The purpose of this investigation was to determine the relationship between coping, career salience, attachment, and workplace variables in partnered, working women with children under 18 years old living at home. A second objective of this study was to determine the continued usefulness of Hall's (1972) coping styles scoring strategy for this population. Women who were securely or avoidantly attached were more likely to use Type I coping strategies in response to a hypothetical vignette, while women who were ambivalently attached were more likely to engage in Type III strategies. In describing actual dilemmas, more securely attached and fewer ambivalently attached women reported engaging in Type III behaviors, while fewer securely attached and more ambivalently attached women reporting using Type II strategies. No support was found for the relationship between coping styles, attachment and work environment variables (flextime, company support, supervisory support). Implications for future research are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Ainsworth, M.D. (1989). Attachments beyond infancy. American Psychologist, 44, 709-716.
2.
Ainsworth, M.D., Blehar, M.C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
3.
Barling, J. (1990). Employment, stress and family functioning. Chichester, England: Wiley.
4.
Barnett, R.C., & Baruch, G.K. (1987). Social roles, gender and psychological distress . In R. C. Barnett, L. Biener, & G. K. Baruch (Eds.), Gender and stress (pp. 122-143). New York: Free Press.
5.
Beit-Hallami, B. (1979). Personal and social components of the Protestant Ethic. Journal of Social Psychology, 109, 263-267.
6.
Berman, W.H., & Sperling, M.B. (1994). The structure and function of adult attachment. In M. B. Sperling & W. H. Berman (Eds.), Attachment in adults (pp. 3-30). NY: Guilford.
7.
Beutell, N.J., & Greenhaus, J.H. (1982). Interrole conflict among married women: The influence of husband and wife characteristics on conflict and coping behaviors. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 21, 99-110.
8.
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment. NY: Basic Books.
9.
Carver, C.S., Scheier, M.F., & Weintraub, J.K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically-based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 267-283.
10.
Cartwright, S., & Cooper, C.L. (1996). Coping in occupational settings. In M. S. Zeidner & N. S. Endler (Eds.), Handbook of coping: Theory, research, applications (pp. 202-220). NY: Wiley.
11.
Costa, P.T., Somerfield, M.R., & McCrae, R.R. (1996). Personality and coping: A reconceptualization . In M. S. Zeidner & N. S. Endler (Eds.), Handbook of coping: Theory, research, applications (pp. 44-64). NY: Wiley .
12.
Duxbury, L.E., & Higgins, C.A. (1991). Gender differences in work-family conflict. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76(1), 60-74.
13.
Fraley, R.C., & Waller, N.G. (1998). Adult attachment patterns. In J. A. Simpson & W. S. Rholes (Eds.), Attachment theory and close relationships (pp. 77-114). NY: Guilford.
14.
Garbarino, J.J. (1998). Comparisons of the constructs and psychometric properties of selected measures of adult attachment. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 31, 28-45.
15.
Greenhaus, J.H. (1970). Self-esteem and career salience as influences of vocational choice and vocational satisfaction. Dissertation Abstracts International, 1971, 31, 6966B.
16.
Greenhaus, J.H. (1971). An investigation of the role of career salience in vocational behavior. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 1, 209-216.
17.
Greenhaus, J.H. (1988). The intersection of work and family roles: Individual, interpersonal, and organizational issues. In E. Goldsmith (Ed.), Work and family: Theory, research and applications. [Special issue]. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 3(4), 23-44.
18.
Hall, D.T. (1972). A model of coping with role conflict: The role behavior of college educated women. Administrative Science Quarterly, 17, 471-489.
19.
Han, S-K., & Moen, P. (in press). Coupled careers: Men's and women's pathways through work and marriage in the United States. In H. P. Blossfeld (Ed.), Couples' careers in a dynamic perspective .
20.
Hardy, G.E., & Barkham, M. (1994). The relationship between interpersonal attachment styles and work difficulties. Human Relations, 47(3), 263-281.
21.
Hazan, C., & Shaver, P.R. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 511-524.
22.
Hazan, C., & Shaver, P.R. (1990). Love and work: An attachment-theoretical perspective . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 270-280.
23.
Hedley, A. (1984). Work-nonwork contexts and orientations to work . Work and Occupations, 11, 353-376.
24.
Helson, R., & Moane, G. (1987). Personality change in women from college to midlife . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 5, 176-186.
25.
Hennig, M., & Jardim, A. (1977). The managerial woman. New York : Pocket Books.
26.
Hochschild, A.R. (1997). The time bind: When work becomes home and home becomes work. NY: Henry Holt.
27.
Kanter, R.M. (1977). Men and women of the corporation. New York: Basic Books.
28.
Kanter, R.M. (1979). Power failure in management circuits. Harvard Business Review, (Jul-Aug), 65-75.
29.
Kahn, W.A., & Kram, K.E. (1994). Authority at work: Internal models and their organizational consequences. Academy of Management Review, 19(1), 17-50.
30.
Kummel, P.E. (1998). Bringing your family to work: Attachment in the workplace. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. NY: Teachers College, Columbia University
31.
Kummel, P.E., Kelly, M., Kim, E., Pradhan, M., & Spieth, R. (1996, August). The relationship between workplace factors and women's attachment and coping styles. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association , New York.
32.
Lazarus, R.S. (1966). Psychological stress and the coping process. NY: McGraw-Hill.
33.
Levo, L.M. (1983). An investigation of the efficacy of competing explanations of how women cope with stressful home-career conflicts. Dissertation Abstracts International, 44-06B, 1967.
34.
Lonky, E., Kaus, C.R., & Roodin, P.A. (1984). Life experience and mode of coping: Relation to moral judgment in adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 20, 1159-1167.
35.
Loscocco, K.A. (1989). The interplay of personal and job characteristics in determining work commitment. Social Science Research, 18, 370-394.
36.
Main, B., Kaplan, D., & Cassidy, R. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood and adulthood: A move to the level of representation. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50(1-2), 66-107.
37.
Mainiero, L.A. (1986). Coping with powerlessness: The relationship of gender and job dependency to empowerment-strategy usage. Administrative Science Quarterly, 31, 633-653.
38.
Mannheim, B. (1983). Male and female industrial workers: Job satisfaction, work role centraity and work place preference. Work and Occupations , 10, 413-436.
39.
Mattlin, J.A., Wethington, E., & Kessler, R.C. (1990). Situational determinants of coping and coping effectiveness. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 31, 103-122.
40.
Moos, R.H. (1988). Life stressors and coping resources influence health and well-being. Psychological Assessment, 4, 133-158.
41.
Nieva, V. (1985). Work and family linkages. In L. Larwood, A. Stromberg , & B. Gutek (Eds.), Women and work: An annual review (Vol. 1, pp. 162-190). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
42.
Parker, J.D., & Endler, N.S. (1996). Coping and defense: A historical overview. In M. S. Zeidner & N. S. Endler (Eds.), Handbook of coping: Theory, research, applications (pp. 3-23). NY: Wiley.
43.
Paterson, R.J., & Moran, G. (1988). Attachment theory, personality development and psychotherapy. Clinical Psychology Review, 8, 611-636.
44.
Pearlin, L.I., & Schooler, C. (1978). The structure of coping. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 19, 2-21.
Raskin, P.M. (1998). The women, work and family project. Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Unpublished manuscript, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York.
47.
Reilly, S.J. (1981). The relation of sex-role orientation in women to coping style and cognitive response to stress. Dissertation Abstracts International, 42-08B, 3438.
48.
Rowan, J.B. (1982). A study of role overload, nonmarket time use, and coping strategies of middle class, employed women in intact families. Dissertation Abstracts International, 43-03B, 0858.
49.
Schaper, G.L. (1983). Married working mothers: An analysis of role strain as a function of coping strategies, sex-role attitudes and work/family characteristics . Dissertation Abstracts International, 44-06B, 1977.
50.
Schwarzer, R., & Schwarzer, C. (1996). A critical survey of coping instruments. In M. S. Zeidner & N. S. Endler, (Eds.), Handbook of coping: Theory, research, applications (pp. 107-132). NY: Wiley.
51.
Senior, G. (1983). Role conflict coping strategies of working mothers and occupational achievement motivation of daughters. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York.
52.
Siegel, M., & Cummings, L.L. (1995). Genetic, Social & GeneralPsychology Monographs, 121(1), 65-95.
53.
Smith, E.L., & Grenier, M. (1982). Sources of organizational power for women: Overcoming structural obstacles. Sex Roles, 8, 733-746.
54.
Sroufe, L.A. (1988). The role of infant caregiver attachment in development . In J. Belsky & T. Nezworski (Eds.), Clinical implications of attachment. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum .
55.
Surrey, J.L. (1985). Self-in-relation: A theory of women's development. Work in progress, No. 13. Wellesley, MA: The Stone Center for Developmental Services and Studies.
56.
Trocki, K.F., & Orioli, E.M. (1994). Gender differences in stress symptoms, stress-producing contexts, and coping strategies. In G. P. Keita & J. J. Hurrell, Jr. (Eds.), Job stress in a changing workforce: Investigating gender, diversity, and family issues. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
57.
Wiley, M.G., & Eskilson, A. (1982). Interaction of sex and power bases on perceptions of managerial effectiveness. Academy of Management Journal , 25, 671-677.
58.
Zeidner, M., & Endler, N.S. (1996). Handbook of coping: Theory, research, applications . NY: Wiley.
59.
Zeidner, M., & Hammer, A. (1992). Coping with missile attack: Resources, strategies and outcomes. Journal of Personality, 60, 709-746.
