Family background, sex-role attitudes, and life goals of technical college and university students

Abstract

Questionnaires that assessed family background, educational goals, career goals, preferred and expected career commitment, and sex-role attitudes were completed by 763 male and female undergraduates. The women expressed significantly more nontraditional goals and attitudes than women in previous studies, but the female respondents' goals and attitudes differ significantly from their male classmates. The correlations between several sex-role-related goals and attitudes are significant for both men and women. Parents' educational attainment, mothers' careers, and religious upbringing are the background variables that most strongly predict traditional/nontraditional goals and sex-role attitudes. The predictive powers of the background traits differ for men and women, and these results are often inconsistent with results of previous studies. Implications for related research are discussed.