Work‐Family Commitment and Attitudes Toward Feminism in Medical Students

Abstract

The authors examine work-family commitment and attitudes toward feminism in a cross-sectional, medical student sample (126 women, 145 men). Results indicated no significant gender differences in commitment levels. Third-year students reported significantly more family commitment than did students in lower years. Women reported significantly more positive attitudes toward feminism than did men. Future research should examine commitment to work and family roles relative to participation in work and family roles and whether medical students have more conservative attitudes toward feminism than do other groups. Reframing multiple role commitments as an opportunity for role integration may help clients identify how work and family can be mutually enhancing and growthproducing rather than conflictual.

Work and Family Commitment and Decision-Making Status Among Emerging Adults

“…Nevill and Super (1988) found that undergraduate women were more committed to both work and home than undergraduate men were. Studies of undergraduate, graduate, and medical students have found no differences between men and women in their commitment levels to work and family (Covin & Brush, 1991;Hartung & Rogers, 2000). Spade and Reese (1991) found undergraduate men and women to have equally strong commitments to both work and family life; however, women seemed to place more importance on household roles, and they expected to be employed fewer hours than men did.…”

“…Research with high school, college, and graduate school students on the relationship between age and year in school and work and family commitment suggests that family commitment may increase with age, whereas both work and family commitment may increase with year in school (Hartung & Rogers, 2000;Kalakoski & Nurmi, 1998;Waterman, 1982;Waterman, Geary, & Waterman, 1974). To focus on those college students for whom work and family commitment are presumably more salient and pressing because of their relatively older age and the imminence of a transition to postcollegiate life, in the present study we limited participation to college juniors and seniors ages 19-23.…”

“…and decision-making status regarding work and family roles (e.g., have emerging adult men and women reached a decision regarding whether they intend to have children?). Other researchers have employed the construct of commitment 5 (e.g., Amatea, Cross, Clark, & Bobby, 1986;Bielby & Bielby, 1989;Hartung & Rogers, 2000), and that was chosen for the present study because the concept of commitment is integral to identity theory, which makes it an important variable to study to gain a better understanding of emerging adulthood as a stage of identity development. Commitment levels indicate the salience of work and family identities and inform us about emerging adults' identity structure in terms of where work and family identities are in their identity hierarchies (Stryker, 1992;Stryker & Serpe, 1982).…”

Gender, Internalization of Expressive Traits, and Expectations of Parenting

“…Women are increasingly involved in work outside of the home (Marsiglio et al 2000) and young women report placing equal value on their future career roles as do men (Hartung and Rogers 2000;Shu and Marini 1998). Coinciding with this shift in women's work role participation, men are increasingly involved within the family sphere and assuming more responsibility for the direct child-care duties that historically have been the domain of women (Bianchi 2000;Pleck and Masciadrelli 2004;Sandberg and Hofferth 2001).…”

Conflits travail-famille et ajustement dyadique chez des couples d'aidants de la génération "sandwich" qui prennent soin d'un parent en perte d'autonomie fonctionnelle dans les activités de la vie quotidienne /

“…Malgré cela, Thoits (1992) (Dompierre, 1993;Lyness & Thompson, 1997;Parasuraman, Purohit, Godshalk, & Beutell, 1996). En revanche, même si en apparence les hommes sont plus engagés envers leur travail, lorsque les variables en lien avec la position d'emploi sont contrôlées, les niveaux d'engagement envers le travail s'équivalent chez les deux sexes (Hartung & Rogers, 2000;Marsden, Kalleberg, & Cook, 1993 (Tremblay, 1994). Le travail de « neuf à cinq » ne constitue plus la norme (Johnson et al, 2001) et le travail à temps partiel est la forme d'emploi atypique dont la croissance est la plus rapide actuellement (Bédard & Grignon, 2000;Statistique Canada, 2000).…”