THE RELATIONS AMONG FEMINIST IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT, GENDER-ROLE ORIENTATION, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING IN WOMEN

Saunders, Kendra J.
Kashubeck-West, Susan

Kendra J. Saunders, Department of Psychology, Texas Tech University;
Susan Kashubeck-West, Division of Counseling and Family Therapy, University of Missouri–St. Louis.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Susan Kashubeck-West, Division of Counseling and Family Therapy, University of Missouri–St. Louis, One University Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63121-4499. E-mail: [email protected]

Kendra J. Saunders is now at the Center for Counseling and Human Development, Millersville University.

This paper is based on a doctoral dissertation by Kendra J. Saunders, conducted under the supervision of Susan Kashubeck-West. An earlier version of the paper was presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, IL, August 2002.

Initial submission: June 2, 2004, Initial acceptance: November 16, 2005, Final acceptance: February 2, 2006

Psychology of Women Quarterly 30(2):p 199-211, June 2006.

This study examined relations between feminist identity development, gender-role orientation, and psychological well-being in 244 women of varying ages and backgrounds. As hypothesized, both feminist identity development and gender-role orientation contributed independently to the explanation of variance in psychological well-being. Instrumentality, expressiveness, and a more developed feminist identity were all related positively to psychological well-being. In addition, instrumentality and a more developed feminist identity were correlated positively. Implications of these findings as well as limitations and future directions are discussed.