Kin keepers and good providers: Influence of gender socialization on well-being among USA birth cohorts

Abstract

Previous research has suggested happiness and distress differ for men and women over the life course, but little attention has focused on whether the predictors of well-being vary for each group. The second wave of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH2) data was used to study whether hypothesized differential exposure to traditional gender socialization has influenced perceptions of life achievement, global happiness and depression for adult men and women in distinct USA birth cohorts. Numerous findings illustrated similarity among cohort and gender groups in predictors of well-being. There was also evidence of a change in USA gender socialization, and determinants of the dependent variables varied according to these shifts by sex and cohort membership. For example, in the earliest born cohort, women's happiness was related to frequency of contact with relatives, consistent with the kin keeper role. Assets and income predicted depression and global happiness for older men, suggesting a link between well-being and the good provider role. In the latest born cohorts, not just androgynous, but opposite influences predominated as men and women demonstrated less evidence of traditional socialization shaping their satisfaction with achievements and psychological well-being.

Examining Mediators of the Link Between Generativity and Well-being

“…It might be expected, for example, that Feeling Needed would play a stronger role for men than for women, perhaps because men identify more strongly with a provider role (Loscocco and Spitze 2007;Salari and Zhang 2006). Indeed, in exploratory analyses, this was the only mediator where our small sample of men evidenced a substantial difference from the women, showing a stronger correlation between Feeling Needed and Well-Being.…”

Coresidence with a child and happiness among older widows in Europe: Does gender of the child matter?

“…This would suggest that the association between coresidence with a child and subjective well-being would vary depending on both personal and cultural preferences (Jylhä & Jokela, 1990;Russell & Taylor, 2009). Gender may also be highly salient as women's role as "kin keepers" means they have higher expectations of, and for, social relationships (Salari & Zhang, 2006).…”

Contextualizing Health Outcomes: Do Effects of Network Structure Differ for Women and Men?

“…Kin ties figure prominently in discussions of social integration because they typically involve the kinds of relationships (e.g., mutual obligation, reciprocity) that bind individuals together. Relationships to women in networks have been argued to indicate high levels of social integration because women are more likely than men to assume the role of kin keeper (Belle 1982;Dubas 2001;Eagly 1987;Turner 1994), although not always by choice (Pett et al 1992;Salari and Zhang 2006). By maintaining relationships with primary and secondary kin, fulfilling familial obligations, and maintaining family rituals, women produce and reproduce high levels of social integration in social networks.…”