Record Details

Women's Roles and Well-Being, 1956-1990

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

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Title Women's Roles and Well-Being, 1956-1990
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/R2KPE1
 
Creator Moen, Phyllis
Dempster-McClain, Donna
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description This study is not yet available for use.



This study explores the involvement of women over a thirty-year period in three general areas - family life, employment, and volunteer activity. Among the many purposes of the study, researchers sought to map out the dynamics of women's involvement in these three domains over their lives and to examine variations that may exist across different ages. They also sought to examine the relationship between women's role trajectories in adulthood and their own appraisals of their current situations. Finally, the study assessed the transmission of life aspirations and orientations to adult daughters as it is mediated by the experiences of mothers.




In 1956, a random sample of 427 women who were wives and mothers living in upstate New York was interviewed. Women in the sample ranged in age from 23 to 51 years old. The majority of participants had a high school education and was of working class socioeconomic status. In 1986, follow-up data were collected from 313 of the original participants, and from 1987-1988, one daughter from each of 246 of these women was interviewed.



The original 1956 interview addressed a variety of topics in the women's lives, including career, family, and social life concerns. From 1986 to 1988, detailed life history calendars specifying the events in the mothers' and daughters' lives were filled out by the contributors either through in-person or telephone interviews. In addition, self-administered questionnaires were completed by the mothers and daughters at this time. Topics addressed included homemaking, work and volunteer roles, family and individual situation, relationship with parents, thoughts about self, etc. In 1990, mothers were also asked to write letters describing how they experienced significant historical events and what personal experiences were especially critical in their lives.




The Murray Archive holds additional analogue materials for this study (paper). If you would like to access this material, please apply to use the data. The remainder of the original paper records (313 interviews with mothers and 246 interviews with daughters) may be accessed at the Kroch Library at Cornell University (or through inter-library loan).
 
Subject Social Sciences
 
Type longitudinal