Role Experiences of Young Women: A Longitudinal Test of the Role Hiatus Hypothesis

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of the Education and Labor Market Experiences of Young Women, a test was made of the effect of three specific types of "role hiatus experiences" on young women's taste for paid employment and on their sex role beliefs. With controls for background variables and for beliefs and tastes measured while the young women were still in high school, it was found that the experiences of paid employment, occupational training, and college attendance before the onset of marriage and motherhood all altered tastes for paid employment but failed to affect sex role attitudes. While college and occupational training increased taste for paid employment, holding a job at this point in these young women's lives caused a decrease in this taste.