Record Details

Critical Events in the Lives of College-Educated Minority and White Women, 1979 and 1981

Harvard Dataverse (Africa Rice Center, Bioversity International, CCAFS, CIAT, IFPRI, IRRI and WorldFish)

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Field Value
 
Title Critical Events in the Lives of College-Educated Minority and White Women, 1979 and 1981
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/JL6P0F
 
Creator Avery, Donna M.
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description The purpose of these two studies was to determine the perceptions of major life transitions for women of different ethnic backgrounds, and the role of these perceptions in the formation of their identities as adult women.



The first sample included 36 black women and 64 white women. The second included 25 Mexican American women and 25 Puerto Rican women. The typical participant was in her late 30s to early 40s, employed in a professional or technical occupation or self-employed, and college educated. She also combined the roles of wife and mother.



In 1979 and 1981, the participants in both studies were asked to identify and describe those critical events or turning points in their past lives that they believed had made a difference in their present identity as adult women. The Critical Events Interview format was used to organize the participants' descriptions of various dimensions of the events such as associated thoughts and feelings, coping strategies, factors related to the resolution of the events, and sources of support or frustration associated with the events. The critical event was used as the unit of analysis.



The Murray Center has typed transcripts of over 800 single critical events from the 150 participants, as well as demographic information for the Latina sample.
 
Subject Social Sciences
 
Type field study