The Effects of Family Structure and Maternal Employment on the Development of Gender-Related Attitudes Among Men and Women

Abstract

This article investigates the influence of family structure and maternal employment on the development of attitudes among children, regarding the extent to which children endorse traditional or egalitarian gender role behavior among women. Two hypotheses are tested: father-absence hypothesis and role-restructuring hypothesis. Findings indicate that at the aggregate level, children from father-headed families have more traditional gender-related attitudes than mother-headed families, providing support for the father-absence hypotheses. However, substantial differences exist when controlling for maternal employment and sex of the respondent. Inclusion of maternal employment lends support to the role-restructuring hypothesis. For male respondents, support exists for the role-restructuring hypothesis, but there is no support for the father-absence hypothesis. However, for female respondents, there exists support for both the father-absence and role-restructuring hypotheses.