved of their employment were more
nontraditional. None of the exosystem variables were
significantly related to the level of traditionalism of male
early adolescent sex role attitudes.
Sex Role Behaviors

None of the exosystem variables were significantly
related to either male or female early adolescent sex role
behaviors.

The microsystem (parent-child) dyad hypotheses: comparisons

 

 

Sex Role Attitudes

The microsystem variables were more important to female
early adolescent sex role attitude hypotheses than they were
to the male sex role attitude hypotheses. Both the mother's
level of traditionalism of sex role attitudes and the
interaction variable (mother's level of traditionalism of sex
role attitudes with amount of time mothers spend with their
daughters) were inversely and significantly related to the
daughter's level of traditionalism of sex role attitudes.
None of the microsystem variables were significantly related
to the level of traditionalism of male early adolescent sex
role attitudes.
Sex Role Behaviors

The microsystem variables were important to both the
male and female early adolescent levels of sex role behaviors.
However, this was only the case when the variables involving

the father were examined and was in a different direction for

97

each of the genders. The level of traditionalism of the
father's sex role attitudes was positively and significantly
related to the level of traditionalism of only the female
early adolescent sex role behaviors. The two interactive
variables developed from the father's level of traditionalism
of sex role attitudes (with the amount of time Spent and level
of feeling daughter reports for father) were also positively
and signficantly related to the level of traditionalism of
female early adolescent sex role behaviors. The interactive
variable using the level of feeling with the father's level
of sex role traditionalism was significant at a slightly lower
probability (p=.079) than was used to assess the other
variables, but the potential for the combination of the three
variables is too important not to consider.

The two interactive variables were also important to the
male early adolescent sex role behaviors hypotheses. They
were inversely and significantly related to the level of
traditionalism of male early adolescent sex role behavior.
The direction of the relationship for girls is consistently
positive and the direction of the relationship for boys is
consistently negative.

The human (early adolescent) hypotheses: comparisons

 

Sex Role Attitudes

The human sytem variables were important to both the
male and female early adolescent sex role attitude hypotheses.
Chronological age was inversely and significantly related to

the level of traditionalism of both male and female early

98

adolescent attitudes. In addition, the level of traditionalism
of male early adolescent sex role attitudes was also inversely
and significantly related to the father's perception of his
son's pubertal age.
Sex Role Behaviors

Only one variable was significantly related to the level
of traditionalism of early adolescent sex role behaviors. The
father's perception of his daughter's pubertal age was
inversely and significantly related to the level of
traditionalism of his daughter's sex role behaviors. None of
the human system variables were significantly related to the
male early adolescent's level of traditionalism of sex role

behaviors.

CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

CONCLUSIONS

 

Early adolescent sex role attitude development is a
complex phenomenon in its own right that is only beginning to
be studied and understood. One of the most overriding
findings of this research was the need for male and female
early adolescent sex role attitude and behavior development to
be considered as separate and very different processes. This
will be highlighted in the following discussion in which the
findings will be summarized and put in the context of the
current present literature. To understand the meaning of the
findings, two steps will be taken: interpretation of the
multiple regression models and interpretation of the
significant bivariate correlations which were not significant
in the models.

It is very important to recognize that, in this study,
the findings for early adolescent sex role attitudes are
discussed in the context of relative nontraditionalism. Even
the youth with the highest score on the dependent variable,
traditionalism, was still on the nontraditional end of the

continuum.

99

100

The Macrosystem

 

 

Sex Role Attitudes

If the parents of the early adolescents and the early
adolescents themselves are considered representative of the
society that makes up the macrosystem, it becomes clear that
sex role attitudes have changed even in the past decade since
the Broverman et al. (1972) studies were done. When
Broverman's subjects responded to the same attributes to which
MEAS parents and early adolescents responded, clear cut
attributes based upon gender were delineated. The parents and
early adolescents in this study did not dichotomize the
attributes by gender, but seemed to focus on the attribute as
a desired quality for a person, and not as a desired quality
for a male or female. This is consistent with the outcomes of
rapid sex role attitudinal change discussed by Yankelovich
(1981), Hoffman (1977), Worrell (1982) and Jones (1981).
Sex Role Behaviors

In contrast, there is little if any evidence that sex
role behaviors have changed very much. Due to the lack of
literature on this topic, it is difficult to provide evidence
for this statement. However, the moderate to high level of
traditionalism found in both the female and male early
adolescent sex role behaviors is consistent with Worrell's
comments that for most preadolescent children liberated
attitudes have not filtered into behavior (1982). Underlying
this statement is the assumption that attitudes precede

behaviors or that they are interrelated. Woods (1972), too,

101

makes this assumption when she suggests that we have to look
at sex role development as a set of interrelated dependent
variables. The correlations between attitudes and behaviors
in this study suggested that these are two separate domains
that are not related and that there is no reason to expect
that one will change because the other has. If this is the
case, more work needs to be done to create models of sex role
behavior development.

The Exosystem

 

Sex Role Attitudes

The finding that maternal employment was a significant
variable in the female early adolescent sex role attitude
multiple regression model and was not in the male early
adolescent model has very important implications.
Bronfenbrenner (1979) implies that learning occurs from the
outside layers of the environment through the inside layers of
the environment because of the pervasive nature of the
macrosystem. The female early adolescent model of sex role
attitude development, with its significant exosystem variable,
maternal employment, keeps the option of outer to inner
direction of influence open. The male early adolescent model
of sex role attitude development, with no significant
exosystem variables, tends to dispute the Bronfenbrenner
(1979) model. It could be argued that this particular
exosystem variable is significant for girls and not boys
because the same gender parent is involved. This is possible

and needs to be examined.

102

The argument posited by Rodgon, Gralewski, and Hetzel
(1977) and supported by the research of Rollins and White
(1982) that maternal employment is a proxy for a variety of
other variables is substantiated in the present findings.
Although four of the five bivariate correlations related to
mothers were significant, when these same variables were put
into the hierarchical model, only the first, maternal
employment remained significant. It accounted for much of the
same variance as did father's attitude toward mother's work,'
the level of traditionalism of the mother's sex role
attitudes, and the interaction of the attitude variable with
the amount of time that the daughter spent with her mother.
This would indicate that maternal employment is indeed a proxy
for those other variables.

When the bivariate correlations were examined, the
following conclusions were drawn. The exosystem variable of
maternal employment had implications for female early
adolescent sex role attitude development in this research,
but not for male sex role attitude development. Daughters of
mothers who were employed held less traditional sex role
attitudes than did daughters of women who were not employed.
This is consistent with Gold and Andres (1978a, 1978b);
Hoffman (1974, 1979); Marantz and Mansfield (1977); Dellas,
Gaier, and Emihovich (1979); Lamb (1982); Chandler, Stawicki,
and Styffeler (1981); and Etaugh (1974). What was not
consistent with these studies was the lack of difference in

this study between sons of employed mothers and sons of

103

mothers who are not employed. Previous studies found
differences between these two groups; sons of employed mothers
were more nontraditional. This finding may be due, in part,
to the high level of nontraditionalism found in general in the
early adolescents.

The exosystem variable father's attitude toward mother's
work was not a part of the previous literature, although the
suggestion was made that it be examined. This variable was
significant for both daughters of employed and non-employed
mothers. It was inversely related the level of traditionalism
of early adolescent females. This means that the happier
fathers were with their wives work at home or not at home, the
more nontraditional were the daughters.

Sex Role Behaviors

There were no significant exosystem variables in the
male or female mulitiple regression models or hypotheses for
sex role behaviors. This would indicate that those exosystem
variables which influence the development of early adolescent
sex role attitudes are not those that influence the
development of sex role behaviors.

The Microsystem

 

Sex Role Attitudes

Both the female multiple regression analysis model for
sex role attitudes and the male multiple regression analysis
model for sex role attitudes included one significant
microsystem variable. For the females it was the interactive

variable of the level of traditionalism of father's sex role

104

attitudes with the amount of time that the daughter spent with

the father. For the males, it was the interactive variable of
the level of traditionalism of the mother's sex role attitudes
with the level of closeness the son reports about his mother.
The inclusion of one Significant microsystem variable in both
of the multiple regression models implies that the parents
play some kind of mediating function between the other systems
and the early adolescent. It is interesting to note that it.
is the parent of the opposite gender from the child. The
research of Orlofsky (1979) and Kelly and Worrell (1976) and
recommendations of Block (1976) imply that each parent has a
special role to play in the development of sex role behaviors.
It would seem that this is true of the development of sex role
attitudes, too, given the significant cross-gender
relationships in the present study.

It is apparent from the post hoc examination of the data
that at least in the development of sex role attitudes with
daughters, when the interaction between time and father's sex
role attitudes are examined, it is time that is the primary
variable and that the level of traditionalism of the father's
sex role attitudes enhances this relationship but is secondary
to it. The relationships between the significant interaction
variable for boys (closeness and sex role attitudes) is more
difficult to generalize about and needs to be looked at in
other studies. It would seem that the traditionalism of the
mother's sex role attitudes and the level of closeness are

more equal in their influence. How is not clear.

105

When the bivariate correlations were examined, the

microsystem variable mother's level of traditionalism of sex
role attitudes was found to be inversely related to her
daughter's level of traditionalism. This means that the more
traditional the mothers' sex role attitudes, the more
nontraditional were the daughters' sex role attitudes. None
of the other relationships between parental and early
adolescent levels of traditionalism of sex role attitudes were
found to be significant. These findings are directly contrary
to the findings of Emmerich, Goldman, and Shore (1971) who
found that the relationship between the sex role attitudes of
parents and their early adolescents was a positive one,
especially for girls. The reason for this is difficult to
assess. It may be that the macrosystem is overriding the
other systems. Another interpretation is that the reaction of
the daughters to their mother's level of traditionalism could
be part of a process where a girl's nontraditionalism goes to
one end of the continuum, perhaps to an extreme, and then
comes back into a more moderate position. A cross-sectional
study cannot address this kind of process. Longitudinal data
would shed more light on this process.
Sex Role Behaviors

There were no significant microsystem variables in the
multiple regression models for either males or females. When
the bivariate correlations were examined, the father's level
of traditionalism of sex role attitudes was positively related

to his daughter's level of traditionalism of sex role

106

behaviors. This means that the more traditional the father's

sex role attitudes, the more traditional were his daughter's
sex role behaviors.

The interactive variable of the level of father's
traditionalism of sex role attitudes with amount of time Spent

with the father was significantly related to both the

daughters' and sons' sex role behaviors. However, the
relationships work in different ways. For the daughters, the
relationship was a positive one. That is, the more time that

the daughters Spent in company of their fathers' sex role
attitudes, the more likely they were to exhibit traditional
sex role behaviors. For the sons, it was the opposite. The
more time that the sons spent in the company of their father's
traditional sex role attitudes, the less likely were the sons
to exhibit traditional sex role behaviors.

These interactive relationships are difficult to define.
Based on the findings from the female multiple regression
model for attitudes, it may be that time is the primary factor
in the interactive relationship. This would be consistent with
Bronfenbrenner's (1979) theory. That is, the more time the
daughter spends in the presence of her father's sex role
attitudes, the more likely the level of the traditionalism of
her sex role behaviors are to parallel the level of
traditionalism of his attitudes. This may be related to the
kind of things the father and daughter do during this time.
Many of the behaviors that were assessed to examine the amount

of time spent could be considered more feminine or nurturing

107

behaviors. The nature of the things that are done during the
time fathers Spent with their daughters may account for the
difference. Another interpretation is that the amount of time
that the father spends with his daughter is dependent upon the
father's level of traditionalism of sex role attitudes. While
this is not a typical approach, it bears consideration. Why
it would have an opposite effect on sons is unclear.
Sex Role Behaviors

The son's level of traditionalism of sex role behaviors
was also inversely and significantly related to the
interactive variable of the level of traditionalism of
father's sex role attitudes with child's level of closeness to
father. If the examination of this interaction is begun with
the acknowledgement that the father's level of traditionalism
of sex role attitudes was not significant by itself, this
makes consideration of the relationship of this interaction
variable a little clearer. It would seem to indicate that
increasing level of closeness with the father as perceived by
the son in the presence of the father's level of
traditionalism is related to less traditional sex role
behaviors demonstrated by the male early adolescent. As
suggested for the females, the activities in which the father
and son are involved in during their time together may also be
related to the level of traditonalism of the male early

adolescent sex role behaviors.

108

The Human System

 

Sex Role Attitudes

In the multiple regression analysis models,
chronological age was significant for the females and the two
pubertal age variables were significant for the males. This
points out the necessity of including the human system in a
model of sex role attitude development for either gender.
This is further reinforced for the male model when it is noted
that 17 percent of a total of 27 percent of the variance in
the dependent variable male early adolescent sex role
attitudes was accounted for by the human system variables.
These findings are consistent with Katz's (1979) suggestion
that biological factors are the most important source of
influence on sex role attitudes (at least, for boys). The
implications that these findings pose for Bronfrenbrenner's
theory of human development and sex role development theory
will be discussed later.

Chronological age was inversely and Significantly
related to the level of traditionalism of both male and female
early adolescent sex role behaviors. This means that as early
adolescents grow older they become less traditional in their
sex role attitudes. This is consistent with the findings of
Payne (1981). It also reinforces the notion, based on the
writing of Piaget, that formal or abstract thinking increases
with age over early adolescence and that this new level of
thinking leads to less rigid stereotyping. Another

interpretation could be that age is a proxy for experience,

109

and that given more experience in the world, youths come to
hold less traditional sex role attitudes.

One other significant human system variable was found in
this study. The father's perception of the son's pubertal age
was inversely related to the level of traditionalism of male
early adolescent sex role attitudes. That is, as father's
perceived that their sons were becoming more adult, the early
adolescent male was becoming less traditional in his sex role
attitudes.

Sex Role Behaviors

Only one of the human system variables was significantly
related to the traditionalism of early adolescent sex role
behaviors. This was the father's perception of the daughter's
pubertal development. It was a positive relationship which
means that as the fathers' perceptions of their daughters'
physical maturity increased, so did the level of
traditionalism of the daughter's sex role behaviors. This
confirms the theory of Hill and Lynch (1983) which is
supported by research by Steinburg and Hill (1978).

IMPLICATIONS

 

Implications for Bronfenbrenner's Theory 2: Human Development

 

 

The implications of the present study for
Bronfenbrenner's (1979) theory of human development need to
be limited to a specific kind of development: that of sex role
attitudes and behaviors. Sex role development, as shown in
the previous discussion, is so dominated by gender that it is

difficult to generate the findings to all humans.

110

Bronfenbrenner's conceptualization of the environments

is a useful and necessary one. Although only the female model
in this study had significant variables from both the
exosystem and microsystem, that does not mean that given
another set of exosystem variables that the male model would
not include them. Bronfenbrenner's hypotheses related to time
and relationships and their relationship to learning are
supported to the extent in this research that they may be
considered viable. One of the time variables was included as
a significant variable in the female model; one of the
relationship variables was included as a significant variable
in the male model. In the hypotheses for females, both
variables had probabilities at the .10 level, which implies
that, at least for females, the model has merit.

This study points out that one of the major
considerations of a researcher who would like to apply
Bronfenbrenner's theory is the inclusion of human variables.
The consistent significance of either chronological or
pubertal age in this study implies that learning is an
interaction between the early adolescents and their
environments, but that human, or individual, variables need to
be considered. Other individual traits that may be important
to sex role development are temperament and hormonal levels,
for example.

The last issue that needs to be considered relative to
Bronfenbrenner is that of the top-down nature of influence in

learning. The consistency with which more non-traditional sex

111

role attitudes are found in the macro-, 'exo-, micro-, and
human systems would imply that the macrosystem may be as
pervasive as Bronfenbrenner suggests that it is. However, the
power of the human variables, especially in the male model,
may make null the influences of these systems, at least
temporarily. It may be that during puberty, biological
considerations are paramount in the growth of the individual
and screen out environmental influences to some degree.

Early adolesence a§_3 stage 9: development

 

 

The previous discussion points out how important the
individual variables of chronological and pubertal age were to
this study. This makes it very clear that early adolescence
needs to be studied in its own right. Tanner's (1978)
suggestion that pubertal age cannot be disregarded is fully
supported.

Implications for sex role theory and research

Two tenets of life-span sex role theory are the need to
examine development in relation to the life stage of the
individual and that separate models for males and females need
to be developed. The previous discussion supports the first
tenet of the necessity for life stage research. An
examination of the male and female models developed in this
work supports the second tenet of the need for separate
models. In the final multiple regression models for male and
female sex role attitudes, none of the significant variables
were common. In the tests for the hypotheses, relationships

that were commonly significant sometimes had opposite

112

directions.

Another thrust of the sex role development literature
has been the need to explore environments other than the ones
studied traditionally (Katz, 1979; Block, 1978). This study
examined several environments that either had not been studied
previously or had not been examined from the perspective
taken. The best multiple regression model in this study
accounted for approximately one-fourth of the variance in the
model for male sex role attitudes. Extending the microsystem
to include siblings would most likely increase the explained
variance of this system. The inclusion of the mesosystem in
this study would have increased that explanatory power. The
mesosystem variables related to schools and peers need to be
systematically and simultaneously examined.

It may be that the exosystem variables included in this
study are weak and that another set would explain both male
and female early adolescent sex role attitudes and behaviors
more fully. A possibly important variable that has been taken
for granted is paternal employment. Because traditionally men
were employed and women were not, maternal employment,
originating in the deprivation literature, has received the
focus of attention. Paternal employment now needs to begin to
be addressed as well as the new benefits of flex-time and job
sharing by mothers and fathers alike.

Paternal employment is a logical choice as a complement
to the maternal employment variables when the importance of

the opposite gender parent in the microsystem set of variables

113

is the focus. One of the major findings of this research was
the reinforcement that all of the parent-child dyads need to
be examined. This level of complexity is only one that needs
to be addressed.

The importance of the interactive variables cannot go
unstated. If the need for ecological models is as strong as
implied and if the need to look at all of the parent-child
dyads is as important as stated, then the creation of:
interactive variables which carry the essence of what is

important to the model need to be utilized. Both the female

and male models in this research had one Significant
interactive variable. This points out the need to think
interactively.

Orlofsky (1979) states that what is needed is to get
away from correlational studies and move to studies of
causality. This study attempted to do that. While a multiple
regression model cannot be said to determine causality, it is
an important step away from correlational studies on the way
to path analysis and other more causal models.

These studies, however, will only be as good as their
measures. Finding age appropriate measures with strong
reliability and validity is a difficult task and at present,
an almost impossible one. Systematic work is needed to
develop measures that when used in a life-span ecological
approach, with separate models for males and females, using
interactive variables that examine all of the parent-child

dyads will provide strong, reliable, and valid information

114

about how early adolescents develop sex role attitudes and
behaviors as well as other traits releated to their overall
sex role development.

Implications for the education 2; early adolescents

 

 

Early adolescent males and females need the Opportunity
to learn a wide variety of behaviors that will provide them
with more options as they move through adolescence and into
adult life. Educators of early adolescents need to
include these opportunities and keep those options open by
their interaction with their students and the kinds of
opportunities that are offered, regardless of gender.

Implications for parent education

 

With the increasing probability that many early
adolescents will choose to live alone as adults, or be on
their own through marriage and divorce, life skills can no
longer be looked upon as masculine or feminine, but as human
skills that everyone needs to have. Most of those Skills are
learned in the home.

Parents also need to be made aware of the fact that both
parents influence early adolescent sex role development and
that if they have values that they want to communicate to
their child, both parents are important in this process.

Implications for family policy

 

If it is assumed that sex role development has much in
common with other kinds of development, it is imperative that
we acknowledge the finding, in this study, that both parents

have unique roles to play in the development of their early

115

adolescent. (The infancy literature also makes this very
apparent.) It is important, then, for the creators of family
policy to hold this concept in their minds as they work to
create environments for strong, healthy families. It is
important to note, also, that both time and closeness seem to
enhance learning and that families must be helped to find this
time and develop these relationships. Certainly flexible work
situations, for example could facilitate this. AS a country,
we need to examine and implement other ways to allow parents
of both genders the time to build the relationships that are

necessary to learning.

APPENDIX

11.6

Table A-1: Percentages on Items Which Make up the Sex Role Attitudes Scale by
Gender of Child

How important is it for MEN to:

 

 

 

Percent of Girls Percent of Boys

Item . 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
be very gentle S4 43 0 43 52 6 0
make decisions easily 38 SS 1 43 47 8 2
be neat in their habits 6O 27 11 2 52 36 11 1
be well educated 67 25 9 O 79 17 4 0
be ambitious 35 48 16 1 50 35 13 1
never cry 6 11 44 39 12 16 39 32
easily express tender feelings 36 49 14 1 33 39 25 4
be very independent 45 44 8 4 49 37 13

be interested in how they look 36 40 19 S 33 42 17 7
always act as a leader 20 44 26 9 20 39 31 ll
be self-confident 62 32 4 2 65 27 4

make a lot of money 19 30 34 18 27 40 27

How important is it for WOMEN to:

Percent of Girls Percent of Boys

Item 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
be very gentle 57 43 0 0 48 46 S 1
make decisions easily 34 S7 7 2 45 41 12 2
be neat in their habits 65 30 S 0 S4 40 4 2
be well educated 66 24 7 2 65 28 6 1
be ambitious 39 $8 11 3 43 38 17 2
never cry 2 16 36 46 8 18 32 42
easily express tender feelings 34 53 12 l 32 49 13 7
be very independent 41 43 14 3 41 41 16

be interested in how they look 46 3S 15 4 48 39 10
always act as a leader 20 44 26 10 13 33 38 16
be self-confident S4 37 6 3 62 28 9 1
make a lot of money 13 37 31 20 20 37 33 10

 

(1 I very important; 2 - somewhat important- 3 - not ve '
. — ta t;
4 a not tmportant at all) , ry tmpor n

117

Table A-2: Percentages on Items Which Make up the Sex Role Behaviors Scale by

Gender of Child

How often do you do the following things by yourself or with your family?

Percent of Girls

Percent of Boys

 

Item 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
grocery shopping 1 5 6 10 13 65 4 2 9 5 16 64
meal preparation 4 12 18 22 24 20 9 9 14 25 20 23
after meal clean-up 21 22 27 12 8 10 19 18 28 10 13 11
yard work 3 6 22 20 23 26 12 15 25 26 9 13
child care 9 13 26 18 14 20 7 9 10 19 12 44
empty wastebaskets 7 15 22 20 13 24 17 25 39 6 6 7
clean. wax, fix car 0 6 20 35 37 2 16 23 27 27
laundry 3 21 19 18 32 9 4 8 73

 

(I 8 every dby; 2 - moat days each week; 3 - once or twice a week; 4 - once or

twice a month; 5 - lees than once a month; 8 - never)

Which of these things do you like to do?

Percent of Girls

Percent of Boys

 

 

Item 1 2 3 1 2 3
archery 9 -31 60 40 35 25
baseball 69 17 14 83 4 l4
cake decorating 40 48 11 16 26 59
cooking 77 20 3 37 32 31
crafts 63 21 16 39 31 30
dancing 47 36 17 17 26 .57
electronics 17 36 48 32 51 16
needlework 36 34 30 6 16 78
fishing 40 22 28 74 18 8
knitting 36 34 30 5 13 82
making rockets 6 13 81 34 45 20
model cars, boats. planes 5 16 79 68 23 9
sewing 45 30 26 5 17 78
small engine repair . 2 22 76 31 51 18

(I - like to db; 2 - would like to learn; 3 - not interested)

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