Factors of Personality and Experience Which Differentiate Single from Married Women

Differences between matched samples of single and married women with respect to personality, family life background, goal-set toward marriage, 'circumstances,' sex interest and behavior, and physical attractiveness were investigated. A sample of married women (N=30) and of single women (N=30) was selected from the Registrars and Alumnae lists of the Florida State U. and matched for age (range 30-39), urban residence, education, race, religion and physical attractiveness. Instruments administered to get scores for the indicated continua were: (1) Maslow's S-I Inventory and Social Personality Inventory for College Women, to derive Security-Insecurity and Self-Esteem scores; (2) The M-F scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory to derive Feminine-Masculine interest scores; (3) an inventory, based upon Symond's over-protection-rejection criteria, to obtain a childhood relationship to parents score; and (4) inventories designed to obtain scores for: (a) parental encouragement-discouragement to marry, (b) adaptable mate selection standards-unchangeable mate selection standards, (c) few obligations-many obligations, (d) much approved heterosexual activity-little such activity, and (d) strong-weak desire for marriage. The (mean - average)s of the derived scores of the two groups were compared for each continua. Findings include: (1) single women during the ages 16-25 had 'significantly less culturally approved heterosexual activity' than married women; (2) the scores for married women tended to cluster about the center of the self-esteem continuum, while scores for single women spread the length of the continuum; (3) at age 25, single women reported more 'obligations' than married women; (4) in terms of (mean - average) scores, single women had received more encouragement to be married than had married women; and (5) single women tended to belong to Lc families. The last finding seems to the author 'to be a clear implication that women who try to move up in the social class scale by their own scholastic efforts may have difficulty in the marriage market.' D. E. DeGroot.