Gender Differences in Identities and Their Sociostructural Correlates: How Gendered Lives Shape Parental and Work Identities

Ruth Gaunt, Jacqueline Scott

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study draws on identity theory to explore parental and work identities. It examined gender differences in identities, as well as the moderating role of gender in the effects of individuals’ sociostructural characteristics. A sample of 148 couples with young children completed extensive questionnaires. As hypothesized, couples’ paid-work strategy moderated gender differences in the salience and centrality of parental and work identities. Whereas significant differences in identities were found between stay-at-home mothers and their breadwinning husbands, no differences were found among dual-earner couples. Moreover, men’s work identity centrality increased when they had more and younger children, whereas women’s work identity centrality decreased. Finally, men’s parental identity centrality increased with their income, whereas women’s parental identity centrality decreased the more they earned. These findings attest to the importance of examining differences within as well as between genders, by taking into account the interactive effects of gender with other sociostructural characteristics.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1852-1877
Number of pages26
JournalJournal of Family Issues
Volume38
Issue number13
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Sep 2017
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016.

Keywords

  • gender differences
  • parental identity
  • self-concept
  • work and family

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