Abstract. Past literature on gender differences in attitudes related to work and family has shown gender differences on such attitudes and that they tend to define success differently, as well as hold different expectations of career and roles within marriage/family.
The current study examined career and family attitudes among 332 university students enrolled in business and psychology classes. Participants completed the Career Family Attitudes Measure (CFAM; Sanders et al,1998), Modern Sexism Scale (MSS; Swim et al,1995) and portions of the Liberal Feminism Scale (LF; Henley et al,1998). Multivariate analyses of variance using the factor scores as dependent variables showed that there were significant differences between female and male respondents on five of the six subscales of the CFAM, with women revealing more concern about equality in marriage and men exhibiting more traditional attitudes toward family and career. Men also scored higher than women on the three components of the MSS; women scored higher than men on LF items. The majority of respondents said their mothers had been employed full-time during their childhood; women and men did not differ in this respect. Mothers’ employment history was significantly related to respondent’s career and family attitudes with respect to Dominance, Spousal Support, and Family Focus subscales of the CFAM. These findings suggest that young people's attitudes toward career and family focus have changed little, despite changes in women's workforce participation.
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