EFFECTS OF STATUS RESOURCES AND GENDER ON ROLE EXPECTATIONS OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN COUPLES

This study examined the effects of gender, income, educational and occ upational resources on the role expectations (male dominance ideologie s) of a purposive sample of 80 African American married couples obtain ed via a snowball sampling technique. Findings indicated that within a generally egalitarian context, resources lowered the male dominance i deologies of wives while having no effect on husbands' ideologies. Gen der predicted stronger male dominance ideologies for husbands than wiv es. Cultural norms were a better predictor of actual role performance than resources. These analyses under score the need for simultaneously controlling for several demographic variables in research on dynamics within African American couples.