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.