Date of Award

1985

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Program

Counseling Psychology, Ph.D.

First Advisor

Mercedes H. Dyer

Second Advisor

Wilfred G. A. Futcher

Third Advisor

Thesba N. Johnston

Abstract

Previous research indicates that researchers are not always agreed as to the negative or positive effects that the employed mother has on the family. The purpose of this study was to research the effects that the nonemployed and employed Seventh-day Adventist mother, in southwestern Michigan, has on the family.

The broad hypothesis for this study is that nonemployed mothers have a more positive effect on families, in general, as opposed to mothers who were employed outside of the home.

Two hundred Seventh-day Adventist mothers, after completing a specially designed instrument, were placed in various categories depending on the numbers of hours they were employed or the number of hours they spent in volunteer work each week.

In this ex-post facto study the data were studied statistically by Chi-square analysis to compare the frequencies of the various responding groups. The results indicated that sixteen of the one hundred and twelve subhypotheses were significant.

The data indicate that the mothers in the various categories of employment (0 - 30+ hours per week) and those involved in volunteer activities (0 - 20 hours per week) differ in their opinions concerning their roles in family life. As the overall picture of the nonemployed and employed mothers in their roles in the home is studied, it appears that there are some effects on the family. The more the mother is out of the home, irrespective of the reason, the greater the negative effects this absence from the home has on the family in general.

It may be concluded from this study that there are more positive aspects related to the role the nonemployed mother has in the home compared to that of the employed mother. Recommendations for further research are offered.

Subject Area

Mothers--Employment--Michigan, Children of working mothers--Michigan

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dissertations/513/

Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS