SOC363: 4. Gender + Marital Status Flashcards

Question

Origins

Answer 1

Role Complementarity (Gove, Sex Role Theory): Ø Gender differences due mainly to differences among married people. “housewife” role is unfulfilling, low prestige, unstructured, repetitive, isolating, and not valued. traditional role differences encourage mental health differences due to time latitude and rumination.

Answer 2

``` After massive social changes due to women’s entry into the labour force (1960’s-1980’s) Working women suffer more burdens in total across roles and thus have more stressful lives in total across all roles: work-family conflict. ```

Answer 3

Note: both designed to explain a difference that some say does not exist. What is missing…?

Answer 4

Burden of domestic labor still falls to women… while… | large majority also work for pay outside the home.

Answer 5

Work-family conflict occurs more clearly for women: men see their domestic role as more centered at work, women feel more conflicting responsibilities --- role strain (chronic stress)

Answer 6

Connectedness: women’s networks have a plus, but also a minus - awareness of other’s troubles (The Cost of Caring). Connectedness and empathy more related to internalizing; independence to externalizing problems.

Answer 7

Socioeconomic differences: on average Socialized differences in resources: women more support, but lower sense of control or power in social relations Discrimination: chronic stressor

Answer 8

Most of arguments suggest worse mental health for women, not gender balance

Answer 9

Negative inputs for women, and Positive inputs (things that lead to positive reinforcement) for men. Does not really explain the finding.

Answer 10

Questions… What unqualified positive inputs for women that save them? What negative inputs for men that bring them down?

Answer 11

Styles of selfhood at the core.. Rosenfield’s “Self-Salience Theory” Women trained to put others first over self; men the opposite.

Answer 12

first could mean self devalued, while self first could lead to more aggression, anger + disruptive behavior in face of trouble

Answer 13

Related to gendered styles of coping: problem-based for men, emotion-based for women Consistent with pattern of findings

Answer 14

“Feeling Rules” of Gender… Norms for expressing emotion gendered and channel “acceptable” responses --- “feeling rules”. Constrained choices for each gender in responding to their problems.

Answer 15

Male behavior associated with assertiveness, female with nurturing and caring – defines “region” responses should occur in Feeling norms channel responses towards internalizing for women, externalizing for men.

Answer 16

Only part of the picture (and could be misleading): But should not be discounted either. Importance of Gove finding that employed women less distressed than non-employed women.

Answer 17

more distressed than employed men. Employment helped, but not completely, even after controlling for gender differences in pay and prestige. role of husbands in domestic work and child care: when husbands do more, women’s distress as low as men’s.

Answer 18

Type I •Traditional •Women more depressed wife doesn’t work, husband does not want her to work + doesn’t do housework

Answer 19

Type II Traditional with Market Demands Husband more depressed she works against his will

Answer 20

Type III Transitional Women still more depressed – men much less depressed wife works, he prefers her to work, he doesn't share housework

Answer 21

``` Type IV Modern Least depressing for both genders Smallest gap works, wants her to work, husband shares housework ```

Answer 22

Pay equity still an issue Proportional contribution to household income Child care arrangements affect women more The basic source of work-family conflict.

Answer 23

with good childcare - stable, good quality - working women as distressed as men Remaining imbalance in the distribution of household labour

Answer 24

A useful quote from Mirowsky and Ross… (2003) “Many wives are employed yet are solely or largely responsible for child care. That produces role strain: overload from the sheer amount of effort it takes to perform in both arenas, and conflict from meeting the expectations of people who do not take each other into account (i.e., one's boss and one's children).”

Answer 25

Paid employment outside the house generally improves women's emotional well-being. Even so, many women face incompatibilities betw responsibilities as mothers and as employees because the institutional and family support necessary to fulfill both roles often does not exist.” basis for a huge research agenda over the last two decades.

Answer 26

when women have husbands who help with child care and have easy access to child care in general – their distress is as low as their husband’s. Finding suggests the social policy should focus on providing adequate child care institutional support needs to catch up

Answer 27

Differences in expressiveness: Women do express emotions more distress is more related to keeping emotions to oneself Adjusting for gender differences in expressiveness results in a larger gender gap in distress.

Answer 28

Differences in gendered views of undesirable traits. Men find distress symptoms generally less undesirable than women in more recent studies; men have less reason to avoid distress Distress difference remains

Answer 29

Depends on distress vs. disorder as distinguished by: Average seriousness. Content Gender difference in distress – most kinds – but not in disorder, where there is a trade-off.

Answer 30

Functionally equivalent responses does not mean replacement – they can co-exist relative emphasis and dominance in the two genders Gendered response theory makes sense, but…. Seems to argue with views of different levels of stress in men’s and women’s lives, and/or differences in access to coping with stress

Answer 31

main finding from the 1960’s forward was that gender differences in distress, anxiety, and depression were found mainly among the married.

Answer 32

diversification of gender roles after the industrial revolution left women in an isolated, undervalued role. marriage is a mental health benefit, does it work as well for women as for men?

Answer 33

Basic findings— Longitudinal studies show improvements in mental health for the same people over time. No evidence the effect has weakened recently. International evidence is consistent

Answer 34

But – these effects do not apply to everyone n Age of marriage (later better) n Homophily --- social similarity of partners n Age of children: as children age, mental health bounces back

Answer 35

Two issues – n Mental healthy more likely to marry and stay married ? n Factors associated with the choice to marry also related to mental health in the long run (commitment, consistency,…?)

Answer 36

longitudinal, can account for effect of prior mental health on tendency to marry, or effect of personal characteristics that determine marriage marketability and mental health.

Answer 37

Controlling for all stable individual differences prior to marriage…. n Effects on depression…

Answer 38

Value of marriage + cohabitation supported gain-loss controversy: whether gains + losses matched. Here they are – contradicts marital crisis model saying only loss counts

Answer 39

institutionalized and constant confidant Social support indicator of social competence (stability, trust, commitment, maturity, openness, ability to give). Pooling of economic resources.

Answer 40

Social integration / social capital / networks Commitment, trust, purpose in life have mental health benefits Relationship quality

Answer 41

Building a long-term project – common fate, shared fate. Effects of divorce reflect the loss of something that valued --- stable connectedness.

Answer 42

divorce hurts…but… | Not universally.

Answer 43

n Wheaton (1990) – the “more stress is stress relief” model: divorce can be escape from a chronically stressful situation – Divorce is the resolution.

Answer 44

Effect of divorce on distress 2+ years later depends on the level of prior marital problems… we need context or we have no effect average is no effect.

Answer 45

low marital problems: liked marriage 4 years ago divorce led to standard effect of divorce 2 years later high marital problems: less stress 2 years after divorce because they escaped problematic marriage spouses don’t agree on levels of problems

Answer 46

Negative effect, but returns to previous levels within a year or two – on average. not universal, and some have little to no grief – even relief. Others may suffer severely.. Wide variety of reactions the norm here as well.

Answer 47

intersection of gender and marriage a major focus of attention over the last half century, n Bernard (1972) – Two marriages – “his” and “hers”, hers one of service, his one of achievement

Answer 48

The early evidence on the gender-specific effect | of marriage followed a pattern…

Answer 49

Sequential approach: n Compare mental health of single men and women – women better off or equal. n Compare mental health of married men and women – women usually worse off. n Doesn’t measure change due to marital transition.

Answer 50

Differential Gain (difference of a difference): n (Married Men – Single Men) – (Married Women – Single Women). n Same people before and after (longitudinal) n Results not as clear about a gender difference overall.

Answer 51

Sex role theory…. A theory focused on restricted access to public roles. Feminist theory focused on the resulting opposite problem: too much to do and too little reward or support. Structural subordination is systemic across roles.

Answer 52

Arguments about burden, about demands across roles, about restriction of choice, are arguments about stress. n NOTE: Both designed to explain worse mental health among women

Answer 53

Cross-sectional data confounds marital selection and causation. So findings in those studies in question. Marriage is beneficial to mental health of both men and women. Women report more “common” problems of distress than men in both married and unmarried roles. n Most research focused on affective outcomes (internalizing) and not male-dominant outcomes

Answer 54

Longitudinal deals with selection… n Balanced consideration of male and female outcomes. n Correct comparison groups (e.g., stably unmarried)

Answer 55

Nonmarried more depressed, more alcohol abuse No differences by gender for depression, but.. Important differences for alcohol

Answer 56

Men have more alcohol problems outside of marriage than women. Women already low in alcohol consumption outside of marriage, so reductions less possible.

Answer 57

One possibility that marriage reduces drinking more among men, but equal benefits to reductions in depression.

Answer 58

Women suffer more… Means the loss is relatively greater. Effect on drinking same across gender

Answer 59

Essential Finding --- No difference in effect of marriage on reducing depression by gender Some support men benefit from remarriage in terms of reduced drinking

Answer 60

n Scattered and specific evidence of gender differential effects of marital gains or marital losses: n Divorce affects women’s depression more n Entering a second or later marriage reduces men’s drinking more.

Answer 61

Marital gains into first marriage has common effects across gender. n How can this be explained?

Answer 62

Equal effects of entry into marriage and cohabitation • No difference in the effect of marriage vs. cohabitation • Larger effects of divorce on women – same as Simon.