Relationships between Achievement and Affiliation Needs and Sex-Role Orientation of College Women Whose Fathers Were Absent from Home

Abstract

This study examined the influence of fathers' absence on the gender-role orientation, achievement, and affiliation of middle-class, college-aged women and whether these effects operate similarly for white and black women. The subjects were classified as father-absent (34 between 0 to 6 years of age, early absence; 29 between 7 to 12 years of age, late absence) or father-present, based upon written descriptions of their households. Over-all, 80 father-absent subjects were not higher in achievement and lower in affiliation than 191 father-present women; however, black women whose fathers died had significantly higher daydream achievement scores than those with fathers present or white women. Father-absent women were not significantly more masculine and androgynous than father-present women. However, 12 black women whose fathers were dead had significantly higher masculinity scores than the other three groups. The implications of these results are discussed.