Claire Etaugh

Home, school, and playroom: Training grounds for adult gender roles

Gender differences in childrens play activities, preferred school subjects, and occupational goals were examined in relation to such parental variables as toy-giving and chore assignment. Subjects were 245 children in grades K, 3, 6, and 8. Subjects completed questionnaires before and after Christmas asking what gifts they wanted, asked for, received, and liked best. They also were asked to name their friends and play activities, favorite and least-liked school subjects, occupational aspirations, and chores at home. Children generally wanted, asked for, received, and most-liked gender-typical toys. They were less likely to receive requested gender-atypical toys. Childrens preferred activities, job aspirations and assigned chores were along gender-typical lines. Girls preferred masculine toys and jobs more than boys preferred feminine ones. With increasing age, both girls and boys increasingly preferred masculine toys and male friends. No gender differences in favorite or least-liked school subjects were found. School subject preference was related to gender-typing of occupational choice for girls but not boys.

Lateral Eye-Movement as a Function of Cognitive Mode, Question Sequence, and Sex of Subject

Verbal and numerical questions elicited significantly more lateral eye-movements to the right than did spatial and musical questions for 48 college students. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that lateral eye-movement is related to the functional organization of the cerebral hemispheres. Contrary to expectations, asking the questions in homogeneous sets as opposed to a mixed list did not produce more eye-movements in the predicted direction for each cognitive mode. Males tended to make more right-movements than females on all four types of questions.

Transforming Theory And Research With Women: Themes and Variations

We look at some of the ways in which feminist theorists and researchers apply new insights to established topics in psychology, as they explore the landscape of the unknown and unspoken in the lives of girls and women. The articles in this special issue present research and reflections by a group of feminist scholars, some of us from the editorial board of the Psychology of Women Quarterly and others from the larger academic community. Each contributor, selecting from a personal interest or expertise, reconceptualizes a topical area of psychology with the intent of reframing our understanding of its meaning, its impact on womens functioning, and/or its application to feminist research and theory. To provide a background, we review a sample of contributions of feminist thought to the contemporary revolution in science. We then ask the question: In what ways have feminist perspectives and scholarship transformed psychology in the particular areas addressed by these authors?

Trait Judgments of Stay-At-Home and Employed Parents: A Function of Social Role and/or Shifting Standards?:

Primarily middle-class, White college students (n = 484) read a brief description of a stay-at-home or employed mother or father, estimated how often the target performed several parenting behaviors, and rated her/him on communion and parenting effectiveness. Results showed that respondents estimated more parenting behaviors for mothers than fathers in both roles, gave stay-at-home mothers and fathers similar trait ratings, and viewed employed mothers as lower in communion and parenting effectiveness than fathers. The behavioral findings indicate that social role does not override the effect of gender on trait judgments. It is likely that the observed null and counterstereotypical effects of gender are due to the operation of shifting standards of judgment that reflect within-gender expectations.

Perceptions of Parents Whose Work and Parenting Behaviors Deviate from Role Expectations

Perceptions of married parents were investigatedas a function of their gender, and the employment statusof both the parent and her or his spouse following theirchilds birth. College students (91 percent White, 9 percent African American, AsianAmerican and Hispanic) evaluated a briefly describedmarried employed parent on 31 7-point bipolar scalesthat described nurturance behaviors, job performancecharacteristics and stress/overload variables. Each evaluatorrated 1 of 8 parents portrayed as either a mother or afather who, following their infants birth, eitherworked full-time or reduced her/his work hours, and whose spouse either worked full time or reducedhis/her work hours. Full-time employment, compared topart time employment, (1) enhanced perceptions of theprofessional competence of fathers, but not mothers; and (2)lowered evaluations of nurturance forboth parents, but especially for mothers. Mothers wereperceived as under more stress than fathers.

Evaluating Competence: Effects of Sex, Marital Status, and Parental Status

Three hundred sixty eight female and male college students read a corn-pitted job application and an article written by the applicant. Both the job and the article were in non-sex-typed fields. The applicant was described as either female or male, single or married, and having one or no children. Subjects answered eight evaluative questions concerning the competence of the applicant and the merits of the article. Females were devalued by both male and female subjects, but particularly by males. Applicants of both sexes who were married and childless were evaluated more favorably than applicants who were single and had a child.

Lateral eye movement as related to verbal and perceptual-motor skills and values.

After being asked a reflective question, individuals usually move their eyes either right or left before answering. Consistent right-movers and left-movers were compared on a variety of measures. Relative to left-movers, right-movers: (a) performed significantly better on a concept identification task; (b) showed a significantly greater Mathematics-Verbal discrepancy on the Scholastic Aptitude Test; and (c) tended to perform more poorly on an inverted alphabet-printing task, to major in science/quantitative areas, and to display greater theoretical and economic interests and lesser aesthetic and social interests. The results are consistent with Bakans (1969) suggestion that lateral eye movement is related to the functional organization of the brain.

Effects of employment status and marital status on perceptions of mothers

Forty-eight female and 48 male adults at a shopping mall evaluated a briefly depicted adult female stimulus person on 24 7-point bipolar scales that described personality traits and professional performance characteristics. Each subject rated one of four mothers of a young child. The mother was portrayed as either employed or nonemployed, and as either divorced or married. Employed mothers were perceived as more professionally competent but as less dedicated to their families than were nonemployed mothers. Married mothers were rated as more nurturant and as better adjusted than divorced mothers.

Perceptions of mothers; effects of employment status, marital status, and age of child

Ninety-six female and 96 male college students evaluated a briefly described adult female stimulus person on 24 7-point bipolar scales that described personality traits and professional performance characteristics. Each subject rated 1 of 8 mothers, who was described as either employed or nonemployed, either divorced or married, and as having either a 1-year-old or 11-year-old child. Employed mothers were viewed as less family oriented, but as more instrumental than nonemployed mothers. Divorced mothers were perceived as less well adjusted but more instrumental than married mothers. Employed mothers with a 1-year-old child were rated as most professionally competent, while employed mothers with an 11-year-old child were rated as most instrumental.

EFFECTS ON READING COMPREHENSION OF PREFERRED MUSIC AND FREQUENCY OF STUDYING TO MUSIC

16 male and 16 female college students were given tests of reading comprehension in quiet surroundings and while listening to preferred music. The more frequently students reported studying to music, the less music impaired their performance.