Gender role attitudes and college students’ work and family expectations

Work and family issues are becoming increasingly important for both women and men. This study examines college students' plans and attitudes concerning work and family, gender differences in attitudes and expectations, and the effect of gender role attitudes on future expectations. Findings indicate that a majority of men and women expect to marry, have children, and work full-time. While men expect to work more hours at a job, there are no gender differences in ideal work hours. Women who hold more egalitarian gender role attitudes are less definitive in their plans to marry and have children. Egalitarian men expect to work fewer hours and are more willing to stay at home than their traditional counterparts. Her research interests include gender, family, demography, aging, and the life course. She is currently working on a study of fathers' experiences with work-family conflict and adaptive strategies for balancing the two domains, which is being funded by the American Sociological Association.