Relationships among sex role attitudes, values of children, and desired family size

The major purpose of this study was to determine the relationships among sex role attitudes, the value of children, and desired family size. Of primary interest was the influence of parental status on these attitudes. The sample was composed of 109 married couples who did not have a child at the time of the study.

Socio-demographic information and desired family size for each respondent was obtained, and data were collected on the attitudinal variables by using the Sex Role Attitudes Scale and the Value of Children Scale. Factor analyses were performed on the two attitudinal scales in order to obtain subscales that were used to measure attitudes about the work and familial roles of men and women, and attitudes about the values and costs of children to parents.

Results from t-tests indicated that females were more egalitarian in their sex role attitudes than males, and that nonparents were more egalitarian than parents. Pearson product-moment correlations were used to examine relationships between sex role attitudes and perceived values and costs of children. Generally, respondents with traditional sex role attitudes were more likely to perceive values of children than respondents with egalitarian sex role attitudes. The relationships between sex role attitudes and perceived costs of children were more complex. Nonparent wives were more likely to perceive costs of children than nonparent husbands. . For both traditional and egalitarian parents, the relationships between sex role attitudes and marital and personal costs were not significant, but the relationships between sex role attitudes and decision costs were significant. Traditional sex role attitudes were positively related to desired family size. For nonparent wives, there was an inverse relationship between egalitarianism and desired family size.

Multiple regression analyses were performed to determine the influences of sociodemographic and attitudinal variables on sex role attitudes, the value of children, and desired family size. Overall, traditional sex role attitudes were significant predictors of. Parental Imperatives, Marital and Personal Fulfillment, Duty, and Familism Value of Children Scales. Egalitarian sex roles were significant predictors of Marital and Personal Costs and Decision Costs. Sex role attitudes were also significantly related to desired family size, with more traditional respondents desiring larger families than egalitarian respondents. The respondent's age, gender, parental status, education, and income were more likely to be significant predictors of attitudinal variables than their father's and mother's education and occupation. However, the mother's attitudes about careers and motherhood did have an influence on sex role attitudes.

It was concluded that parental status and gender differentiated respondents in their reported sex role attitudes, attitudes about the value of children, and desired family size. Parental status appears to be a significant variable in looking at sex role attitudes and the value of children. Attitudes about sex roles and about the value of children are complex, and there is a need to examine both predictors of these attitudes as well as the relationships between these attitudes more fully.