THEIR MOTHERS DAUGHTERS - THE INTERGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSION OF GENDER ATTITUDES IN A WORLD OF CHANGING ROLES

This study examines the intergenerational transmission of two gender a ttitudes (gender role ideology and work role identity). It draws on a life course perspective and panel data on mothers to assess the relati onships between daughters' attitudes and (a) mothers' attitudes and em ployment experiences, as well as (b) the daughters' own life experienc es. We find that mothers' gender role ideology in the 1950s was positi vely related to their daughters' gender role ideology as adults in 198 8 and that social change over this 30-year period contributed to great er mother-daughter congruence in gender role ideology and work role id entity by the 1980s. However, daughters' own status matters most in pr edicting their work role identity, suggesting the importance of both b ehavior and broad historical changes in moderating intergenerational t ransmission processes.