Sex Role Ideology, Marital Status, and Happiness

Abstract

Research suggests that women's, but not men's, sex role ideology may be negatively related to marital happiness and stability. Analysis of General Social Survey data from 1974 to 1986 supports that proposition. Nontraditional women are less happy and more likely to be separated or divorced. These relations are stronger for attitudes about women's personality than about roles, and are not eliminated by controls for age, year, education, or work status. They are also stronger for women constrained in marriage by opposition to divorce. All in all, the results are consistent with the idea that modern sex role ideology is negatively related to marital success for women.