A theory proposing three distinct, effective types of family systems [1] guided the definition and operationalization of three lifestyle value constructs. A simple, reliable and valid measure of three aspects of living – resourcefulness, responsibility and relationships to others – was developed. In a first study, 216 graduate students in six fields rated themselves on a list of thirty-six adjectives selected to comprise the three scales. Factor analysis supported the constructs. Scores were independent of gender and bore expected relationships to program affiliation. In a second study, eighty-three adults completed a forced-choice form of the instrument, rating both themselves and their spouses. They also completed the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and a semi-structured individual interview. Scores from the four measures were entered into a multitrait-multimethod matrix which demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity for the constructs. The usefulness of studying the priorities that people assign to the three aspects of living is explored.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
KantorD.LehrW., Inside the Family, Harper and Row, New York, 1975.
2.
TowerR. B., Parents' Self-Concepts and Preschool Children's Behaviors, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, pp. 538–546, 1980.
3.
RoschE.MervisC. B., Family Resemblances; Studies in the Internal Structure of Categories, Cognitive Psychology, 7, pp. 573–605, 1975.
4.
WittgensteinL., Philosophical Investigations, Macmillan, New York, 1953.
5.
EriksonE., Childhood and Society, Norton, New York, 1963.
6.
AinsworthM. D. S., Infant-Mother Attachment, American Psychologist, 34, pp. 932–937, 1979.
7.
AinsworthM. D. S.BleharM. C.WatersE.WallS., Patterns of Attachment, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1978.
8.
BlockJ.BlockJ. H., Ego Development and the Provenance of Thought: A Longitudinal Study of Ego and Cognitive Development in Young Children, unpublished progress report for the National Institute of Mental Health, University of California, Berkeley, 1973.
9.
BlockJ.BlockJ. H., Ego Development and the Provenance of Thought: A Longitudinal Study of Ego and Cognitive Development in Young Children, Number 2, unpublished progress report for the National Institute of Mental Health, University of California, Berkeley, 1976.
10.
HarringtonD. M.BlockJ. H.BlockJ., Intolerance of Ambiguity in Preschool Children: Psychometric Considerations, Behavioral Manifestations, and Parental Correlates, Developmental Psychology, 14, pp. 242–256, 1978.
11.
SroufeL. A., Attachment and the Roots of Competence, Human Nature, 1, pp. 50–59, 1978.
12.
SroufeL. A., Socioemotional Development, in Handbook of Infant Development, OsofskyJ. (ed.), Wiley, New York, 1979.
13.
SroufeL. A., The Coherence of Individual Development: Early Care, Attachment, and Subsequent Development, American Psychologist, 34I, pp. 834–841, 1979.
14.
BaumrindD., Child Care Practices Anteceding Three Patterns of Preschool Behavior, Genetic Psychology Monographs, 75, pp. 43–88, 1967.
15.
BaumrindD., Current Patterns of Parental Authority, Developmental Psychology Monographs, 4:4, Pt. 2, 1971.
16.
LewinK.LippittR.WhiteR. K., Patterns of Aggressive Behavior in Experimentally Created “Social Climates,”Journal of Social Psychology, 10, pp. 271–299, 1939.
17.
CarlsonR., Personal Communication, December 5, 1980.
18.
TowerR. B., The Influence of Parents' Values on Preschool Children's Behaviors, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1980.
19.
TowerR. B.BlumJ. D., Correlates of Information-Processing Style in Psychiatric Patients, paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, California, 1981.
20.
BoulisI.TowerR. B., An Evaluation of a Pilot Multidisciplinary Environmental Awareness Curriculum for Middle School Children, Haddonfield Public Schools, Haddonfield, New Jersey, 1981.
21.
SingerD.SingerJ., Family Television Viewing Habits and the Spontaneous Play of Preschool Children, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 46, pp. 496–502, 1976.
22.
CarlsonR.LevyN., Brief Method for Assessing Social-Personal Orientation, Psychological Reports, 23, pp. 911–914, 1968.
23.
HollandJ. L., Making Vocational Choices: A Thoery of Careers, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1973.
24.
CampbellD. P., Manual for the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory, T-325 (Merged form), Stanford University Press, Stanford, Connecticut, 1977.
25.
CohenJ.CohenP., Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1975.
26.
CoanR., Hero, Artist, Sage or Saint?, Columbia University Press, 1977.
27.
CoanR., The Optimal Personality: An Empirical and Theoretical Analysis, Columbia University Press, New York, 1974.
28.
HoganR., Moral Development and the Structure of Personality, in Moral Development: Current Theory and Research, dePalmaD. J.FoleyJ. M. (eds.), Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1975.
29.
ArgyrisC., Theories of Action That Inhibit Individual Learning, American Psychologist, 31, pp. 638–654, 1976.
30.
FiskeD. W., The Limits of the Conventional Science of Personality, Journal of Personality, 42, pp. 1–11, 1974.
31.
MessickS., The Standard Problem: Meaning and Values in Measurement and Evaluation, American Psychologist, 31, pp. 955–966, 1975.
32.
CampbellD. P.FiskeD. W., Convergent and Discriminant Validation by the Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix, Psychological Bulletin, 56, pp. 81–105, 1959.
33.
WylieR., The Self Concept (Vol. 1, Rev. ed), University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1974.
MyersI. B., The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, California, 1962.
36.
MyersI. B., The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Form G, Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, California, 1977.
37.
BurosO. K., The Mental Measurements Yearbook (Vol. 8), The Gryphon Press, Highland Park, New Jersey, 1978.
38.
StrickerL. J.RossJ., Intercorrelations and Reliability of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Scales, Psychological Reports, 17, pp. 287–293, 1963.
39.
StrickerL. J.RossJ., Some Correlates of a Jungian Personality Inventory, Psychological Reports, 14, pp. 623–643, 1964.
40.
NunnallyJ. C., Psychometric Theory, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1967.
41.
ChildI. L., Personality Correlates of Esthetic Judgment in College Students, Journal of Personality, 33, pp. 476–511, 1965.
42.
ChildI. L., Esthetics, in The Handbook of Social Psychology, (Vol. 3), LindzeyG.AronsonX, (eds.), Addiston-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 1969.
43.
ChildI. L.CoopermanM.WolowitzH. M., Esthetic Preferences and Other Correlates of Active Versus Passive Food Preferences, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 11, pp. 75–84, 1969.
44.
GordonL. V., Manual for Survey of Interpersonal Values, Science Research Associates, Chicago, Illinois, 1960.
45.
GordonL. V., Research Briefs on the Survey of Interpersonal Values (Manual supplement), Science Research Associates, Chicago, Illinois, 1963.
46.
dePalmaD. J.FoleyJ. M. (eds.), Moral Development: Current Theory and Research, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1975.
47.
KohlbergL., From Is to Ought: How to Commit the Naturalistic Fallacy and Get Away With It in the Study of Moral Development, in Cognitive Development and Epistemology, MischelT. (ed.), Academic Press, New York, 1971.
