The effects of maternal employment and educational attainment on the sex-typed attributes of college females
Aletha Stein, PhD (Pennsylvania State University), 1973, 1(2), 111–114

This article takes us back forty years, to the first year of publication for Social Behavior and Personality. The topic under consideration, back in 1973, is one that is still intriguing for us today. Dr Aletha Stein researched the effects for daughters of their mothers having employment outside the home, and the mothers’ level of education. The results showed that when mothers were employed, their daughters had higher levels of masculine personality characteristics, and scored lower on some feminine characteristics. This was seen as a likely consequence of daughters emulating behaviors and characteristics displayed by their mothers. Forty years on from when this research was conducted, researchers and society in general are still curious about the effects of women working – in a world where it is essentially the norm – and in particular the effects on the family. We look forward to publishing more on the topic in years to come.

Alex Cheyne | Managing Editor
Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal