GENDER-ROLES IN MARRIAGE - WHAT DO THEY MEAN FOR GIRLS AND BOYS SCHOOL-ACHIEVEMENT

This study explored the implications of parents' traditional vs. egali tarian marital roles for girls' and boys' patterns of math and science achievement in 67 families with young adolescents. Marital roles were measured in terms of parents' relative involvement in child-oriented activities (e.g., in egalitarian families mothers and fathers particip ated equally in child-oriented activities). Findings revealed that gir ls from egalitarian families maintained a high level of achievement ac ross the transition to the seventh grade, whereas girls from tradition al families declined in math and science performance. For boys, no sig nificant patterns emerged. Additional analyses revealed that egalitari an and traditional families differed in terms of absolute levels of pa ternal involvement, parents' sex-role attitudes, and indices of marita l power Our findings were consistent with a person-process-context mod el of development: Egalitarian and traditional contexts were character ized by different family processes and had different implications for boys and girls.