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Family Patterns of Gender Role Attitudes

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Abstract

Study goals were to identify family patterns of gender role attitudes, to examine the conditions under which these patterns emerged, and to assess the implications of gender attitude patterns for family conflict. Participants were mothers, fathers, and first- and second-born adolescents from 358 White, working and middle-class US families. Results of cluster analysis revealed three gender role attitude patterns: egalitarian parents and children, traditional parents and children, and a divergent pattern, with parents more traditional and children more egalitarian. Mixed-model ANOVAs indicated that these family patterns were related to socioeconomic status, parents’ time spent in gendered household tasks and with children, and the gender constellation of the sibling dyad. The traditional family group reported the most family conflict.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Health and Human Development, Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, 601 Oswald Tower, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Jaime L. Marks, Chun Bun Lam & Susan M. McHale

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  1. Jaime L. Marks
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  2. Chun Bun Lam
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  3. Susan M. McHale
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Correspondence to Susan M. McHale.

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Marks, J.L., Lam, C.B. & McHale, S.M. Family Patterns of Gender Role Attitudes. Sex Roles 61, 221–234 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-009-9619-3

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