The psychological construction of home life

Abstract

In a study of the underlying structure of cognitions of the home, the individual configurations of home situations held by 21 adult males and 21 adult females were obtained using the repertory grid technique and similarity structure analysis. These configurations were compared using procrustean individual differences scaling and a group centroid representing a significant amount of communality was found. In this group centroid configuration, four clusters of home situations were found and identified as housework, personal chores, social interaction, and recreation. A significant dimensional salience model suggested that these clusters were differentiated by the degree of personal control and social connectedness associated with the situations. Women were found to weight the personal control dimension of their configurations more heavily than men suggesting that within the home this dimension is more salient for women than men. Group differences in configurations on the basis of sex, gender role orientation, and children at home were also investigated. The variables of children at home and gender role orientation affected men and women differentially. The configurations of men without children were less like women's than men with children, while men with a traditional gender role orientation were more like women of any gender role orientation than nontraditional men.