The relationship of self-esteem, maternal employment, and work-family plans to sex role orientations of late adolescents.

Self-esteem, maternal employment, and work-family plans are examined in relation to sex role orientations of late adolescents. Data are analyzed from questionnaires administered to 387 males and females. It was found that future work-family plans were closely tied to sex role orientations of adolescents of both sexes. However, self-esteem, evaluation of the relative difficulty of male-female sex roles, and projected childlessness were salient to sex role attitudes of females but not of males. Positive evaluations of self were related to non-traditional sex role orientations among females. Maternal employment differentially affected male and female children. Sons of women in high-status occupations were reluctant to get involved in a two-career family with children. Mothers' occupational status had little influence on the plans or sex role attitudes of daughters. The results indicate that future research should investigate whether maternal employment in high-status occupations, while providing a wider range of acceptable models for girls, may serve as a negative model for boys.