Educated Women's Career Patterns: Separating Social and Developmental Changes

Abstract

This paper presents a secondary analysis of selected work and family variables drawn from a longitudinal study of educated American women. In it, we attempt to separate the effects of normative social change, cohort‐specific change, and developmental or life cycle change. Comparisons within and across time indicate that some relations (for example, between marital status and number of children and labor force participation) may shift due to broad social change. Others (for example, the different relations between age at marriage and career activity) may reflect cohort changes. Finally, some relations (for example, between women's perceptions of their husband's attitude toward their careers and women's actual career achievement) may be best explained in terms of developmental change. These findings suggest that the relations between work and family variables for women are complex and are changing due to the singular and interactive effects of broad social changes, cohort‐specific changes, and processes of personal development.