Effects of status resources and gender on role expectations of African American couples

Abstract

This study examined the effects of gender, income, educational and occupational resources on the role expectations (male dominance ideologies) of a purposive sample of 80 African American married couples obtained via a snowball sampling technique. Findings indicated that within a generally egalitarian context, resources lowered the male dominance ideologies of wives while having no effect on husbands’ ideologies. Gender predicted stronger male dominance ideologies for husbands than wives. Cultural norms were a better predictor of actual role performance than resources. These analyses underscore the need for simultaneously controlling for several demographic variables in research on dynamics within African American couples.