married women's achievement and career motivation: the influence of some environmental and...

Married Women's Achievement and Career Motivation:

The Influence of Some Environmental and Psychological Variables

Helen S. Farmer

UniverJity of Illinois at Urbana

Leslie J. Fyans, Jr .

Department of Planning M Research at Illinois Oflice of Educution

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationships of some environmental and psychological variables t o the career and achievement motivation of married women who had returned to college after an absence ( N = 162). Subjects were grouped into first- and second-year students and by sex type (i.e., An- drogynous, Feminine). Correlations for all groups indicated that either psychological or environmental variables were significantly related for some group to the motivation variables. Multivariate analyses for sex-typed groups supported the correlational findings for first-year subjects. These findings suggested the importance of including both types of variables in research investigating the career and achievement motivation of college reentry women. This was an ex- ploratory study and researchers are urged to replicate it with larger, more representative sample .

The purpose of the study reported in this article is to examine the relationship between some of the environmental and psychological variables found by previous studies to influence female achievement and career motivation. As part of a larger study the first author has been studying the career and achievement motivation of typical high school and college students and of wonien returning to college after an absence to start a family, The present study reports data on the latter group.

This study was conducted in part with funding from the Unibersity of Illinois Ke- search Board.

358 Phycholog?. of Women QuartPrly, Vol. 7(4j Summer, 1983

036 1-6843/83/1400-0358$0~,75 0 1983 Human Sciences Press

FARMER & FYANSIWOMEN’S ACHIEVEMENT AND CAREER M O T I V A T I O N

Different age groups were included in the larger study based on the view that educators and counselors could benefit from information about age-related differences in the factors influencing career and achievement motivation.

College enrollment figures at the national level indicate that women reentering college are appearing in increasing numbers, expecially in the 1970s (Sexton, 1977). This group is frequently referred to as reentry women, to indicate that they are reentering the educational system after having left it for time periods ranging from a few years to 20 or more. The greatest increases are occurring for women ages 25-34. Increases for these two age groups between 1970 and 1975 were over loo%, whereas for men in these age groups increases represented about 50%. Astin (1976) conducted an extensive national study on college reentry women. She found that most women (83%) returning to higher education are mothers. Astin noted that formerly most women returning to college took courses to satisfy personal development needs. Today, she indicated, most reentry women take courses in preparation for employment or to upgrade their present employment. Astin found that the women she studied were more self-confident, self-aware and happier after returning to college compared to their psychological state prior to their return. These women also viewed their husbands as supportive of their return and felt that their children and marriages had benefitted from their return. Astin’s study collected much valuable data; however, it did not focus on the achievement or career motivation of these women. The present study is concerned with the inotivational patterns of reentry women.

Atkinson and Raynor (1 978) in their book, Personulity, Motizjation und Achievement, devote their two final chapters to a discussion of career motivation and its relationship to achievement motivation. They view achievement motivation as the drive behind individual accomplishments whereas the cumulative accomplishments of an individual result, in their view, from career motivation. The measurement of the two types of achievement were illustrated by Atkinson and Ray nor by a student’s score on a Standardized Achievement ‘l’est (SAT) and his or her cumulative grade-point average (GPA). Students who scored high on one type of achievement such as the SAT might or might not score high on their cumulative grade-point average. The difference in scores depended in part on motivational factors affecting future orientation, persistence, fear of success, anxiety level, opportunities and number of activities competing for the attention of the person. Including measures of both career motivation and achievement motivation in the study reported on in this article seemed particularly relevant because achievement expecta-

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PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN QUARTERLY

tioris for females in the domains of family and marriage often compete with those in employed work roles.

The model of achievement motivation developed by Atkinson in more than 25 years of research (Atkinson 8.c Raynor, 1978) and, preced- ing him, by McClelland (1971) has been well established for middle class males but not for females. The model has identified several behaviors as typifying the high achiever: independence, persistence, preference for tasks of intermediate difficulty, high academic performance, and intrin- sic motivation. This model does not hold up for women (Horner, 1978). Inconsistencies with the model are found for women who obtain high scores on achievement motivation but do not show the predicted risk preferences for tasks of intermediate difficulty (Horner, 1978).

Researchers on career motivation have documented differences in the career development of males and females other than those found by achievement motivation researchers. ‘Tittle and Denker (1 977) have re- viewed the evidence on differences found in the career interests of men and women. Differences in the timing of career choice have also been found. In particular marriage plans have been found to have a moderator effect on the career motivation of women greater than that found for men. Astin (1976) reported that women with high career motivation prior to marriage and the birth of children were observed to have a drop in measured motivation during the period when their children were young; but their motivation regained its former high level when these women viewed their children as no longer needing them full time in the home. Astin also found that reentry women experienced conflict and guilt about “leaving their homes arid families to undertake a time-con- suming venture so personally fulfilling as the return to college.” In their recent review, ‘Tittle and Denker (1977) stated that home/career conflict continues to be an important mediator of career motivation for reentry women, however, it’s exact effect on motivation remains unclear.

In light of the research on married women returning to school, indicating that they experience both increased self-esteem and satisfac- tion with living (Astin, 1976), the present study examined the relationship of some of these psychological and environmental variables to the career and achievement motivation patterns of two groups of married women: first year college reentry women and second year college reentry women.

For purposes of parsimony and to determine whether women were motivated toward particular achievement tasks in ways similar to those they experience for cumulative achievement (i.e., career motivation), both achievement and career motivation were used as criterion variables in the present study. It was hypothesized that both environmental and

36 1


psychological variables would relate significantly to the achievement a n d career motivation of the college reentry women studied.

A n aspect of th is study was the incorporation of sex-role orientation (Bem, 1977) as a classification variable. A research question for this study was “Within each sex-type group, which combination of predictor variables relates to different levels of both achievement and career motivation when considered simultaneously?” It was hoped that such a within-group strategy would eventually inform counseling and educational programs to facilitate the achievement of females of differing sex-role orientations.

METHOD

Subjects

Subjects were obtained by inviting students in first and second year liberal arts classes at two state colleges in the midwest who met criteria (i.e., married with children, not divorced or widowed, and out of college at least two years to start a family) to complete a set of measures at two group meetings scheduled for their convenience. Fifty-three women in their first year and 109 women in their second year were tested. They were all white, married with children, had parents who were not highly educated, and were themselves mostly aiming at earning a bachelor’s degree. Subject characteristics were highly similar to those found by Astin (1976) for her national sample of over 1,000 women returning to college.

The first-year group had higher percentages of androgynous women, were somewhat older, had parents with somewhat more education, and had somewhat higher educational goals for themselves. These differences between first- and second-year college women appeared sufficient to merit separate data analyses.

Instruments

The two criterion measures are described next, followed by descriptions of the seven predictor measures. Reliability estimates are in parentheses following the name of the measure. The Spearman-Brown formula was used to compute reliability from data obtained in the study reported.

Criterion Variables

Achievement Motivation. Three verbal leads rather than pictures were used to elicit imaginative stories for the measurement of the achievement motive

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(Horner, 1978). With verbal leads, the problem of possible influence from other factors such as age and dress of persons in the picture is eliminated. Verbal leads have been used successfully in previous research on achievement motivation by several researchers (Atkinson & Raynor, 1978). Atkinson reported the measure’s ability to classify subjects as high or low in achievement motivation to be 75% accurate.

Atkinson’s scoring categories were used. Persons who score high on this measure write stories that contain strong achievement themes, irirluding achievement activities, anticipation of success or failure and feelings about achievement. Low scorers write stories that either do not have achievement imagery, or when achievement imagery is present it is not central to the story. Interrater reliability was .9 1, using two independent raters.

Career motivation was nieasured using Holland’s (1‘373) procedures for eliciting occupational daydreams. Predictive validity for this approach has been found by Holland to be .44, somewhat better than that he found for total scores 011 his Self-Directed Search measure. Subjects were invited to list eight occupational daydreams. Scores were assigned to occupations hased on their training requirements, ccttletl by Holland from 1 (less than a high school degree) to 6 (graduate level education). Subjects’ scores were coded, surrimed and averaged. Subjects who scored high on this measure have career aspirations which require a graduate level of training whereas suhjects who scored low aspire to careers requiring less than a high school degree.

CarePr Motivation.

Environmental Predictor Measures

Community Supporl (.93). This measure assessed subjects’ role expectations with respect to school, career, and family, from peers, teachers, employers, and family members. T h e measure has 13 items and uses a five-point Likert response format. High scorers represented persons who perceived employers, teachers, peers and family members as supportive of women combining home and employed work roles. Low scorers represented persons who perceived a lack of support for combining these roles in their environment.

The measure assessing the early family socialization patterns of achievement and career motivation was developed by the second author. There were 17 items on the scale. The measure is a revised version of an earlier 88-item inventory. The revision contains only items that correlate significantly with each other. Persons who scored high on this measure perceived their parents as having had a strong interest in their achieving behaviors both in and out of school. Such persons also perceived their parents as having encouraged them to be independent. The opposite was true for low scorers.

The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) was selected to assess sex-role orientation (Bem, 1977). The BSRI consists of 60 items with three scales: Masculine, Feminine, and Neutral. Neutral scale scores were used

Early Fumily Socialization (.86).

Sex Role Orientalion (.86).

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to check for high social desirability response sets. Subjects were classified into one of four groups based upon Bem’s median scores on the Masculine and Feminine scales of the BSRI: (1) sex typed (if members of either sex score above the median on the scale for their sex), ( 2 ) androgynous (if subjects’ scores were higher than the medians on both sex scales), (3) sex reversed (if members of a particular sex had a score above the median on the scale for the other sex), (4) zmdflerentiated (if subjects’ scores were lower than the medians on both scales). For sex-type groupings Bem’s medians were used rather than those of the wonien studied since Bern recommended the use of medians obtained from mixed- sex groups.

The Kogan and Dorros (1978) sex-fair adaptation of Kogan and Wallach’s Choice Dilemmas Questionnaire was used for this study. The subject is asked to advise the central story character as to an appropriate course of action. Each item represents a situation requiring the subject to make a decision between a more desirable yet risky course of action, and a safer, less desirable alternative. The Subject’s Risk scores were tested for possible curvilinear relationships with criteria, based on Atkirison’s (Atkinson & Raynor, 1978) previous findings that high- and low-risk patterns are characteristic of persons low in achievement motivation, whereas persons with high achievement motivation score in the moderate range on risk choices.

Curvilinear relationships may be taken into account in multivariate analyses such as the canonical analyses used in the study by squaring the subject’s Risk score and then entering both the untransfornied score and the squared score in the analysis (Cooley & Lohnes, 1971, Kerlinger & Pedhazur, 1973). A negative beta weight obtained for Risk squared in this analysis indicates an inverted U type curvilinear relation with criterion scores in which both extremely high and extreniely low risk scores are associated with low criterion scores, whereas moderate risk scores tend to be associated with high criterion scores.

Srlf-Esteem. The Coopersmith inventory of self-esteem (Coopersmith, 1967) was selected for use in this study. l‘his inventory has three scales: Social Self-Esteem (.82, 8 items), Home Self-Esteem (.66, 8 iterris), and Academic Self- Esteem (.65, 8 items). The Coopersmith inventory uses a “like,” “unlike” response format. The present study used a five-point Likert format. Robinson and Shaver (1973) reported validity correlations of .60 between the Coopersmith measure and the Rosenberg scale of self-esteem. Persons who score high 011

these scales perceive themselves as supported and respected by their peers and family. They also feel confident of their ability to handle academic tasks. 1,ow scorers represent the opposite tendencies.

Fear of Success (FOS) was measured using four narrative cues similar to those suggested by Horner (1978). The original FOS measure used only one cue describing Anne at the top of her class in medical school. Lockheed (1975) found that changing the setting in this cue t o “nursing school” reduced subjects’ FOS scores. Horner since has developed a major revision described by her in Horner (1978). The present study used Horner’s new procedures to develop four new cues which were arnbiguous with reference to field

Rz,rk ( .55) .

Fear of Success.

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PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN QUAKTEKLY

of study/work, excluding specific fields such as chemistry, nursing or medicine. Persons scoring high on FOS write stories describing events with negative conse- quences, interpersonal engagement, and absence of instrumental (goal-related) activity. Persons who score low on FOS write stories in which there is an absence of other people. Interrater rescore reliability for scoring project data with two independent raters was .90 (similar to Horner’s reliability rating). Homogeneity of cue scores overall was .91 (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, 1970), suggesting that school and work settings in items led to consistent responses related to FOS.

This measure was developed from previous work by Farmer and Bohn (1970) and Alper (1974) using four narrative projective cues. Alper reasoned that the projective format was justified because of Anastasi’s (1976) argument that controversial values or attitudes are best assessed in this way. The four cues were representative of a range of home and work situations but ambiguous with respect to type of work or family.

Interrater reliability was computed for scoring the study data and found to be .92. Cronbach’s (1970) alpha test for generalizability across cues obtained an alpha coefficient of 3 8 , indicating that cues were measuring similar things.

T o control for order effects, a table of random numbers was used for ordering the tests each time a new group of women was tested. Examples of the random ordering of test presentation are available from the authors.

Home Career Conflict.

Analyses

To test the first hypothesis zero order correlations were obtained for predictors with each criterion for the total group and the four BSRI sex-type groups.

The method used to examine the research question “What psychological and environmental variables are associated with what sort of motivation pattern for different sex type groups?” was canonical correlation, a form of multivariate analysis generalized to any number of criterion (dependent) variables (Kerlinger & Pedhazur, 1973; Tatsuoka, 197 1). The canonical analysis treated Career and Achievement Motivation as criterion variables and the eight predictor variables-Home Self-Esteem; Social Self-Esteem; Academic Self-Esteem; Risk; Fear of Success; Home-Career Conflict; Community Support; and Early Family So- cialization-as the independent variable set. The basic idea is that through least squares analysis, two linear composites are formed, one for the criterion variables and the other for the predictor variables. The correlation between these two composites is the canonical correlation (R). The square of R is an estimate of the variance shared by the two composites. Kerlinger and Pedhazur (1973) cite several examples of the use of canonical analyses when the research interest is in the relations between two sets of variables.

Interpretation of’ significant canonical variates followed Tatsuoka ( 197 1) : only the highest absolute values and those equal to about half or better are presented for discussion.

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FARMER & FYANSIWOMEN’S ACHIEVEMENT A N D CAREER M O T I V A T I O N

RESULTS

First the findings for the hypothesis related to Career Motivation are presented, followed by findings related to Achievement Motivation. Findings are presented for the total first-year group and then by sex- type group. A similar procedure is used for the second-year group. Finally, results of the canonical analyses are presented, which provide descriptions of the relationships between the criterion variable set (career and achievement motivation) and the predictor variable set (psychological and environmental variables) for the research question posed.

Correlations of predictors with Career Motivation obtained five significant relationships, each for a different group of women as indicated in Table 1. Correlations of predictors with Achievement Motivation obtained five significant relationships, also, each for a different group of women (see Table 1).

Evidence from the correlational analyses in support of the hypothesis that both environmental and psychological varkables would be significantly correlated with both Career and Achievement Motivation measures indicated that none of the groups obtained significant correlations for both types of predictor variables. However, correlations for all groups did indicate that each type of predictor was significantly related to criteria for some group. This finding suggested the importance of including some predictors of both types in research investigating the career and achievement motivation of women.

Correlations of Career Motivation with Achievement Motivation were computed for each group of women. Both first-year and second- year college women had a significant negative correlation for these criteria ( r = .34., p < .01, T = .23, p < .01) respectively.

Findings From the Multivariate Canonical Analyses

Canonical analyses were performed on both first- year and second- year college women’s data, classified by sex type. Second-year subjects’ data yielded no significant canonical variates. Four significant variates were obtained for the first year group, two for Androgynous and two for

INo Sex Reversed women were found in the study reported and seven (13%)) women were categorized as Undifferentiated in the first-year group, 29 (27%) in the second-year group. The Undifferentiated women in the first-year group were <.onsidered too few to include in the analyses.

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Table 1

S i y n i f i c a i i t C o r r e l a t i o n s o f P r e d i c t o r s w i t h C r i t e r i a

f o r A l l S u b j e c t s ,itid Cruupiiig>

..___ __

P r e d I C t i J r 5 su I1 J C C t sa . F i r s t yea r Second y e a r

.r A F - r 4 F u ( 5 3 ) " ( 2 9 1 ( 1 7 ) (109) ( 4 2 ) (381 ( 2 9 )

- . 4 6 * . 3 0 *

. 4 4 * * . 3 6 *

t.nvirunrtierit. i l

Comrti irri i t y Supfxjt-t . 3 1 *

--_ __ . __ -_I________.____ - - - ~

A c h i e v e m e n t M o t i v a t i o n

r A F T A F U _____ --- - Psyct io log ic%i l

Home Sel f-Estc:t.rri - . 3 4 * - . 4 6 * - . 3 6 *

* p . n 5 * * " " .01

Feminine sex types. 'These findings are presented in Table 2 arid provide a more detailed picture of the relations between the criterion variable set and the predictor variable set. Only one of the canonical variates provided information on low career motivation. The other variates were descriptive of women with high motivation in one or both of the criteria.

3 6 7

FARMER & FYANSIWOMEN'S ACHIEVEMENT AND CAREER M O T I V A T I O N

T a b l e 2

F i r s t Y e a r Col lege R e - e n t r y Women: S t a n d a r d i z e d B e t a We igh ts B e t w e e n

C r i t e r i o n V a r i a b l e Set a n d P r e d i c t o r V a r i a b l e Set for A n d r o g y n o u s a n d

Fern in i n e S e x t y p e d Wome n

I N=53)

Measures S u b j e c t s

A n d r o g y n o u s Fern i n i n e

V a r b I V a r 2 V a r 1 V a r 2

C r i t e r i a

Ac l i ievemer i t M o t i v a t i o n .96 .87 . 63

C a r e e r M o t i v a t i o n 1.02a .85 -.60

Psycho log ica l p r e d i c t o r s

Home Self-Esteem

Social Self-Esteem

A c d e m i c Self-Esteem

Fear-of -Success

Home- Ca r e e r C o n f I i c t

R i s k 2

Env i ron rnen tc i l P r e d i c t o r s

Cornmuri i ty S u p p o r t

E d r l y Fami l y Socia l izat ion

-.72

.86

-1.42

- .95

. 5 6

-.98

. 9 3

.56

-.Q7

-1.44

.75

- .60

a . s t a n d a r d i r e d b e t d w e i g h t s

b. A i ~ d r c g y i i v u s ( N - 2 9 ) : V a r i d t r 1 .'. 5, .001. H2:61; V a r i a t e 2 . p .025,

K 2 - 4 1 . Feti i i i i i t ie (N=17): Var i ' i tc 1 . 1' -.001, R 2 = 7 9 , V a r i a t e 2 .

p ~ . O O l , K ' - 5 2 .

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In interpreting these findings the reader should keep in mind the fact that the significant zero order correlations found are more likely to be stable and replicated in future research than the multivariate associa- tions found in the canonical analyses. In addition, the small number of women in each sex type group is a limiting factor.

The findings for the canonical analyses report only the highest Beta value and those values equal to about half or more the highest value. The percent of variance accounted for by the variate is represented in the analysis by the multiple R squared (R2) and refers to the amount of variance accounted for by both variable sets in each significant canonical variate reported. The meaning of the first significant canonical variate for the Androgynous women is described next. The reader is invited to provide his or her own description for each of the remaining three significant variates presented in Table 2. Canonical variate one, relating the criterion variable set Career and Achievement Motivation to the predictor variable set, for Androgynous females, was significant at the .001 level. The canonical correlation squared was .61, indicating that 61% of the variance between these two sets was accounted for by the canonical variate. Following the procedures of Tatsuoka (1971) described earlier, this variate shows a group of Androgynous females who have high Career Motivation (the standardized beta weight is 1.02) but who also exhibit moderate Risk (-1.42) and high Fear of Success (.86). In addition, canonical variate one shows that these women view themselves as low in Social Self-Esteem ( - . 7 2 ) .

A major difference between the first canonical variate for Feminine sex-typed fernales and that for Androgynous sex-typed females appears to center upon the inclusion of high Community Support for the Femi- nine sex-typed women. It should be noted also that the motivation patterns for these two variates differed. The Androgynous women were high in Career Motivation, whereas the Feminine were high in both Career and Achievement motivation.

DISCUSSION

In the discussion section comment is made first on the relationships found for the psychological variables and then for the environmental variables with the motivational variables. Then some comments are made on the nature of the relationships found between Career and

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FARMER 1G FYANSIWOMEN’S ACHIEVEMENT AND CAREER M O T I V A T I O N

Achievement Motivation. The focus is primarily on the significant findings from the zero order correlational analyses. When findings from the multivariate canonical analyses are consistent with the correlation analyses this fact is noted. Additional variables that appeared to relate mean- ingfully to the criteria in the canonical analyses, but not in the zero order correlational analyses, are also noted.

The Home Self-Esteem measure was found to be significantly related to Achievement Motivation but not to Career Motivation. This variable was significantly but negatively correlated with Achievement Moti- vation for second-year reentry college women, and for first-year Androgynous and Feminine sex-typed reentry women. The multivariate analysis confirmed this finding for the first-year Androgynous women. It seems that some of the married women students studied, those who had high Achievement Motivation, perceived a lack of support from their current family members for their achievement-related goals. This finding contrasts with that of Astin (1976) reported earlier. She found women enrolled in continuing education courses viewed their husbands and families as supportive of their return to school.

The Social Self-Esteem measure was found to be significantly related to Career Motivation. For first-year Feminine sex-typed reentry women Social Self-Esteem was significantly negatively correlated with Career Motivation. However, for second-year Androgynous sex-typed reentry women this variable was significantly positively correlated with Career Motivation. The multivariate canonical analysis also obtained a meaningful association between high Career Motivation and low Social Self-Esteem for first-year Androgynous and Feminine sex-typed women. One might tentatively conclude that by the second year, college reentry women, especially those whose sex-role orientation is An- drogynous, feel more acceptance from their peers than reentry women who are in their first year at college. However, sample size would suggest caution related to this conclusion.

The Academic Self-Esteem measure was not significanty correlated with either motivation measure. Two of the canonical variates indicated a meaningful association for Academic Self-Esteem with Achievement Motivation for first-year Androgynous and Feminine sex-typed reentry women. The finding for these women that a high sense of academic competence is associated with a high motivation to achieve is consistent with past achievement motivation research (Atkinson & Raynor, 1978).

The preference of two groups of subjects, Androgynous first-year college students (N = 29) and Feminine first-year college students (N = 17), for tasks of moderate risk found in the multivariate canonical analy-

370


ses is consistent with the achievement model of Atkinson (Atkinson & Raynor, 1978) for Feminine sex-typed women. Horner’s (1978) previous finding that women’s Risk scores were not always consistent with Atkin- son’s model was somewhat supported in that Androgynous sex-typed women who were moderate risk takers were not high on Achievement Motivation.

Fear of Success was significantly correlated with Career Motivation for the first year college women studied. When data were examined by sex type first-year Androgynous college reentry women were also found to have Fear of Success significantly correlated with Career Motivation. The multivariate analyses supported the finding for Androgynous first- year students. In addition the Feminine sex-typed first year women who were high in both Career and Achievement Motivation had high Fear of Success. It appears that when Career Motivation is high in first-year college women so is their Fear of Success, fear that their career success will result in related losses in the area of heterosexual relations. The fact that this relationship was not found for second-year reentry college women bears further investigation. Possibly these women had become more secure about the compatibility of their career and heterosexual goals.

The Home-Career Conflict measure was not significantly correlated with either motivation variable. In the multivariate analysis low levels of this role conflict were found to be associated with low Career Motivation and high Achievement Motivation for Feminine sex-typed first-year college women. For home-career role conflict to occur women must be positively attracted to both homemaking and career roles (Farmer, 1977). Thus the present finding was consistent with conflict theory and may relate to a moderator effect of marriage values on career motivation, especially for Feminine sex-typed women. Again, further research would be useful.

Environmental Variables

There were two environmental measures used in the study: Com- munity support and Early Family Socialization. Findings were strongest for the former and they are discussed first.

The Community Support measure was significantly correlated with both Career and Achievement Motivation for one of the groups studied, second-year Feminine sex-typed reentry women. The multivariate analyses for first-year women obtained a meaningful association for Com-

37 1

FARMER XC FYANS/WOMEN’S ACHIEVEMENT A N D CAREER MOTIVATION

munity Support with high Career and Achievement Motivation for Fem- inine sex-typed women. Sex-role theory (Bem, 1977) would predict differential responses to social support by Androgynous versus Femi- nine sex-typed females. Bem, for example, found the Androgynous women she studied to be more field-independent than the Feminine sex- typed women. The responsiveness of Feminine sex-typed reentry college women to perceived support for their career and achievement goals in the community could be expected from Bem’s theory.

The measure Early Family Socialization was not significantly correlated with either criterion measure. The multivariate analyses did obtain one canonical variate on which Early Family Socialization was mean- ingfully associated (canonical variate two for first year Androgynous women). Contrary to expectation, these women had high Achievement Motivation associated with low scores on the Early Family Socialization measure. It should be noted that this variate had the lowest probability of those reported (p < .025).

The significant negative correlation found for both first-year and second-year reentry women for the criteria (Career and Achievement Motivation) was expected. The results supported the views of Atkinson and Raynor (1978) described in the introduction, that persons who have high achievement motivation do not necessarily have high career motivation. The measure used to assess Career Motivation may also have influenced this finding, since it was based on the level of education required by the career chosen.

Implications for practice are tentative at this point in the research. It might be suggested, however, that Feminine sex-typed women may be highly achieving given adequate support for achieving behaviors at home and at school/work, whereas Androgynou5 women may be highly achieving given a somewhat different environment. This approach is not free from difficulty, since matching individual differences to environ- ments assumes that these differences are relatively unchanging and stable over time. Our present understanding of the behavioral correlates of different sex-role orientations is in its infancy. Perhaps most important are change strategies that address both sexes, since change in one sex cannot help but affect change in the other.

The study described in this article provides some tentative direc- tions for theory, research, and practice relative to the achieving behavior of women. The fact that Fear of Success was found to be highest in highly motivated women suggests that much remains to be done before women’s full potential is unleashed both for their personal benefit and that of society.

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married women's achievement and career motivation: the influence of some environmental and...

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