Gender and Adult Roles: Role Commitment of Women and Men in a Job-Family Trade-Off Context

The dimensionality that underlies the preferences of female ( n = 87) and male ( n = 31) college students for combining work and parent roles was investigated using conjoint measurement techniques. Both groups construed the role trade-offs and intensity of involvement with these roles differently as they applied to women and men. Results for female roles confirm and extend Coombs's (1979) findings-both women and men perceived a job-child trade-off dimension and a total involvement (percentage of time devoted to job and number of children desired) dimension for women. Results differed for male roles. Students perceived these life roles to be independent, rather than contingent, choices for men. The trade-off context is important for assessment and counseling. The perceived independence of these roles for men poses a dilemma regarding counseling practice for both sexes: whether to confirm sex role perceptions or explore discrepancies in expectations and equity implications.