Marriage and the sense of control

How does marriage affect the sense of control of men and women? Most research on the social determinants of personal control has examined the effects of socioeconomic status and paid work, not the effects of marriage and family. There are three perspectives on the ways in which marriage affects the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of marriage and family 1991-11, Vol.53 (4), p.831-838
Main Author: Ross, C.E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
academic achievement
age differences
Autonomy
Child care
Control
Economic resources
Family Income
Family Power
Females
gender differences
household cleaning
Household income
Housekeeping
Illinois
Locus of Control
Males
marital status
Marriage
Men
nationalities and ethnic groups
Of General Interest
parental status
parenthood
Personal Autonomy
Power
Self image
Separated status
Sex Differences
Single status
Single women
Social behavior
social environment
Social research
social support
Socioeconomic Status
Widowed status
women
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:How does marriage affect the sense of control of men and women? Most research on the social determinants of personal control has examined the effects of socioeconomic status and paid work, not the effects of marriage and family. There are three perspectives on the ways in which marriage affects the sense of control: marriage as a social and economic resource, marriage as a limit to autonomy, and marriage as unequal power for men and women. Based on a representative sample of 809 Illinois residents surveyed in 1985 by telephone, this study finds modified support for all three perspectives. Marriage has trade-offs for women's sense of control: on the one hand it increases it by way of increased household income, but on the other hand it decreases it, probably by way of decreased autonomy. When household income is held constant, nonmarried women have the highest sense of control of any group. For men, marriage has less of an effect on the sense of control.
ISSN:0022-2445
1741-3737
DOI:10.2307/352990