Date of Award

Spring 2014

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Major

Psychology

First Advisor

David Reuman

Abstract

Do gender differences exist among Trinity students with respect to career and parenting expectations? Do gender differences also exist with respect to hostile versus benevolent sexism (Glick & Fiske, 1996)? Is sexism associated with career and parenting expectations for oneself? From these questions, I hypothesized that women would be more likely to hold career and parenting expectations that are mutually dependent; men would be more likely to hold career expectations that are independent of parenting expectations. More sexist women would hold more dependent expectations; more sexist men would hold more independent expectations. An online survey was fielded to a stratified random sample of 200 Trinity women and 400 Trinity men. This survey included the Life Role Salience Scales (Amatea, Cross, Clark, & Bobby, 1986) and the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (Glick & Fiske, 1996). In a Trinity College sample of 40 women and 35 men, men scored significantly higher than women with respect to occupational role commitment, but women scored marginally significantly higher on parental role commitments; there was no gender difference in marital role commitments. Trinity men scored higher than women in hostile sexism, but there was no gender difference in benevolent sexism. Results also showed that for women overall (those who demonstrated both high and low hostile sexism), occupational and parental role commitments were negatively correlated. Additionally, occupational and marital role commitments were negatively correlated for women. For men who were high in hostile sexism, these roles were also negatively correlated – but for men low in hostile sexism, these roles were positively correlated with one another. The findings suggest that Trinity women believe families and careers require a trade-off, while Trinity men are split: more sexist men hold beliefs similar to women’s, while less sexist men believe the role commitments are compatible.

Comments

Senior thesis completed at Trinity College for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Psychology.

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