Racial Differences in Men's Attitudes about Women's Gender Roles Author(s): Kathleen M. Blee and Ann R.

Tickamyer Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 57, No. 1 (Feb., 1995), pp. 21-30 Published by: National Council on Family Relations Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/353813 . Accessed: 21/11/2011 08:51
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KATHLEEN M. BLEE AND ANN R. TICKAMYER

University of Kentucky

Racial Differences in Men's Attitudes About Women's Gender Roles

This article investigates three aspects of male gender role development, using linked mother-son files from the young men and mature women cohorts of the National Longitudinal Surveys from the mid-1960s to 1981. The three aspects are: (a) race differences between African American and White men's attitudes about women's gender roles, (b) changes in gender role attitudes across time, and (c) maternal and life course influences on gender role attitudes. Our findings indicate that African American and White men differ in their attitudes about women's gender roles, that men's beliefs change across time, and that individual status and life course processes influence these attitudes of men. However, we do not find maternal influence on adult sons' attitudes. The attitudes that men and women hold toward appropriate gender roles have a significant influence on many aspects of marital and family dynamics. They also help to perpetuate gender-differentiated opportunities in employment, education, politics, and other areas. For women and girls, a substantial body of literature has documented the formation of gender role attitudes, the

Department of Sociology, 1515 Patterson Office Tower, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0027. Key Words: gender role attitudes, maternal influence, National Longitudinal Surveys, race differences.

transmission of attitudes across generations (especially from their mothers), and the structural factors that modify existing attitudes and beliefs (Blee & Tickamyer, 1986; Boyd, 1989; Stevens & Boyd, 1980; Thornton, Alwin, & Camburn, 1983). Far less research has examined the attitudes of men or boys, how these attitudes are formed and changed over time, and how mothers influence this development. Yet, it is clear that, both in the family and in the larger society, men as well as women participate in the definition and perpetuation of gender roles. Recent scholarship suggests that male attitudes toward gender roles are more complicated than has been commonly assumed. Rather than a single standard of masculinity to which all men and boys are taught to aspire, studies have documented a variety of masculinities that define manhood differently across racial, ethnic, class, sexual, and regional boundaries (Connell, 1993; Franklin, 1994; Segal, 1993). Moreover, some evidence suggests that men's attitudes toward feminine gender roles also vary. The idea that women's roles should be circumscribed by home and family may reflect only a narrow segment of White, middle-class, heterosexual men; other groups of men may accept wider or different roles for women (Messner, 1993). The present study examines male attitudes toward women's gender roles and the influence of maternal and life course factors on these attitudes by examining data from pairs of African Ameri-

Journal of Marriage and the Family 57 (February 1995): 21-30

21

22 can and White mothers and their sons over time. We first describe existing research on the formation and nature of gender roles and race differences in men's gender role attitudes. We then formulate hypotheses about the factors that shape male gender role attitudes and test these with data on over 500 mother-son pairs from the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS) of Mature Women and Young Men from 1967 to 1981. We take advantage of the longitudinal nature of the NLS data, which permits examination of maternal and life course effects on the gender role attitudes of African American and White men during late adolescence and early adulthood. MEN AMONG RACE DIFFERENCES The ways in which gender role attitudes are formed, and how they are modified over time by life experience, may differ significantly across racial groups. Studies of women and girls have found racial differences in the definition of appropriate feminine gender roles, with African American women and girls more likely than their White counterparts to see paid employment as compatible with maternal and familial responsibilities (Collins, 1987, 1990; King, 1988; see also Herring & Wilson-Sadberry, 1993). Even the process through which mothers socialize daughters into gender roles attitudes is racially specific. The attitudes of White daughters are influenced significantly by their mothers' attitudes but not by mothers' employment history; for African American daughters, it is maternal employment-but not attitudes-that affect gender role attitudes (Blee & Tickamyer, 1986). The few studies of African American and White men's gender roles suggest that masculinity, too, may be formed and defined within racial categories. Hunter and Davis (1992), for example, concluded that African American men do not equate masculinity with success, wealth, ambition, and power, but rather with self-determinism and accountability. Research that has found that White men are more likely than African American men to see marriage as a necessary component of an adult masculine role also suggests racially specific constructions of masculinity (Bulcroft & Bulcroft, 1993; South, 1993). Research on race differences in a broad range of attitudes toward masculine and feminine gender roles, however, has produced inconsistent results. A number of studies found no difference in gender role attitudes between African American

Journal of Marriage and the Family and White men, or no greater difference between the attitudes of African American men and women than between those of White men and women (Hershey, 1978; Welch & Sigelman, 1989; Wilkie, 1993). Other studies (e.g., Cazenave, 1983) have shown that African American men hold liberal gender role attitudes, irrespective of class background, age, or marital status. Still other research has found African American men more conservative than White men, particularly on issues of women in politics and women's place in the family, although not on issues of women's employment (Kiecolt & Acock, 1988; Ransford & Miller, 1983; see also Wilson, Tolson, Hinton, & Kieran, 1990). Such contradictory findings may be due to the multidimensionality of masculine gender roles and attitudes among African American men. Hunter and Davis (1992, p. 472) argued that African American manhood is constructed from the tension between "family role expectations grounded in patriarchy and the comparatively egalitarian work and family roles in Afro-American families" (see also Collins, 1990; Duneier, 1992). Attitudes toward women in the family and women in employment may form an underlying dimension of gender belief among White men, but be separable dimensions among African American men. Thus, African American men may hold more liberal attitudes than White men about marriedwomen's employment, but share similar or more conservative attitudes toward household division of labor and women's role within the family. Typically, attitude scales about women's gender roles, constructed from primarily White samples, combine items measuring attitudes toward women's employment with items measuring support for a broader range of gender equity issues. But gender role attitudes may be more complex for African Americans than for Whites. Thus, men's gender role attitudes need to be analyzed separately by race, and the specific dimensions of gender role attitudes must be clearly specified. To date, however, there are no systematic or largescale studies of racial variations in the acquisition and nature of a range of gender role attitudes by men and boys. ROLES FORMATION OFGENDER Gender role attitudes, like other attitudes, are shaped by factors both in childhood and in adulthood. Role theory (Weitzman, 1979) argues that children model their attitudes and behaviors on

Men's Attitudes About Women's Gender Roles those of significant others; because women are the primary figures for most children, this suggests that mothers will exert a significant influence on the future attitudes of their children. Empirical studies tend to confirm this relationship. Data from a largely White three-generation sample showed that mothers-more so than fathershave a significant influence on the orientation of both sons and daughters toward values about work, militarism, religion, familism, and politics (Acock, Barker, & Bengtson, 1982; Acock & Bengtson, 1978). The few limited sample studies that have focused on maternal influence on African American sons have also suggested that mothers are important socialization agents for African American sons (Allen, 1981; Kandel, 1971; Thornton, Chatters, Taylor, & Allen, 1990). Although there is substantialsupportfor the importance of mothers as socializing agents for sons, it is less clear exactly how mothers shape the future attitudes of their sons. Tomeh's (1987) study of college students found that mothers' work experience influences the gender attitudesof sons, but a study by Tallichet and Willits (1986) found no effect. The effect of maternal employment may depend on when mothers' work is measured. Powell and Steelman (1982), using 1977 data from the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), concluded that maternal employment during a boy's preschool years (but not subsequent maternal employment) has an effect on the son's attitude toward employment for wives and mothers, controlling for the son's own characteristics. They suggested that boys learn gender roles in early childhood and carry these attitudes into adulthood. Kiecolt and Acock (1988), however, analyzed General Social Survey (GSS) data from 1972 to 1986 and found that it is the mother's employment during her son's adolescence, not during childhood, that has an effect on his later gender attitudes. The only study to examine race differences in the impact of maternal employment on sons' attitudes suggested that the process of maternal influence might be significantly different among Whites and African Americans. Ransford and Miller (1983) used pooled data from four NORC surveys conducted during the 1970s and found that mothers' employment during sons' childhood or adolescence has a liberalizing effect on White sons. For African American sons, a working mother increases gender conservatism on some items and has little impact on other items. Thus, although it is clear that mothers' employment has

23 an influence on the attitudes of their sons, it less clear how this influence might vary by race, class, or life course since none of these studies used samples that were broadly representative of race and social class or that allowed examination of these factors over a substantial period of children's attitudinal development. Moreover, attitudes are not necessarily fixed in childhood. Thus it is important to understand the relative contribution of background factors, including socialization by parents, and adult experiences in shaping attitudes. Results of studies in this area are inconclusive. Glass, Bengtson, and Dunham (1986) found that the effects of parental attitudes (either mother or father, but not distinguished from each other) on the attitudes of their offspring decrease over time, while structural effects of children's own status increase with age. Starrels (1992), however, found a continuing, and robust, relationship between children's values and opinions and those of their mothers. Unfortunately, Starrels' sample, from the National Survey of Children, included only pre- and early-adolescent children, and the long-term effect of maternal attitudes could not be measured. The most comprehensive studies of background versus life course effects are based on data from three generations of Los Angeles residents in 1971 and 1985 analyzed by Miller and Glass (1989) and Acock and Bengtson (1978, 1980). Miller and Glass found that the extent of change or stability in gender role attitudes over the life course and across generations varies in part by historical period. The entry of large numbers of White married women into the labor force and rising divorce rates in the 1970s led to overall changes in normative gender role attitudes, but the effect was more pronounced among younger generations. Thus they concluded that neither background (childhood) nor life course (adult) factors are necessarily more influential in shaping adult attitudes, but that parent-child attitudinal similarity or dissimilarity is also the result of contextual factors. Acock and Bengtson (1978, 1980) found a maternal influence on the attitudes of sons and daughters and a high congruence between parents' and children's attitudes, irrespective of changes in these attitudes over time and across generations. Although these results are highly suggestive, the nature of the Los Angeles sample limits its generalizability. The sample is representative of White, economically stable families, is not a probability sample, and has a very high attrition

24
rate (almost 40% from Wave 1 to Wave 2). In addition, several of the studies using these data do not distinguish between mothers' and fathers' influence on children's attitudes. In summary, these studies suggest that mothers may influence the gender role attitudes of their sons as well as those of their daughters, though it is unclear whether this effect operates primarily through a modeling of mothers' behavior or mothers' attitudes. Further, earlier research indicates that there may be substantial differences in the formation and characteristics of men's attitudes toward women's gender roles in this society, particularly along racial lines. We investigate these possibilities in the analyses below.
HYPOTHESES

Journal of Marriage and the Family

RESEARCH DESIGN

Data We test these hypotheses with data from the young men and mature women cohorts of the National Longitudinal Surveys of the Labor Market Experiences (NLS). The original NLS consist of a set of longitudinal prospective panel surveys for four separate age-sex cohorts conducted by the Center for Human Resources Research of Ohio State University under contract from the U.S. Department of Labor. The young men cohort began in 1966 with a sample of men 14 to 24 years old and was completed in 1981. Mature women were first surveyed in 1967 when they were 30 to 44 years old, with data collection continuing to the present. Each of the original cohorts is a multistage probability sample representing the noninstitutionalized civilian population of the United States. The unique attributes of the NLS make it ideally suited for this study. First, households provide the original sampling frame and, in many cases, multiple respondents live in the same household or are part of the same family. The data are organized to permit linkage and analysis of a large number of mother-son dyads (as well as other family relationships). Second, African American households are oversampled by a factor of 3 to 4 times that of other households, thereby providing a rare source of data with sufficient numbers of cases for reliable analysis of differences between African Americans and Whites. Third, relatively low attrition rates facilitate longitudinal analysis. Finally, the data include both extensive sociodemographic and attitudinal items. The result is the only broadly representative national data set that permits investigation of these research issues. In this study we select samples using two criteria: (a) We included only young men with complete data for three points in time at 5-year intervals: 1971, 1976, and 1981. These three survey years have information on the young men's attitudes about women's gender roles and represent different stages of their life course. In 1971, the first year that gender role items are available, the young men were 19 to 29 years old, just entering adult roles and responsibilities. By the final year, these men were 29 to 39 and were firmly established in adult family and employment roles. (b) We included only young men with mothers in the mature women cohort. These data sets are linked

Based on this literaturereview, we have formulated a series of hypotheses to test the factors that shape male attitudes toward women's gender roles. Hypothesis 1: Consistent with the concept of multidimensional gender roles in the African American community, African American men will be more liberal than White men on gender role items that pertain to women's employment. In contrast, African American men will be more conservative than White men on gender role items that pertain to issues other than employment. Hypothesis 2: Attitudes of both African American and White men toward women's gender roles will become more liberal over time. This study spans a time period of increasing liberalization of gender role attitudes in the population as a whole. Moreover, life course events such as educational attainment and marriage may promote more liberal gender role attitudes among men. Hypothesis 3: Mothers' attitudes will influence the gender role attitudes of sons. Consistent with the research on mothers and daughters, we expect the effect of maternal influence during a son's teenage years on his subsequent gender role attitudes to decline as the son ages. Hypothesis 4: There will be racial differences in the impact of a mother's employment during her son's youth on his later attitudes about women's gender roles. Since maternal employment was less common during this period for White families, it will have a more liberalizing effect for White sons. On the other hand, for African American men, for whom maternal employment was normative, we expect less impact of mother's work history on her son's gender role attitudes.

Men's Attitudes About Women's Gender Roles to establish mother-son dyads for analysis. All information on mothers comes from the 1967 Mature Women Survey. The result of selecting cases with complete data meeting both criteria is a sample of 136 African American and 381 White mother-son pairs. This selection procedure creates certain biases in the sample. The sons in this sample are nearly 2 years younger, and therefore somewhat less likely to be married or employed, than the entire sample of young men. The slightly younger age of sons in the mother-son sample results in very small differences in initial values of sons compared with all young men, which disappear for both races by the final year of the study. Mothers also differ from the larger sample slightly. In particular, African American mothers have a year less education than all mature women, and White mothers are somewhat more likely to be employed than the larger sample (44.9% compared with 41.6%). While this means that the two groups are not exactly comparable, there is no reason to expect that this will have any particular effect on these analyses. The NLS data provide a unique opportunity to study intergenerational influences in a national longitudinal study with a high retention rate of respondents (Center for Human Resource Research, 1990; Macke, 1982). Measures Sociodemographic information on mothers in 1967 and sons in 1971, 1976, and 1981 include the following variables: married, a dummy variable indicating currently married; employed, a dummy variable indicating currently employed at least part time; education, years of educational attainment (achieved by 1967 for mothers and by 1971 or 1976 for sons); and income, yearly annual household income from all sources. In addition there are two gender role scales. The first is the three-item Working Wives Scale, measuring attitudes toward working wives. The advantages of this scale are that the three items load together in factor analysis and it is available for all respondents in all years: mothers in 1967 and sons in 1971, 1976, and 1981. This scale has a range of scores from 3 (highly negative attitudes toward working wives) to 15 (highly positive attitudes toward working wives). Each item has five possible responses ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The three items ask whether it is all right for a wife to work under various conditions (see Appendix, Factor 2, Items 1-3). Chronbach's

25 alpha, the reliability coefficient for this scale, varies from .68 to .69 for all years and groups. The second scale, called the New Gender Role Scale, is composed of more diverse items first introduced into the young men's survey in 1981. Exploratory analysis in 1981, using separate African American and White samples, showed that both groups loaded highly on a set of five items (Factor 1). Whites had a stronger second factor than African Americans and the items included in the second factor differed for each race. These results support our conjecture that Blacks and Whites have a different structure of gender role attitudes. However, for purposes of this analysis, we used the five high-loading items that represent common components of gender role attitudes (Factor 1) to construct the New Gender Role Scale. Scores range from 5 (traditional attitudes) to 25 (contemporary attitudes). Items ask for the respondent's degree of agreement or disagreement to the statements regarding men's and women's roles in work and family (see Appendix, Factor 1). Chronbach's alpha is .76. Analysis All analyses are performed separately for African American and White young men to facilitate comparisons across race and year. Additionally, we examine racial differences in gender role attitudes by testing race interactions for each independent variable. Exploratory analyses showed that, in addition to bivariate race effects, there are small additive effects of race in the multivariate analysis for both mothers and sons for all years. Table 1 provides descriptive information on background characteristics and gender role scales for sons and their mothers by race and year; t tests show significant race differences for each year. Table 2 regresses the Working Wives Scales for all 3 years and the New Gender Role Scale for 1981 on sons' characteristics and mothers' employment and gender role attitudes.
RESULTS

The descriptive results presented in Table 1 show marked differences between African American and White young men and their mothers. The first two columns report characteristics of the mothers in 1967 when their sons were ages 15 to 25. White women are much more likely to be married, less likely to be employed, and they have higher levels of status attainment-education and

26

Journal of Marriage and the Family

TABLE 1. CHARACTERISTICSOF SONS AND THEIR MOTHERS BY RACE AND YEAR

Mothers 1967 Black Married(%) Employed (%) Education (M in years) Income (Min $) WorkingWives Scale (M) New GenderRole Scale (M) Son's age 15-25 69.9**** 56.6** White 91.3 44.9

Sons 1971 Black 36.0* 75.0 White 44.1 77.4

Sons 1976 Black 58.8**** 80.9** White 74.0 89.2

Sons 1981 Black 61.8*** 83.8* White 76.6 90.8

8.9**** 11.3 (3.0) (2.5) 4,274.1**** 10,306.7 (5,720.5) (3,214.5) 10.5*** (2.9) 9.7 (2.6)

11.6**** 13.0 (2.3) (2.0) 3,930.6**** 5,451.2 (3,164.0) (4,298.1) 11.5** (2.7) 10.8 (3.1)

12.4**** 13.8 (2.6) (2.4) 10,391.7**** 14,193.4 (7,492.9) (7,571.5) 12.2** (2.5) 11.6 (2.8)

12.4**** 13.8 (2.6) (2.4) 23,670.8*** 27,549.7 (9,575.1) (12,930.5) 12.9*** (1.9) 16.7** (3.9) 12.3 (2.5) 17.5 (4.0) 29-39

19-29

24-34

Note: Standard deviations are shown in parentheses.For Blacks, n = 136; for Whites, n = 381. *p < .10. **p < .05. **p < .01. ****p < .001. (Test of significance for differencesbetween races.)

household income-than the African American mothers. African American mothers have more positive attitudes toward working women, a result that fits with their greater likelihood of being employed. These results suggest that there are clear differences in the home environments in which these young men grew up. African American and White sons reflect these differences in their own characteristics. Even in 1971, the earliest year, there are strong differences between African American and White boys in educational attainment and household income. There is little difference in employment at this age, and while there is a substantial difference in marital status, it is only marginally significant. Like their mothers, African American young men are significantly more liberal than Whites on the Working Wives Scale, supporting the first hypothesis. Over the next decade, there are significant race differences in all sociodemographic and attitude measures. The direction and size of the differences are quite stable, with one exception. As the first hypothesis predicts, in every year African American men are more liberal than Whites on the Working Wives Scales. Moreover, the positions are reversed on the more diverse New Gender Role Scale with White men having significantly more liberal attitudes than African American men. These results confirm the first hypothesis predicting more liberal attitudes toward working wives for African American men than for Whites, but reversing the direction on more general gender role issues. Although not shown here, similar results are found for years where an equivalent broader

measure of gender role attitudes is available for the boys' mothers. In addition to the implications of the factor analyses, these results provide further evidence that the two scales measure different dimensions of gender role attitudes, with the Working Wives Scale presenting a narrowerassessment of working wives. One other finding from this table is evident. Although the direction and size of the differences between African American and White men remain stable, mean scores show that both African Americans and Whites are generally favorable toward working wives, with the strength of positive attitudes steadily increasing over time. This supports the second hypothesis. It is not possible from these data to disentangle life course development from period effects. The decade from 1971 to 1981 spans the development of these young men from early youth to established adulthood. It also witnessed major changes in norms and expectations about women's proper roles, and these young men's increasingly liberal attitudes appear to be in keeping with these changes. Table 2 tests hypotheses about the influence of sons' own statuses and their mothers' influence on their gender role attitudes over time. For the three time periods, the Working Wives Scale score is regressed on both sons' characteristics and their mothers' employment and gender role attitudes in 1967, when the boys were ages 15 to 25. For both African Americans and Whites, the predictive power of these models (although small) improves over time. In most years, only sons' characteristics explain their attitudes. Contrary to the third and

TABLE 2. REGRESSION OF SON'S GENDER ROLE ATTITUDE ON SON AND MOTHER CHARACTERISTICSBY RACE

1971 WorkingWives Scale African

American White
bAA-bw

1976 WorkingWives Scale African

American White bAA-bw

1981 WorkingWives Sc African

American White

bA

Son married b SE Son employed b

.59 (.11) .53 -.12 (-.02) .57 .03 (.03) .10 -.11 (-.13) .08 -.30 (-.06) .48 .03 (.04) .08 11.00 1.68 .02 (-.02) .50

.73* (.12) .39 .12 (.02) .41 .24*** (.15) .08 -.10** (-.13) .05 .00 (.00) .32 .02 (-.01) .06 7.09 1.30 .03 (.02) 2.02*

-.14

-.24 (-.05) .48 -.12 (-.02) .59 .07 (.07) .09 .02 (.06) .03 -.03 (-.01) .44 -.04 (-.05) .08 11.83 1.47 .01 (-.03) .301

-.70** (-.11) .35 -.20 (-.02) .45 .22*** (.18) .06 .04** (.12) .02 .35 (.06) .28 -.01 (-.01) .05 8.68 1.09 .07 (.06) 4.87***

.46

-.70** (-.18) .33 .43 (.08) .44 .07 (.10) .07 .01 (.06) .01 -.59* (-.16) .32 .06 (.08) .01 11.52 1.07 .10 (.05) 2.28**

-.28 (-.05) .31 -.30 (-.03) .46 .22*** (.21) .06 .02* (.10) .01 -.10 (-.02) .26 .02 (.03) .05 9.08 .93 .07 (.05) 4.46***

-.

.08

P
SE Son's education b SE Son's income b (x 1000)

-.21**

-.15

-.

-.01***

-.02

-.

P
SE (x 1000) Motheremployed 1967 b

-.30

-.38

-.

P
SE Mothers'WorkingWives Scale b

.01

-.03

-.

p
SE Intercept SE
R2

3.91***

3.15**

AdjustedR2 F

*p<.10. **pp<.05. ***p<.01.

28 fourth hypotheses, there are very few significant maternal influences. With one exception, mothers' employment has no effect on sons' attitudes. However, the negative effect of mother employment on attitudes of African American men toward women's gender roles in 1981 suggests the possibility that when African American men reach maturity and have established their own families, they react conservatively to their youthful experience of their mothers' employment. The lack of any consistency to this effect, however, recommends caution in interpreting this result. Surprisingly, in no year is there a significant effect of mothers' attitudes on the gender role attitudes of sons. The effect of sons' own characteristics on gender role attitudes varies by race. There are stronger results for White men than for African American men, as indicated by education and income effects for Whites in every year, but few significant effects for African Americans. Thus, there are class differences among White men, but not African American men. More highly educated White men hold consistently more liberal attitudes about women's gender roles than less educated White men. Income, too, has a positive effect on the gender role attitudes of White men in 1976 and 1981, after they are established in adult employment roles. For African American men, neither income nor education affects attitudes toward working wives. Among the most interesting results is the inconsistent effect of marriage on men's attitudes toward working wives across the different time periods. In the earliest two waves it is significant for White men, and it changes from a strong positive in 1971 to an almost equally strong negative effect in 1976. For African American men, marital status does not have a significant effect on attitude toward working wives in either 1971 or 1976, but the direction of the effect is the same as for Whites. In 1981, marital status remains negative but is no longer significant for White men and it has a strong negative effect for African American men. Contrary to the overall trend toward more liberal attitudes from 1971 to 1981, marriage-net of other life course events-has a negative effect on men's attitudes toward women's employment. The minority of both White and African American men who are married in early adulthood have more liberal attitudes about women's gender roles than do same-age unmarried men of both races. The reversal of this effect for both groups, net of

Journal of Marriage and the Family other factors, in later time periods suggests either that marriage itself fosters more conservative attitudes about women's employment over the life course or that men who marry early are more likely to be liberal than those who marry "on time." Early marriages may be more likely to have working wives-as a result of economic nethat gender role attitudes cessity-suggesting conform to life course experience. The final column of Table 2 shows the regression of the broaderNew Gender Role Scale on the same set of mother and son variables. In this model, too, mother variables have no influence. Sons' characteristics affect scores on the New Gender Role Scale but with some differences from those on the Working Wives Scale. As expected, education has a similarly strong positive influence for both African American and White young men. As in previous analyses, income has a small positive effect on gender roles for Whites. Once again, an interesting marital status effect emerges. There is a very strong negative effect for White men compared with a weaker and nonsignificant positive effect for African Americans, reinforcing our expectation that gender role attitudes are multidimensional for African American men. Finally, we test for racial differences across the models. As previously mentioned, there are small significant additive race effects on the Working Wives Scale in each of the 3 years. The intercepts demonstrate that differences between African American and White men are larger than indicated in the bivariate analysis. The difference diminishes and is not significant using the New Gender Role Scale. Additionally, there are several significant interaction effects, with t tests for differences in slope coefficients showing a significant race difference in the effect of education on the Working Wives Scale in 1971 and 1981. There is a significant race-income difference in 1971 only. Finally, a suggestive but nonsignificant race difference in marriage using the Working Wives Scale is much larger and attains signficance when using the New Gender Role Scale in 1981. These results suggest small but real model differences for the two groups, although they cannot be explained by differences in maternalinfluences as hypothesized.
CONCLUSION

This article investigates three aspects of male gender role development. The three aspects are: (a) race differences between African American and White men's attitudes about women's gender

Men's Attitudes About Women's Gender Roles roles, (b) changes in gender role attitudes across time, and (c) the maternal and life course influences on gender role attitudes. The findings of this study support the hypotheses that African American and White men differ in their attitudes about women's gender roles, that beliefs about gender roles change across time, and that individual status and life course processes influence gender role attitudes. There is little evidence of maternal influence for either group. Although there are strong and significant racial differences in male gender role attitudes, with one exception we do not find any significant effect of even the most salient aspects of maternal influence-mothers' employment and gender role attitudes-on adult sons' attitudes about the desirability of wives working. In other analyses not reported we examined a multitude of other maternal and background factors, such as mother's education, household income, mother's marital status, and mother's gender role attitudes at later time periods, but none were significant for either Whites or African Americans. These findings are contrary to past results from more limited data sources. Additionally, the race difference in the influence of sons' own characteristicson their role attitudes is both intriguing and perplexing. While African American young men clearly grow up in different home environments than White young men, there is little in our analysis to suggest that these differences influence their adult role attitudes. Status and structurallocations clearly influence White men's attitudes, but have much less effect for African American men. In part this may reflect less variance in African American attitudes. African American men are more liberal in their attitudes toward working wives, and they are far more likely to have experienced a household with a working wife/mother. The two results are undoubtedly connected: African American men may be more accepting of working wives, because they experience and recognize it as economic necessity. It also may reflect a larger problem of the salience of these measures of gender role attitudes for African Americans compared with Whites. Further exploration of racial differences in the structure and content of gender roles is called for by these results. In short, these results suggest supportfor the idea that there are importantcultural as well as structural differences in African American and White experience, an area of study that requires much more detailed investigation. Finally, this study is suggestive of both period and developmental effects. The decade under in-

29 vestigation was a time of major reorganization of gender role beliefs and practices, and the growing liberalism of all respondents may well reflect the larger societal change. At the same time, this cohort of young men was moving through important transitions in the life course, and the results are also congruent with this type of change. The impact of marital status is especially indicative of life course effects, since it suggests a modification of gender role beliefs based on direct experience with the issues measured in these scales. Further investigation should pursue other adult role differences that may account for race differences in men's gender role attitudes.
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.79

.75

.76 .61 .57 .43

.69 .67 .47 .44

.57

.73

.56

.57

.42

.54

.47 .42 .49

.44