Stability and Change in the Gender Identities of Newly Married Couples

Abstract

In the present paper we use identity theory as a multilevel control system to investigate stability and change in identities. According to identity theory, change occurs when self-relevant perceptions become and remain inconsistent with the identity standard. Symbolic interaction theory suggests that change also may occur through the process of taking the role of the other; this process may facilitate the incorporation of aspects of role partners' identities into one's own identity. We investigate these ideas by studying the gender identities of newly first-married couples over a three-year period. The birth of a child results in a new source of set-perceptions that continuously disturb prior gender-relevant perceptions. We hypothesize that the parents'gender identities will change in the direction of the disturbance: Men will become more masculine and women more feminine. Insofar as husbands and wives each take the role of the other, we hypothesize that their gender identity standards will change in the spouses' direction: Men will become more feminine and women will become more masculine. Both of these hypotheses are supported, and we discuss the implications of these results for identity theory.