Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1983

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major Professor

Gary W. Peterson

Committee Members

Ruth Highberger, Priscilla White, Francis Trusty

Abstract

Power is one of the most fundamental of all social interactions. "How one influences others" or becomes "powerful" is an important issue because individuals who are perceived to possess power often enjoy additional attributes such as greater material resources, higher social status, and greater levels of self-confidence. Children learn about power interactions within the environmental context of the family. That is, families (parents) function as "socializing agents," interpreting to sons or daughters behavior patterns that have been defined as culturally appropriate for males and females. Given the complexities in the origins of "power," it is important to understand what factors may influence parents' attribution of power to their sons or daughters.

The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in the manner that parents with traditional versus non-traditional sex role attitudes attribute power, conformity, and independence to their adolescent offspring, while controlling for parents' education and family size. A self-report questionnaire was used to collect data from 367 mothers and 367 fathers comprising the parent sample. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine relationships between the dependent and independent variables within: (1) the total sample of parents, and (2) four subgroups consisting of (a) mothers with traditional sex role attitudes, (b) fathers with traditional sex role attitudes, (c) mothers with non-traditional sex role attitudes, and (d) fathers with non-traditional sex role attitudes.

Results from the regression analysis for the total parent sample indicated that no significant gender differences were apparent for adolescent reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, expert power, conformity, or independence. However, when the parent sample was divided into traditional versus non-traditional groups for testing the hypothesized relationships, results indicated significant gender relationships because (a) mothers having traditional sex role attitudes perceived sons to have greater legitimate power than daughters, and (b) mothers having non-traditional sex role attitudes perceived their daughters to be more independent than sons. Thus, the additional information from the second analysis provided evidence that sex role attitude is an important variable influencing parents" perceptions of legitimate power and independence.

In the case of the control variables, parents' education and family size, for mothers having non-traditional sex role attitudes, education significantly affected their perceptions of legitimate power and independence, both in the positive direction. Family size, on the other hand, influenced (a) fathers with traditional sex role attitudes to perceive their adolescents as less rewarding, (b) fathers having non-traditional sex role attitudes to perceive their adolescents as less independent, and (c) mothers with non-traditional sex role attitudes to perceive adolescents as less conforming and more independent.

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