Non-college Women Research Articles

"Stepping Out of My Sexual Comfort Zone": Comparing the Sexual Possible Selves and Strategies of College-Attending and Non-College Emerging Adults.

Limited attention has been devoted to examining internalized sexual expectations and fears (i.e., sexual possible selves [SPS]) during emerging adulthood, and in particular how these differ based on college attendance. The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend research on SPS and strategies using a large, diverse sample of college-attending (n = 400) and non-college (n = 400) emerging adults (ages 18-25years). Open-ended responses on internalized sexual expectations and fears were collected through an online survey (Amazon's MTurk). Qualitative content analysis of each groups' responses revealed 11 emergent expected SPS themes, with the majority focused on abstinence, interpersonal relationships, quantity, quality, explore/experiment, and sexual health/well-being. Emergent themes of feared SPS overlapped with expected SPS on six categories (e.g., sexual health/well-being); however, we also found fears related to sexual assault/coercion, self-focus, partner focus, and increased sexual risk. Pearson chi-square analyses of themes based on college attendance showed differences in expectations for interpersonal relationships, along with subgroup differences based on gender (male versus female) and gender by college attendance status (e.g., college-attending women versus non-college women). Implications for sexual education and future SPS research are discussed.

Unacknowledged Rape in the Community: Rape Characteristics and Adjustment

Unacknowledged rape, labeling a rape as a nonvictimizing event, remains largely unstudied among non-college women. This study therefore sought to examine differences in assault characteristics, adjustment, and disclosure by rape acknowledgment status among a sample of lower income rape victims (n =104) recruited from a reproductive health clinic (mean age = 28.8 years). Although unacknowledged rape was infrequent (17.1% of victims), unacknowledged victims reported that the perpetrator used less force and were less likely to have assertively resisted, as compared to acknowledged victims. There were no significant differences in disclosure, depression, and somatic complaints between unacknowledged and acknowledged rape victims. Implications of the findings for understanding rape acknowledgment and postrape adjustment among community women are discussed.

Unacknowledged Rape in the Community: Rape Characteristics and Adjustment.

Unacknowledged rape, labeling a rape as a nonvictimizing event, remains largely unstudied among non-college women. This study therefore sought to examine differences in assault characteristics, adjustment, and disclosure by rape acknowledgment status among a sample of lower income rape victims (n = 104) recruited from a reproductive health clinic (mean age = 28.8 years). Although unacknowledged rape was infrequent (17.1% of victims), unacknowledged victims reported that the perpetrator used less force and were less likely to have assertively resisted, as compared to acknowledged victims. There were no significant differences in disclosure, depression, and somatic complaints between unacknowledged and acknowledged rape victims. Implications of the findings for understanding rape acknowledgment and postrape adjustment among community women are discussed.

Factors associated with reporting of sexual assault among college and non-college women

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine factors impacting college and non-college women reporting sexual assault to police. The goal is to increase knowledge regarding differences in the rates of reporting and reasons for reporting across these two groups.Design/methodology/approachParticipants were drawn from a national telephone survey of US women and a sample of US college women. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to determine factors influencing the reporting of sexual assault to police.FindingsNon-college women were more likely than college women to report to police. Women who perceived their victimization as rape were much more likely to report to the police and women who had contact with a helping agency were also much more likely to report their assault. Contacting a helping agency is more relevant to non-college women’s reporting to police, while considering the assault a rape is more important for college women.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that significant work is needed to encourage women in college to view sexual assaults as worthy of reporting. Boosting victim awareness and access to services is paramount. Providing education and empowerment to student victims to inform their perceptions about the definition of rape is vital, as women perceiving sexual assault as rape are more likely to report the incident.Originality/valueThe research significantly adds to the literature indicating differences in rates of reporting and the factors that impact reporting uniquely for college vs non-college women.

College status, perceived drinking norms, and alcohol use among sexual minority women.

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults are at elevated risk for drinking compared to heterosexual young adults, and this discrepancy is particularly striking for sexual minority women (SMW). Perceived social norms are strong predictors of young adult alcohol use, especially among college students. The college environment is often one where increases in alcohol use are seen, but the impact of college status on SMW's drinking has been understudied. The present study explored patterns of alcohol use and consequences among SMW and the extent to which social norms relate to use and consequences. Participants were recruited via social networking sites for a larger national study on SMW's health behaviors. Present analyses focused on 875 SMW between 18 and 25 who were categorized as either a 2-year college student (n = 196), 4-year college student (n = 418), or non-student (n = 261). Several differences emerged between college and non-college SMW, with non-college women reporting higher alcohol use and social norms compared to 4-year college women. In terms of alcohol-related consequences, students in both 2-year and 4-year colleges reported a higher likelihood of any consequences. There was some evidence that perceived norms partially explained differences in typical drinking among the college status groups. The present findings suggest that college may play a protective role against heavy drinking for this population of young women, however, the results are not straightforward and additional research is warranted.

The Relationship between Age at First Birth and Mother's Lifetime Earnings: Evidence from Danish Data.

BackgroundHaving children creates career interruptions and reductions in labor income for women. This study documents the relation between the age at first birth (AFB) and women’s labor income. We study these dynamics in the short run (i.e. ratio between labor income at AFB and two years prior to AFB) and long run (i.e., positive/negative differences in total lifetime labor income).MethodsUsing unique Danish administrative register data for the entire Danish population, we estimate the age-income profiles separately for college and non-college women conditional on marital status, and mothers’ age at first birth (AFB). We compute the lifetime labor income differentials by taking the differences between the labor income of women with and without children at each AFB.ResultsThe short-run loss in labor income, defined as the difference in percentages between the income earned two years prior to AFB and income earned at AFB, ranges from 37% to 65% for college women and from 40% to 53% for non-college women. These losses decrease monotonically with respect to AFB for both education groups. Our results on the lifetime labor income differentials between mothers and women without children also show a net effect that is monotonic (from negative to positive) in AFB. With AFB<25, the lifetime labor income loss for college women is -204% of their average annual labor income and this figure is -252% for non-college women. There are lifetime labor income gains with AFB>31. The largest gains for college women are 13% of their average annual income and this figure is 50% for non-college women.ConclusionWomen have a large and unambiguous short-run reduction in labor income at their AFB. In terms of lifetime labor income, both college and non-college women, compared to childless women, are associated with lower income of more than twice their respective average annual income when bearing a child at AFB<25. In other words, women with AFB<25 are associated with a lower lifetime income of more than two years of annual labor income. The lifetime labor incomes for college and non-college women associated with AFB>31 are relatively higher.

The Allure of Aphrodite: How Gender-Congruent Media Portrayals Impact Adult Women's Possible Future Selves

This study investigated how media exposure affects how noncollege women envision their futures. Over 5 days, a prolonged exposure experiment presented childless women (aged 21–35) with magazine portrayals of females in gender-congruent (mother/homemaker or beauty ideals) or gender-incongruent (professional) social roles. Responses to an open-ended question revealed that 3 days after media exposure, only gender-congruent roles remained salient. Exposure to homemaker portrayals induced more thoughts about possible future selves (PFSs) and fostered concerns about motherhood and career roles; it also produced more positive affective valence compared with exposure to portrayals of professional women, particularly among women with gender-congruent life circumstances. Exposure impacts were mediated by the extent to which women linked the magazine portrayals to their own PFSs.

Women Pursuing Careers in Trades and Construction

The purpose of this article is to review the extant literature on women in skilled trades and construction to identify specific gaps in our knowledge of the career development processes and needs of this understudied and underserved population. Our aim is to stimulate the interest of scholars and their engagement in research and practice relevant to noncollege women with interests in these occupations. Such research is needed to guide successful career interventions, inform public policy, and promote equal opportunity for women in the pursuit of their careers.

Breaking Out of the Pink-collar Ghetto: Policy Solutions for Non-college Women

Breaking Out of the Pink-collar Ghetto: Policy Solutions for Non-college Women

Book Review: Breaking Out of the Pink-Collar Ghetto: Policy Solutions for Non-College Women

Book Review: Breaking Out of the Pink-Collar Ghetto: Policy Solutions for Non-College Women

Breaking out of the pink-collar ghetto: policy solutions for non-college women

This book addresses the issue of how women, particularly those without four-year college degrees, can be assisted to find employment in better-paying, more highly skilled jobs, and the important role that governments and policy makers can play in facilitating this process. The author examines the institutionalised employment patterns that have caused women to be heavily concentrated in marginal, low-wage jobs, in spite of the fact that they make up two-thirds of the US workforce, and explains how these practices are detrimental not only to women, but to communities and the nation. Questions are raised about what training and education options exist for those women who do not have and are not likely to get a college degree, and what kind of programs might meet the needs of a non-college population while providing employers with a highly trained workforce. Chapters in the book are: (1) Pathways out of the pink-collar ghetto; (2) Training policy and alternative career paths; (3) A pattern of decline and its ramifications; (4) Past and current alternative programs: evidence of promise in nontraditional occupations; (5) A little goes a long way: statistical evidence of small program effectiveness; (6) Nuts and bolts I: how states' programs worked; (7) Nuts and bolts II: how nonprofits' programs worked; (8) A call for action.

Employment and Training Alternatives for Non‐College Women: Do Redistributive Policies Really Redistribute?

Employment and training programs aimed at women and men without 4‐year college degrees address the needs of the majority of the working population. Noncollege women tend to hold lower‐paying jobs with fewer opportunities for advancement, compared with the opportunities noncollege men have. One type of policy seeks to increase the numbers of women in occupations where men hold most of the positions, or “nontraditional occupations for women” (NTOs). Since many NTOs require a college education, do such policies improve noncollege women's economic self‐efficacy? Is there a link between holding a nontraditional occupation and earning significantly higher wages? This study establishes that, indeed, these programs provide access to jobs that are linked to higher earnings. Such policies redistribute earnings opportunities to noncollege women successfully, and therefore improve the economic efficacy of noncollege women.

Gender Differences and Similarities in Dominance Hierarchies in Same-Gender Groups Based on Speaking Time

This study aimed at investigating whether all-women and all-men groups differed in their hierarchical organization and stability of their rank orders across time. One hundred and sixteen European, middle-class, noncollege women and men (average age: 38) participated in small-group discussions twice within a week with the same group members. Speaking time served as the behavioral dominance indicator on which group hierarchies were based. Additionally, group members rank ordered each other on dominance after each interaction. In the first session, all-men groups were more hierarchically structured than all-women groups. During each session, all-women and all-men groups showed a similar significant increase in hierarchical structuring. For both women and men, rank orders remained stable during interactions and from the first to the second session. Results are discussed in terms of three theoretical models describing dominance hierarchies.

Mother/Daughter Dilemma

Research was conducted to explore voices and stories of daughters in their relationships with their mothers during the developmental phase between late adolescence and young adulthood, a relationship that has not historically received much attention in the family therapy literature. A quantitative/qualitative project was designed by 8 graduate students and their faculty advisor to replicate a 1984 Wellesley College (Stone Center) study on its tenth anniversary. Another equally important purpose of the study was to create a qualitative forum through which the mother/daughter relational themes from the daughters' stories might emerge. Were there common themes for all daughters even though they may differ greatly in multiculturalism and socio-economic status? Both studies attempt to address the mother/daughter relationships in light of conflicting developmental theories about female adolescence. These ideas are that either adolescence is a time of separation from attachments to parents, especially mother, which is the more traditional psychological view while the other is the idea that maintenance of relationships is central in female identity or self-in-relation. Through a sample of convenience, 135 college and 50 non-college women between the ages of 18 and 21 from a variety of socio-economic statuses and ethnic backgrounds responded to the questionnaire. Six subscales help organize the quantitative data and qualitative analysis involved deconstructing open-ended responses to allow the relational themes of understanding, trust, communication, and conflict to emerge. Results indicate the current research participants, like the Wellesley daughters, desire and long for connection and relationship with their mothers and the pull to differentiation does not equate to separation or disconnection. Therapeutic implications of these results are suggested briefly and further analysis of this process is being developed for another project due to length constraints. Analysis of cross-cultural findings is still being analyzed, yet some important distinctions are made here.

Sexual Coercion and Well-Being in Young Adulthood

This study examined the associations between sexual coercion and well-being (anger, coping, depressed mood, self-esteem, social anxiety, and social isolation) based on gender and college enrollment. Participants were 872 women and 527 men, ages 19 through 22 years. Women were more likely than men to report having experienced sexual coercion. In addition, noncollege women were more likely than college women to report having experienced rape and sexual abuse. Participants who reported experiencing sexual coercion had poorer social and psychological adjustment. The effect of coercion on well-being did not differ for college and noncollege young adults. Type of sexual coercion (no coercion, pressure, and violent coercion) related to adjustment differentially for women and men. Pressured women had lower well-being scores than either women who were not coerced or violently coerced. In contrast, violently coerced men had lower scores for well-being than either pressured men or men who were not coerced.

Teaching Strategies and Young Women's Organizational Skills on the Job

Abstract This paper examines the extent to which teaching strategies provide socialization experiences to young women that foster the skills needed to promote their early careers. The study is guided by literature on formal social relations in schools and workplaces. Data from three methods are examined: classroom observations of female students preparing for work, personal interviews with the students and discussions with their teachers, and a mail survey of their employers. Noncollege women who can demonstrate to employers that they can successfully manage workplace rules and regulations are more likely to be rated as successful at work and obtain available promotions than are their peers without these skills. However, the work organizations they enter provide little formal access to power, and teachers do not socialize all female students for work in ways that will help them be successful in situations involving employers and clients. Further research clearly is needed on how success in work settings i...

Perceived ethicality of guided imagery in rape research.

In our first study, undergraduate students (30 men, 30 women) evaluated the ethical acceptability of two previously published studies that used guided imagery in rape situations. In one, women imagined themselves as rape victims; in the other, men imagined themselves as rapists. Most students rated the research acceptable, but there was a significant interaction (p less than .05): Women found the study of women as victim less ethical, and men found the study of men as rapist less ethical. In our second study, 30 noncollege women evaluated the research on women as rape victims. After reading the scenario, none of these women said they would have agreed to participate or thought the research was ethically acceptable. We discuss issues of informed consent, demands of the research situation, and potential benefits and risks.

Influence of counselors' marital status, sex, and age on college and noncollege women's counselor preferences.

Influence of counselors' marital status, sex, and age on college and noncollege women's counselor preferences.

Influence of counselors' marital status, sex, and age on college and noncollege women's counselor preferences.

Influence of counselors' marital status, sex, and age on college and noncollege women's counselor preferences.

The Size of Families of College and Non-College Women

Data obtained from an equal number of married college women and also from their female relatives and friend of the same social class who had had no college education indicates that while those of the former group had only 1.48 children per marriage as against 1.77 children of the latter, the non-college women were on the average three years older and had had 4.4 more years of married life at the time the study was made. Despite the fact that four years of higher education raised the age of marriage of college women nearly a year and a half, they had borne an average of 0.164 children per year as against 0.132 for the non-college group. The greater interest of college women in professional employments probably operates to increase the number of college wives engaging in gainful occupations, which reacts dysgenically on the birth-rate.