Facing the Caree/Family Dichotomy: Traditional College Women's Perspectives

FACING THE CAREER/FAMILY DICHOTOMY: TRADITIONAL COLLEGE WOMEN’S PERSPECTIVES Lisa M. Leavitt Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education Doctor of Philosophy This qualitative study explored the experience of 32 traditional college freshmen women as they sought to choose a career with the idea of balancing career and family in the future. A traditional woman was defined as a woman whose central value system and cultural mores emphasize homemaking and childrearing as their primary role. Guided interviews were conducted to obtain in-depth descriptions of participants’ experience. The interviews were transcribed and interpreted using a synthesis of qualitative methods based on Kvale’s method. The six themes were as follows: 1. The concept of balancing careers and family life is not being discussed or addressed. 2. Participants saw their mothers’ influence as the most significant in helping them come to their present decision about career and motherhood. 3. Education and a career are viewed as separate entities. 4. Participants reported experiencing both guilt and ambivalence over wanting both a career and a family. 5. Participants saw career and motherhood as mutually exclusive. 6. Participants thought of their ideas as being mainstream whether they wanted to work or stay at home while raising a family. The findings suggested that much more needs to be done in terms of encouraging discussion and providing forums for further exploration, to help resolve some of the ambivalence and confusion traditional women experience in trying to balance family and career. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The writing of this dissertation has been a rewarding journey which, while it has taught me much about the academic world, it has taught me a great deal more about myself. It is a journey I could not have undertaken alone, and there are many without whom it would not have been possible, and who have greatly influenced me at every step along the way. I express my deep gratitude to my committee chair Aaron Jackson for his belief in my ability to complete this dissertation. I thank him for his patience, guidance, support, friendship, and mostly his ability to inspire and encourage me throughout this process. I am grateful to my committee members, Ellie Young, Melissa Heath, Tim Smith and Steve Smith, each of whom has shared their individual strengths, both academically and personally, and who have been more than willing to help and offer support. I am thankful for the support of my cohort, Roger Belisle, Jo-Anne Collier, Laura Hoffman, Melissa Smith and Brian Sneed, who made the journey worthwhile. I am very grateful to my family for their support not only on this journey, but on my journey through life. I am thankful to my siblings and their spouses, Melanie Sandgren, Timothy and Dana Leavitt, Matthew and Shannon Hawkins, Anthony and Suzanne Pericle, Nathan and Natalie Cobb, Thomas and Vanessa Sutton, and Jessica Leavitt, for their never ending encouragement, and love. Most importantly I am grateful to my parents Vance and Marquitta Leavitt. I thank them for the example they set of the importance of a strong work ethic and a job well done. I thank them for their love and support in ways too numerous to mention. I will be forever grateful for their encouragement, their vision, and the belief they had in my ability to become Dr. Leavitt long before I believed it myself.