Personality Correlates of Age and Life Roles in Adult Women

Abstract

The association between age/family stage, career role, and personality traits was studied using a multivariate statistical approach. Young adult, midlife, and older women from four role groups-homemaker, married career, single career, and student-were compared on a number of personality measures including achievement motivation, affiliation, autonomy, cultural sex role characteristics, self esteem, and adjustment.While some of the expected group differences did not appear, some significant age and role differences were found. Older women showed less achievement motivation and had a greater need for affiliation than young adult and midlife women. Career women had a more internalized locus of control than homemakers and students. When age and role were considered together, the age-role groups were differentiated on autonomy, femininity, and adjustment. There were no differences between either age or role groups on measures of self-esteem, well-being, socialization, or other personality variables.

From Adolescence to Later Adulthood: Femininity, Masculinity, and Androgyny in Six Age Groups

“…Many of the studies reviewed above focus exclusively on women and have not included men (e.g., Erdwins et al 1983;Helson and Moane 1987;Kasen et al 2006;Mellinger and Erdwins 1985;Roberts et al 2002). Consequently, relatively less is known regarding agerelated differences in men's masculine and feminine traits.…”

“…Support for this hypothesis can be found when previous cross-sectional comparisons of women are examined. Older women's masculine personality trait scores are lower than those of younger women (Erdwins et al 1983;Mellinger and Erdwins 1985). In these studies, it is unclear whether there is heterogeneity among subgroups of older women because women 60 and older have been examined as a single demographic group.…”

“…Based on 1developmental theory (e.g., Stewart and Healy 1989) and converging evidence from longitudinal (e.g., Roberts et al 2002;Kasen et al 2006), cross-temporal (e.g., Twenge 1997), and cross-sectional (e.g., Mellinger and Erdwins 1985) research, we hypothesized that women's masculine trait scores would vary significantly as a function of age. We expected that women whose identity development co-occurred with the women's movement (roughly, 40-59 years of age), would identify more with masculine traits than would those women who had established their identities prior to the women's movement (roughly those older than 60 years of age).…”

Stress and Unemployment: A Comparative Review and Research Model of Female and Male Managers

“…In contrast, internal locus of control is associated with lower levels of anxiety and depression, and higher levels of self-esteem and life satisfaction . Previous research has shown that, in general, individuals employed in supervisory and management positions score higher on internal locus of control than those working in non-supervisory positions (Kapalka and Lachenmeyer, 1988;Mellinger and Erdwins, 1985;St-Yves et al, 1989). Thus, it may be anticipated that unemployed managers will perceive relatively higher degrees of personal control and, as a result, will be more intrinsically motivated in their job search, although they may verbalize external causes to explain or defend themselves against actual or expected failures during job search (Rotter, 1966).…”

Two Generations of Mothers and Daughters: Role Position and Interdependence

“…A woman who is both married and a student may have many demands on her time and emotions and little left to invest in the mother-daughter relationship. Or, as shown by Mellinger and Erdwins (1985), she may feel less constricted by familial obligations. Perhaps the transition to the parental role heralds a positive change in mother-daughter interdependence; that is, marital role convergence is a negative influence whereas parental role convergence may be a positive influence.…”