Self-concept of Single Women Lynn L. Gigy Human Development Program University of California, San Francisco Written questionnaires including a 70-item adjective checklist, a value sort, the “Who Am I?”Twenty Statements Test, measures of morale, and questions about attitudes toward marriage and demographic characteristics were administered t o samples of 66 childless, nevermarried women and 37 currently married women, 29 of whom had children. The purpose was t o explore the differences and similarities in the self-concepts of single and married women. There was little difference in morale between the groups. Single women had more psychiatric symptoms characteristic of the obsessive-compulsive personality type. Although the single women valued personal growth and achievement, the married women valued personal relationships. Single women were higher on assertion and poise clusters of adjectives. On the “Who Am I?”test, the married women were more likely t o identify with ascribed characteristics, kinship roles, and household activities, whereas the single women identified as self-determined,

”Unmarried adults are normative and statistical deviants who have been virtually ignored in social theory and research” (Rosow, 1967, p. 90). None of the rare articles about single women that do appear in social science literature (Adams, 1971,1976; Baker, 1968; Bequaert, 1976; Berquist, 1972; Birley, 1968; Gurin, Veroff, & Feld, 1960; Knupfer, Clark, & Room, 1966; Oberstone & Sukoneck, 1976; Porter, 1970; Thompson, C. 1964; Willoughby, 1938) specifically addresses the issue of self-concept by comparing single and married women. Thus there is too little information available to allow for the formulation of formal hypotheses about the ways in which single women develop and reinforce their self-identities or what the resultant content of these self-identities might be. Therefore this study was basically exploratory in nature. This article i s based on the author’s master’s thesis submitted to San Francisco State University, Department of Psychology, San Francisco, California. Psychology of Women Quarterly, Vol. 5(2) Winter 1980 0361-6843/80/1600-0321%00.95 @ 1980 Human Sciences Press

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Bart (1972) suggests that, “Because the most important roles for women in our society are the roles of wife and mother, the loss of either of these roles might result in a loss of self-esteem” (p. 172). Perhaps it could be inferred from this that the total lack of both of these roles may well result in lower self-esteem. Filling the void left by not participating in the social roles that usually define the self could cause severe identity problems among single women. If there i s truth to the notion that one’s self consists of the reflected appraisals of others, what American society offers t o fill the void certainly does not appear to be very conducive to the formation of positive self-concepts in single women. As both Berquaert (1976) and Adams (1976) point out, the public image of never-married women i s almost wholly negative in that they are regarded as failures or rather peculiar eccentrics. Thus American society is characterized by strong and diffuse pressures toward marriage and there is evidence to suggest that the pressures are even greater for women than for men (Spreitzer & Riley, 1974). Certainly the fact that 94% of the women over 30 in the United States are or have been married attests to the effect of the pressure. The reasons the remaining 6% have not married are therefore of great interest and were explored in this study. In the limited scholarly literature on single women, Miller (1973) is apparently alone in her somewhat optimistic tone. She too observed that the problem of building a valid sense of identity has often been greater for single than for married women, but she feels that for many this may recently have been changing. Until now, No matter what their other accomplishments, most nevermarried women carried with them a sense that they were second-class people, unworthy and unwanted. In contrast t o this attitude, there always have been women who found their greatest personal growth and satisfaction without marrying, but these have been small in number. Remaining single was not the certain indication of undesirability that outsiders assumed, but a deliberate choice. Today many more women are consciously weighing the benefits of marriage against i t s costs. In the current climate, the frightened and compulsive rush to marriage has abated . . . .For many people, the choice is n o longer between marriage or some second-class isol’ation. (p. 396)

This observation, however, was made in 1973 and the results of such change would not be reflected in the older (over 30) sample

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used in this study. These women were a t their most marriageable age, on the average, 20 years before the observation of this possible change. METHOD

Subjects The participants in this study were 66 childless women of at least 30 years of age who had never been married. Age 30 was chosen because census data indicate that this is the age after which marriage rates for women substantially decline. This choice was an attempt to maximize the probability of getting “single” women instead of “not-yet-wed” women for respondents. The sample was derived through a “snowball” or reputation technique. A control group of 37 currently married women was drawn from a similarly derived community sample of people who volunteered as research respondents for an ongoing longitudinal study of men and women in four normative transition stages of adult life.’ The mean age of the single women was 39.13. This did not differ significantly from the mean age of the married women, which was 38.97. Unlike the childless single women, 29 of the married women had one or more children and thus differed from the single women in parental as well as marital status.

Questionnaire The participants were asked to fill out a written questionnaire which included questions about demographic characteristics, measures of morale, a 42-item Psychological Symptoms Checklist (Lowenthal, Thurnher, & Chiriboga, 1975), a 7-item value sort (Lowenthal, et at., 1975), a 70-item Adjective Rating List, the Twenty Statements Test (‘‘Who Am I?”)(Kuhn & McPartlan‘d, 1954), and open-ended questions about attitudes toward marriage. Four measures of morale were included to determine whether, in accordance with the findings of Gurin e t al., the single women would see themselves as less happy than their married counterparts. The participants were first asked to rate their current year of life on a 9-point scale of satisfaction ranging from ”rock bottom” t o “absolute tops.” The second morale measure was a question taken from Bradburn (1969): ”Taking all things together, how would you say things are these days?Would you say ‘Human Development Program, University of California, San Francisco, Professor Marjorie Fiske, Principal Investigator. The research was made possible by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD 03051 and H D 05941)(Currently NIA 0002).

324 PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN QUARTERLY

you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?“ Both of these measures focus on current conditions. A less time-bound question was also asked: “Looking back over your life, how successful would you say you have been in getting the things you wanted out of life?Would you say you have been very successful, fairly successful, somewhat unsuccessful, not successful?” The last, and perhaps more subtle, measure of morale was the inclusion of the items “dissatisfied” and “unhappy” on the Adjective Rating List. Mental health status, or personal adjustment, was assessed by using a symptom checklist of 42 items that a team of psychiatrists (Robert Butler, M.D.; Leon Epstein, M.D.; Leonard Micon, M.D.; Alexander Simon, M.D.) considered t o be associated with psychological dysfunction on the basis of clinical evidence. Participants responded with a yes or no to a series of questions that asked if each of the following symptoms were present: moody and blue for no reason, criticism always upsetting, little things bother you, felt body parts t o be disconnected, often lose things, feel people are watching or talking about you, memory loss, shyness, shaking or trembling, flaring up in anger, hallucinating, tired in the morning, recurring fears, headaches, less interest in personal appearance, and so on, apprehension for no reason, depression, insomnia, fear of strangers, world seeming unreal, indecision, phobias, loss of appetite, lump in throat for no reason, finding people annoying or irritating, compulsion to keep a strict schedule, easily hurt feelings, hot or cold spells, tension, being on guard even with friends, constant numbness, dizziness, considered to be nervous, worry about health, contemplated suicide, must constantly control self, scared of noises at night, shortness of breath, having to do things slowly to avoid errors, felt life-was not worth living, problem drinking, and fear of being alone. The 7-item value sort was included to give some insight into what the women saw as motivational in their lives. The participants were asked to rank order the following according to their importance at present:

1. Philosophical and religious goals: For example, living a spiritual life, doing God’s will, having a philosophy of life, seeking the meaning of life, being wise, being morally good 2. Achievement and work rewards: For example, competence, economic rewards, success, social status

3. Social service: For example, helping others, serving the community, contributing t o the welfare of mankind or some part of mankind 4. Personalgrowth: For example, self-improvement, being creative, learning new things, knowing yourself, meeting and mastering new challenges 5 . Good personal relations: For example, love and affection, happy marriage, having good friends, belonging to groups

325 LYNN L. ClCY

6. Ease and contentment: For example, freedom from hardship, security, self-maintenance, peace of mind, health, simple comforts

7. Seeking enjoyment: For example, recreation, exciting or thrilling experiences, entertainment, seeking pleasurable sights, sounds, feelings, tastes and smells The adjectives on the Adjective Rating List (ARL) were the same as those used in the Block Modified Q Sort for Nonprofessional Sorters (Block, 1961).The following were rated according to whether they were perceived as like self, unlike self, or in between: absent minded, affected, ambitious, assertive, bossy, calm, cautious, competitive, confident, considerate, cooperative, cruel, defensive, dependent, disorderly, dissatisfied, dramatic, dull, easily embarrassed, easily hurt, energetic, fair minded, feminine, frank, friendly, guileful, helpless, hostile, idealistic, imaginative, impulsive, intelligent, introspective, jealous, lazy, likeable, persevering, charming, reasonable, rebellious, resentful, reserved, restless, sarcastic, poised, self-controlled, self-indulgent, selfish, self-pitying, sense of humor, sentimental, shrewd, sincere, sophisticated, stubborn, suspicious, sympathetic, timid, touchy, tactless, unconventional, undecided, unhappy, uninterested, unworthy, versatile, warm, withdrawn, worried, and wise. The instruments described thus far have not provided an assessment of the participants' self-conceptions in terms of roles, memberships, loyalties, or activities. The Kuhn and McPartland Twenty Statements Test (TST), which asks respondents to give 20 answers to the question "Who Am I?" in a period of 12 minutes, was used for this purpose.

RESULTS

Demographic Characteristics

As can be seen in Table 1, there were a number of significant demographic differences between the single and married respondents. The samples reflect a strong direct relationship between both educational and occupational attainment and unmarried status. The single women were more likely to have attended college or graduate school; 88% of the single women and 40.5% of the married women were working at the time of the data collection and the single women were more likely to hold professional-level jobs. (Of the unemployed single women, three were retired, two were fulltime students, and another was looking for work.) Data were collected so that the religious and socioeconomic backgrounds of the two samples could be compared. There was no

326 PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN QUARTERLY

Table 1

Demographic Variables by Marital Status

variable

Remilts of s t a t i s t i c a l test

Age

no significant difference

WClTldng?

amre s i n g e s working

Occupation

more s w e s w i t h professional status

(p

-

(2.!.a)

.Cn)

more singles with EA or more

(p" .on)

Father's Occupation

mare single's fathers with professiondl status (2 ,:.a)

Fatherb &incation

mare singleIs fathers w i t h cdlege cp L.05)

&&herUashd?

more narried's

Mother's Occupation

no s i g n i f i c a n t difference

Mother's Educatim

mare single's mothers w i t h college (p L.05)

prothers

worked

(E cr.05)

no significant difference

significant difference between the religious backgrounds (Jewish, Protestant, Roman Catholic, or other) of the two samples. This is in contradiction to the findings of Spreitzer and Riley (1974) who found Catholicism associated with singlehood among females. When the occupational and educational levels of their fathers were compared, significant differences again emerged. Although there was no difference between the number of fathers engaged in bluecollar occupations, the fathers of the single women were more likely to be in professions such as law, medicine, or engineering, x2(2)=9.94, p