Relationships between selected personal and family characteristics of Tennessee homemakers and their use of clothing construction practices

The major purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the use of recommended clothing construction practices by homemakers and membership in home demonstration clubs, contacts with Extension, employment status and children living at home. Data were obtained from the 1982 Clothing Construction Survey through personal and group interviews with 609 homemakers in 21 Tennessee counties. The "nth" number technique of random sampling was used to select respondents from a mailing list of homemakers. The Chi-Square (x²) test and the one-way analysis of variance F test was used to determine relationships between selected dependent and independent variables. The .05 probability level was accepted as being statistically significant. It was concluded from this study that a positive relationship exists between the use of recommended practices by homemakers and Extension contacts, membership in Home Demonstration Clubs, and having no children living at home. Employment status was not significantly related to total practice use score. Homemakers who recorded higher numbers of Extension contacts through meetings, office visits, telephone calls and newsletters had a significantly higher practice use score. Study findings also indicated that members of home demonstration clubs used a significantly higher percentage of practices than did nonmembers, and that homemakers with no children living at home were using recommended practices at a higher level than those with children. Implications were drawn and recommendations for further study were made.