AND FEMALE ROLE MODELS IN FEMALE COLLEGE STUDENTS
DOCTORAL DISSERTATION
(text only)

Copyright © 1996
Diane Elizabeth Howard
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of
The University of Texas at Austin
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
December 1996
Co-Supervisors: Ralph W. Cain and Lucia McKay
This dissertation is dedicated to
David Richard Howard
who has supported the author in every endeavor throughout
twenty-seven years of marriage
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like express sincere gratitude to all who
have supported, encouraged, facilitated, and supervised this dissertation. Appreciation is
expressed to the husband,
David R. Howard, and family of
the author for their support, especially to the author's parents, Colonel
and Mrs. H. S. Lowe, for the fine educational opportunities they provided the author.
Special thanks is given to the author's committee for their
excellent instruction, facilitation, and supervision. Thanks is expressed
to Dr. Jo Ann Sweeney and Pattie Rose for Guidance. Heartfelt gratitude is given to the
author's mentors and role models: Claire Nace, Dr. Lucia McKay, Dr. Cecilia Erlund, and
Dr. Linda Pehl. Appreciation is extended especially to Betty Sue Beebe, Berneta
Peeples,dr. Rachel LaRoe, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor's Class of 1945, and to the
others who participated in surveys, interviews, and oral histories in the author's
research related to the female history of U.M.H.B. Thanks is expressed to the author's faculty, library, and media
colleagues and staff at the U.M.H.B. who encouraged and assisted the doctoral studies and
research of the author, especially to the following colleagues: Max Hart, Dr. Bob Holland,
Dr. David Roland, Dr. George Stansbury, and Dr. Joseph Tabarlet. Special gratitude is
expressed
Dr. Lucinda Harman for her expert assistance to the author in analyzing and graphing the
data.
ABSTRACT
This study investigates locus of control as a changeable variable in first-year, female, coeducational, college students at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Further, it investigates the relationship between locus of control in these subjects and their identification, or not, of female, faculty or staff, role models.Measurement instruments were Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale and the investigator's role model questionnaire. The study was built on historical research of the university's female-only days and on a review of literature in the fields of education, psychology, sociology, industry, labor, and business.
This study presents evidence that suggests that the subjects who identified role models had stronger internal locus of control than the subjects who did not identify role models, that locus of control was a changeable variable, that internal locus of control increased over the first year of college in the role model group (positive effect), and that internal locus of decreased over the first year of college in the no role model group (negative effect). Thus, this study suggests a factor which may strengthen internal locus of control in first-year, female, coeducational college students.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
DEFINITION OF TERMS
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
EMERGENCE OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS
ORGANIZATION OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT
2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
EDUCATIONAL LITERATURE
PSYCHOLOGICAL LITERATURE
SOCIOLOGICAL LITERATURE
INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR LITERATURE
3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND PROCEDURE
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
RESEARCH DESIGN
HYPOTHESES
SUBJECTS
PROCEDURES
4. DATA ANALYSIS
CONCLUSIONS
5. LIMITATIONS AND RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS
LIMITATIONS
FUTURE RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS
APPENDICES
Research Tools
Samples of Anecdotal Evidence of Female Role Models and Internal Locus of Control in Female Students at The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor During Its Female-Only Days
REFERENCES
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Twentieth-century learning theories can be divided into two major categories: cognitivism and behaviorism. Cognitive theories, which recognize complex internal cognitive and social factors in students as significant in producing achievement motivation, have been challenged by behavioristic theories, which more simply and mechanically recognize external stimuli as factors in producing achievement motivation in students. (Lefrancois, 1988) " . . . traditional theories have painted an overly passive and mechanistic picture of human beings. The newer approaches are clearly cognitive." (Lefrancois, 1988: 278) In recent decades, cognitive learning theories have emerged which focus on achievement motivation in terms of student attributions and observations.
Rotter provides a foundation for the cognitive theories of the
last twenty years in his social learning theory, a social-personality theory that
describes students in terms of their tendencies to attribute success or failure to
internal or external factors.
. . . the extent to which a person believes that he can control
what
happens to him is referred to as a belief in internal control of
reinforcement. A belief that one is controlled by luck, fate, or
powerful others, is referred to as a belief in external control
of
reinforcement. (Rotter, 1971:61)
R. de Charms uses the attributional terms "origin" and "pawn" in a similar way to Rotter's attributional terms "internal and external." (de Charms, 1968) "An Origin is a person who perceives his behavior as determined by his own choosing: a Pawn is a person who perceives his behaviour as determined by external forces beyond his control." (de Charms, 1968: 273-274)
Weiner, likewise, presents a systematic achievement motivation theory which begins with the assumption that students attribute their successes and failures to internal or external causes. Those who attribute their successes to internal causes have a greater degree of achievement motivation than those who attribute their successes to external causes. Those who attribute their failures to external causes, rather than to internal causes, have stronger self-esteem and achievement motivation than those who attribute failure to internal causes. (Weiner: 1979; Teglasi 1978)
One area of research that developed from Rotter's theory concerns the locus of control in individuals. The locus of control in people affects their perception of rewards they receive as controlled by internal factors, such as their personal ability, effort, or skill, or as controlled by external factors, such as chance,luck, or other people. Persons' perceptions of their environments as skill-or-chance-determined influence positive or negative shifts of achievement expectancy in themselves following success and failure. In addition, there are other characteristics that emerge as a result of individuals' perceptions of their environments as personally or externally controlled. For example, research investigations have suggested that people classified as internal in locus of control display more information-seeking behavior and make better use of this information than people classified as external in locus of control. (Weiner, 1979: 272)
Subsequent investigations of
"internality-externality" have established that it is a useful and valid way of
classifying students in terms of how they attribute the rewards and reinforcements they
receive following their actions and behaviors. (Dweck,1986) Such investigations may be
especially important for females. Evidence suggests that, in American schools, males have
the tendency to make more external attributions for failure than females. "American
girls are more likely to blame themselves, attributing failure to lack of intelligence or
ability. When the boy does well, however, he will often attribute his success to a
personal trait." (Cushner, McClelland, and Safford, 1992: 32).
Furthermore, educational theorists and researchers have been
concerned in recent decades with females' "hypothesized fear of success."
(Weiner, 1979: 182; Teglasi, 1978; Betz & Fitzgerald, 1987) Betz & Fitzgerald
credit the original concept of "fear of success" to Horner and define it as the
motive to avoid success, which in women is ". . . characterized by a stable
dispositional tendency to become anxious about achieving success, which tendency is
thought to reduce achievement motivation and inhibit achievement-related behavior."
(Betz & Fitzgerald, 1987: 153)
Finally, cognitive and social learning theories include the issue of learning by observation. Maccoby and Jacklin state that ". . . although various theorists of child development (such as Kagan, Kohlberg, Mischel, Mussen, & Sears) have differing theoretical viewpoints, all stress the influence of imitation and identification." (Basow & Howe, 1980: 559; Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974) Bandura asserts "Most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed . . . . Models who possess engaging qualities are sought out . . . " (Bandura, 1977: 22-23) Muss presents a theory of adolescence in which he contends that a student's observation of her teacher may have a more powerful impact on the student than instructional methods. (Muss, 1975)
Educational theorists, as well as being concerned about the issue of locus of control and its effect on achievement, especially in females, have been concerned about the issue of role modeling and its effect on achievement for females. Studies of students and teachers in the United States, Canada, England, and Nigeria present evidence of a positive relationship between same-sex role modeling and academic achievement. (Johnson, 1973-74) Studies provide evidence that same-sex role modeling may be especially important for female students. (Finn, 1980) Block asserts that proponents of single-sex schooling emphasize the importance of female faculty members as successful, competent role models and as sources of encouragement for female students. (Colangelo, Dustin, & Foxley, 1979; Block, 1979)
Maccoby and Jacklin contend that adolescent female students
display more concern about being liked and respected by their teachers, are more dependent
on teachers for emotional support, and are more subject to suggestibility than male
students. (Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974; Colangelo, Dustin, & Foxley, 1979) Block
contends that the "effects of single-sex education may not be parallel for the two
sexes . . . ." (Colangelo,
Dustin, & Foxley, 1979: 57, Block, 1979) Females may, in general, value relationships
and cooperation more than males. Gilligan traces female psychological and moral
development that places relationships and caring
for others at the center of the developing female self. (Gilligan, 1982)
Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule present an epistemological model of development based on the importance of relationships in cognitive development for females. Using interviews with 135 female students from a wide range of educational institutions, they conclude that females have a "connected way of knowing" based on experiential and relational modes of thought. Belenky et al. contend that females are especially influenced by relationships and are positively influenced by professional female role models. (Belenky et al., 1986)
Studies present evidence that same-sex role modeling is
especially important for female students and that female role models strengthen
achievement in female college students. (Douvan, 1976; Lentz, 1980;
Tidball, 1980; Basow & Howe, 1980; Solnick, 1995; Canes & Rosen,1995;
Ehrenberg, 1995) Studies further support the idea that females can strengthen internal
locus of control in other females. (Teglasi, 1978)
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Do female role models provide a solution to the problem of female student under-achievement and under-representation? Studies present evidence that American female students are outperformed and overrepresented by American male students in the fields of mathematics, science, and engineering. (Rossi, 1965; Ernest, 1976; Fennema & Sherman, 1977; McKay, 1978; Betz & Fitzgerald,1980; Ehrenberg, 1995) Ehrenberg asserts that a solution to the problem of poorer scores on standarized tests in science and mathematics for female students and to the problem of a lower percentage of females as students and faculty in mathematics, science, and engineering is to provide female faculty role models in these fields. (Ehrenberg, 1995)
Educational institutions at all levels are also aggressively
seeking
to expand . . . female faculty to employ in 'traditionally male
fields,' such as mathematics, science, and engineering. Females
are
under-represented in many of these fields at the collegiate
level,
both as students and as faculty. (Ehrenberg, 1995: 482;
Ehrenberg,
1992)
Ehrenberg contends that a major reason for this
under-representation of females in fields traditionally dominated by males is that by the
time young women reach the end of high school, they tend to perform more poorly than males
in mathematics and science in standarized tests. Ehrenberg asserts that
. . . . Many point to the absence of female role models in
science
and mathematics . . . as part of the explanation for these
outcomes . .
. . The scarcity of female faculty in traditionally male fields
in
higher education is also believed to contribute to the reluctance
of
women to major in traditionally male fields of study, to their
high
propensity to switch to other majors if they start out in a
traditionally male field, and to the small number of women
pursuing
doctoral study in many . . . male fields.
(Ehrenberg, 1995: 482)
Literature in the fields of education, psychology, sociology,
science, labor, industry, and business addresses the following questions: Is there
a relationship between female role models and female college students' attitudes toward
themselves and toward professional women? (Walker, 1984)
Is there a relationship between career salience in female college students and female role
models? (Rossi, 1965; ; Douvan, 1976; Lentz, 1980; Tidball, 1980) Is female role modeling
a significant factor in female students' achievement motivation? (Rossi, 1965; Douvan,
1976; Lentz, 1980; Tidball, 1980; Smith & Erb, 1986; Anderson & Ramsey, 1990;
Solnick, 1995) Is there
a relationship between female achievement and affirmative action? (Tidball, 1973, 1980;
Berger, 1990; Canes & Rosen, 1995) What are the barriers to female achievement?
(Rossi, 1965; Betz & Fitgerald, 1987) Is there a relationship between females'
attitudes and female role models? (McLure
& Piel, 1978; Basow & Howe, 1980; Walker, 1984). Do female role models
affect female earnings? (Angle & Wiseman, 1981; Gerhart, 1990; Fuller & Schoenberger, 1991; Rothstein, 1995)
Additional questions addressed include these: Is there a relationship between internal locus of control and persistence? (Strain, 1993) Is there a relationship between internal locus of control and achievement? (Lewin & Stephens, 1994) Is internal locus of control a significant factor in females' achievement motivation? (Teglasi, 1978) Is there a relationship between locus of control and motivation? (Stone & Jackson, 1975) Is there a relationship between locus of control and modeling? (Stone & Jackson, 1975) Is there a relationship between locus of control in females and female competitors? (Teglasi, 1978) Is there a relationship between locus of control and cognitive ability? (Fry, 1975) Is there a relationship between change in observers and role models? (Schwartz & Hawkins, 1965; Myrick,1969; Marlatt, Jacobson, Johnson, & Morrice, 1970; Duke & Frankel, 1971; Sarason, Ganzer, & Singer, 1972; Stone & Stebbins, 1975; Stone & Gotlib, 1975; Dowling & Franz, 1975)
Researchers have studied these questions and have provided evidence that suggests the following: Females who have positive attitudes toward professional women and who have positive self-esteem have female role models. (Walker, 1984) A positive relationship exists between career salience in female college students and female role models. (Rossi, 1965; Douvan, 1976; Lentz, 1980; Tidball, 1980; Walker, 1984) Female college students who have female role models are more career salient than those who do not have female role models. (Rossi, 1965; Douvan, 1976; Lentz, 1980; Tidball, 1980) Female students in single-sex colleges are more career salient than female students in coeducational colleges. (Lentz, 1980; Tidball, 1980; Solnick, 1995) Female college students who go into non-traditional, professional careers have female role models. (Solnick, 1995)
Researchers have presented further evidence related to these questions, which suggests the following: Female role modeling is a significant factor in female students' achievement motivation. (Rossi, 1965; Douvan, 1976; Lentz, 1980; Tidball, 1980; Smith & Erb, 1986; Anderson & Ramsey, 1990; Solnick, 1995) There is a positive relationship between female achievement and affirmative action. (Tidball, 1973, 1980; Berger, 1990; Canes & Rosen, 1995) One of the barriers to female achievement is lack of professional, female role models. (Rossi, 1965; Betz & Fitgerald, 1987) There is a positive relationship between females' attitudes and female role models. (McLure & Piel, 1978; Basow & Howe, 1980; Walker, 1984) Female role models affect female earnings. (Angle & Wiseman, 1981; Gerhart, 1990; Fuller & Schoenberger, 1991; Ehrenberg, 1995; Rothstein, 1995)
Furthermore, researchers have provided evidence that suggests
the following: There is a positive relationship between internal locus of control and
persistence. (Strain, 1993) Internal locus of control and achievement are positively
related. (Lewin & Stephens, 1994) Internal locus of control is a significant factor in
females' achievement motivation. (Teglasi, 1978) There is a positive relationship between
locus of control and motivation. (Stone & Jackson, 1975) Locus of control and modeling
are positively related. (Stone & Jackson, 1975) There is a positive relationship
between locus of control in females and female competitors. (Teglasi, 1978) Women have
stronger internal locus of control when in competition with women than with men. (Teglasi,
1978) Locus of control and cognitive ability are positively related. (Fry, 1975) There is
a positive relationship between change in observers and role models. (Schwartz &
Hawkins, 1965; Myrick, 1969; Marlatt, Jacobson, Johnson, & Morrice, 1970; Duke &
Frankel, 1971; Sarason, Ganzer, & Singer, 1972; Stone & Stebbins, 1975; Stone
& Gotlib,
1975; Dowling & Franz, 1975)
Thus, there is both indirect and direct evidence related to the question of the relationship, in female students, between internal locus of control and female role models in coeducational settings. Strengthening the internal locus of control in female students may be related to improving achievement of female students and may point towards a solution for the problem of female under-achievement and under-representation.
This present study was undertaken to answer the specific questions: Is there a relationship between having a female role model and internal locus of control in female students? Is there a relationship in female students at coeducational colleges between internal locus of control and identifying a female role model? Is there is such a relationship, could internal locus of control in female students in coeducational colleges be strengthened by increasing opportunities for students to have female role models? Would identifying female role models strengthen the internal locus of control of female students and improve the students' achievement motivation? The focus of this research was on the relationship between internal locus of control in female college students at a coeducational college and their identification of female role models.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
The following are definitions of terms used in this study:
Achievement Theory
This study defines achievement theory as that which
incorporates "
. . . features of both cognitive (expectancy-value) and the mechanistic traditions in the
study of motivation." (Weiner, 1979: 1790). Achievement theory includes
"expectancy value", which concerns how hard one works at achievement as
determined by one's success and their valuing of that success. Achievement motivation
involves determination to accomplish something difficult, to organize, to master objects,
people, or ideas. (Weiner, 1979) In this theory of motivation, "individuals
classified as
high versus low in achievement needs exhibit opposing risk preferences when given tasks
differing in perceived difficulty . . . . persons labeled high in achievement needs are
predicted to exhibit different risk-taking behavior than persons low in achievement
needs." (Weiner, 1986:10)
Career Salience
This term is defined in this study as (a) the degree to which a person is career motivated, (b) the degree to which an occupation is important as a source of satisfaction, and (c) the degree of priority ascribed to the occupation among other sources of satisfaction. (Lentz, 1980: 29; Masih, 1966) Career salience is a factor which is predictive of career orientation and probable career success. (Lentz, 1980)
Locus of Control
This study defines "locus of control" as that which
identifies the extent to which a person perceives that events in her life are contingent
upon her own behavior or her own characteristics. (Rotter 1966) Locus of control is
operationally measured in this study via Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control
Scale. (Rotter, 1966)
A person with internal locus of control believes she has control
over reinforcing events in his or her life. (Stone & Jackson, 1975) A person with
internal locus of control attributes change to herself and to her actions. She believes
and acts as though she controls her own future and sees herself as an effective agent in
determining the occurrence of reinforcing events. (Stone & Jackson, 1975)
A person with external locus of control attributes change to
an external source. She believes, reports, or acts as though forces beyond her control
(such as fate, chance, powerful others, social constraints, or instructions) are important
factors in determining the occurrence of reinforcing events. (Stone & Jackson, 1975) A
person with external locus of control perceives that reinforcement follows some action of
her own but is
not entirely contingent upon her action. She believes that reinforcement is "the
result of luck, chance, fate, as under the control of powerful others, or is unpredictable
because of the great complexity of the forces." (Rotter, 1966: 227)
Role Model
This term is defined in this study as an adult female who has qualities or professional skills that a female college student " . . . admires and wishes to emulate . . . The process of observing can take place without direct interaction between the observer and the role model. It is possible that the role model may not be aware of her . . . influence on another person." (Anderson and Ramsey, 1990: 183)
A role model is defined by social learning theory as an example to imitate, whom a young person perceives as similar to herself. "The social learning viewpoint states that children imitate same-sex models more than opposite-sex ones due to . . . perceived similarity to the model." (Basow & Howe, 1980: 559) Almquist and Angrist define role models in terms of human examples whom young people can imitate and from whom young people can receive reinforcement. Almquist and Angrist contend that role models go beyond providing simple technical 'how-to' information and set norms and values, provide recognition and reward for achievements, and orient behaviors on a certain course. (Almquist & Angrist, 1971)
Bell defines role modeling in terms of two processes: identification and interaction. Identification with the role model by the individual can involve any or all of the following: perceived similarity between the individual and role model, imitation by the individual of the role model, and assimilation by the individual of the role model's attitudes and values. Interaction can occur in different spheres of life. (Bell, 1970)
Social Learning Theory
In this study, this theory is defined in terms of individuals'
goals, expectancies, and social reinforcements. "According to social learning theory,
man's behavior is determined by his goals. Behavior is always directional. An individual
responds with those behaviors that he has learned will lead to the greatest satistfaction
in a given situation." (Rotter, 1971: 58)
Rotter's social learning theory proposes that the probability of
a behavior occurring is related to the an individual's expectancy that the behavior will
gain reinforcement and that the reinforcement has value to
the individual. (Strain, 1993)
Bandura defines social learning theory in terms of personal and
environmental interactions. "In the social learning view, people are neither driven
by inner forces nor buffeted by environmental stimuli. Rather,
psychological functioning is explained in terms of a continuous reciprocal interaction of
personal and environmental determinants." (Bandura, 1977: 11-12) Bandura contends
that the issue of the locus at which behavioral determinants operate relates to
reinforcement influences and to environmental stimuli. (Bandura, 1977)
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Locus of control is a valuable construct in studying academic persistence and motivation. Strain states ". . . other than identifying locus of control as an important motivational factor, research has revealed little about the complex relationship between student motivational behavior and persistence in college." (Strain, 1993: 7) Evidence suggests that persons with internal locus of control are more cognitively able, mentally aware, better predisposed to learning, and more motivated than persons with external locus of control. For example, studies suggest that internal and external subjects differ in cognitive ability and mental awareness. (Stone & Jackson, 1975; Erlund, 1984)
Internal persons appear to possess more information regarding their status in certain institutions. (Seaman,1963; Erlund, 1984) Internal persons show a greater readiness to perceive relevant information. Stone & Jackson, 1975; Erlund, 1984) Internal persons have been found to be more prepared to seek necessary information in experimental tasks than external persons. (Lefcourt & Wine, 1966; Erlund, 1984)
Rotter addresses the concept of locus of
control and contends that persons with internal locus of control show more overt striving
for achievement than persons with external locus of control, who feel that they have
little control over their rewards and punishments. (Rotter, 1971; Joe, 1971; Erlund, 1984)
Deci, Weiner, and Parsons see internal locus of control as a facilitator of achievement in
relation to attributions. (Deci, 1975; Weiner, 1972, 1978; Parsons, 1983) Lefcourt
contends that students who believe they can influence the outcome of their work are more
likely to be motivated in academic studies. (Lefcourt, 1981, 1983; Strain, 1993)
An extensive body of literature supports the premise that
students with internal locus of control will show higher achievement motivation than
students with external locus of control (Coleman, 1966; Parsons, 1983; Weiner, 1978) and
the premise that individuals who score high on achievement motivation assume personal
responsibility for their work and attribute success to something they personnally do,
rather than to luck or ease of task. (Crandall, V. J., Katkovsky, & Preston, 1962;
Crandall, V. J., Katkovsky , & Crandall, V., 1965; Coleman, 1966; Parsons, 1983;
Weiner, 1978; Strain, 1993)
Joe reports that his survey of studies on
locus of control supports
. . . the hypothesis that internals not only
will show more initiative
and effort in controlling their environments but also control
their
own impulses better than externals . . . . it appears safe to
conclude that internals, in contrast to externals, would show a
greater tendency to seek information and adopt behavior patterns
which facilitate personal control over their environments
. . . . (Erlund, 1984: 20; Joe, 1971: 627)
Roueche and Mink further address the value of internal locus of
control in individuals:
. . . they have a higher self-concept and are generally
better
adjusted, more independent, more achieving, more realistic
in their
aspirations, more open to new learning, more creative, more
flexible,
more self-reliant, show more initiative and effort in
controlling the
environment, are less anxious, have higher grades, show
more interest
in intellectual and achievement matters, etc. . . . It
would seem
reasonable then to try and aid people in changing to a more
internal
orientation, to help them realize the contingencies between
their own
behavior and relevant aspects of their environment - - thus
increasing
the efficiency and effectiveness of their behaviors.
(Erlund, 1984:
19-20; Roueche & Mink, 1976: 9)
Further, internal persons seem to be more cognitively active.
(Stone & Jackson, 1975; Erlund, 1984) Evidence suggests that external and internal
subjects differ in their mental awareness of challenges inherent in certain tasks
(Lefcourt, 1966) and of opportunities. (Stone & Jackson, 1975)
. . . . Since the control dimension is usually
measured by scales
stressing academic interests, it would seem likely that learning
skills and achievement behaviors would be highly related to
control.
. . . in investigations concerned with learning and
achievement-related
variables, the control construct allows some predictions when the
materials are relevant to the subjects' goal strivings. However,
successful predictions in this area were found only in male
samples.
. . . Perceived control, as need achievement, may be less useful
for
predicting females' achievement behaviors than it is for males'.
More investigations including sex as a variable are necessary.
(Lefcourt, 1966: 213-214; Erlund, 1984:20)
McKay asserts that ". . . McGhee and Crandall (1968) have
shown,
that the locus of control construct does successfully predict academic performance, with
internal students being more successful than externals." (McKay, 1978: 22; McGhee
& Crandall, 1968: 232) Furthermore, Teglasi finds evidence that suggests that internal
locus of control in female students is stronger when they are in competition with other
female college students than with male college students. Teglasi finds evidence of
"fear of success" in female college students in competition with male college
students. (Teglasi, 1978) (See Review of Literature section, Teglasi)
In summary, evidence suggests that persons with internal locus of
control are more independent, cognitively able, mentally aware, predisposed to learning,
and motivated than persons with external locus of control. Evidence also suggests that
females may experience "fear of success" in competition with males, but that
internal locus of control in females may be positively affected by other females. Evidence
further suggests that achievement motivation in younger females is positively effected by
female role models.
Since increasing the internal locus of control for female college
students would tend to be associated with better academic performance, information
concerning the relationship between internal locus of control in females and the presence
of female role models is of value. Therefore, this study examines the relationship between
internal locus of control in female college students at a coeducational college and
whether these students identify female role models.
EMERGENCE OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The research questions that are addressed in this study emerged
as the researcher conducted ethnographic, historical studies at the University of Mary
Hardin-Baylor from fall 1992 through spring 1995. The first research looked at the years
from 1886-1972, during the female-only days of the university. The researcher studied
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor students from the female-only days by reading published
works by former students and faculty on the female-only history of the college.
Further, the researcher surveyed the entire Class of
1945,collected oral histories from female leaders from the female-only days of the school,
and audio-taped and transcribed narration from two former students who have lived near the
institution and studied its history for 60 years. Patterns of characteristics emerged from
these projects. One pattern that emerged from this ethnographic research was the strong
influence of female role models, especially that of faculty role models. (See
documentation of evidence in appendix.)
Patterns of characteristics from the
ethnographic, historical studies at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor from fall 1992
through spring 1995 suggested that these female students had an internal locus of control.
Students from the college's female-only days reported that events in their lives were
contingent on their own behavior, choices, actions, and personal characteristics,
suggesting internal locus of control. Taking responsibility for their own lives, students
from the female-only days typically moved into careers for which they had deliberately
prepared, suggesting career salience. (See documentation of evidence in appendix.)
Through reading writings, interviewing, and surveying students of
female-only days at this university, the author has concluded that women educated at the
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor before the 70s, in general, seemed to have had both an
internal locus of control and female role models. Two basic questions emerged from this
historical research:
1. Is there a relationship between the locus of control in female
college students' and their identification of female role models?
2. Does locus of control in female college students tend to become increasingly more internal when they have female role models?
ORGANIZATION OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT
The two initial questions which emerged from
the 1992-95 ethnographic, historical projects generated research questions which this
study addressed with the methodology described in Chapter III. A research project was
conducted in 1994-1996. This was a study of first-year female college students and their
identification of female staff or faculty role models at the University of Mary
Hardin-Baylor. Measurement used Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale
and the investigator's questionnaire related to the students' identification of role
models. The first purpose of this study was to investigate locus of control as a changeable
variable in first-year, female, coeducational college students.
The second purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship of internal locus of
control between first-year, female college students and the identification of female role
models. This study was built on a review of literature in the fields of education,
psychology, sociology, industry, and labor.
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Literature that relates to the issues of locus of control in females and the effects of female modeling (of females in general on other females and the effects of female role models on female college students) can be found in the fields of education, sociology, psychology, and labor. Studies in these areas indicate that internal locus of control, self-esteem, career salience, and achievement in females are positively related to the presence of female role models.
Educational Literature
In educational literature, there are two leading theories and many research projects directly pertinent to this study. Weiner provides a theory of attribution, and Bandura provides a theory of observational learning from models. Studies of many educational researchers support the ideas that having female role models can influence professional choices, career salience, academic and professional success, self-esteem, and attitudes toward women, in both female students and in female professionals. Further, research provides evidence of locus of control as a significant factor in achievement motivation.
Weiner asserts that people attribute their successes and failures to internal or external reinforcers. An "internal person" attributes successes and failures to her ability or to her effort. An "internal person" attributes her performance to causes for which she assumes personal responsibility. An "external person" attributes her performance to factors for which she has no responsibility and over which she has no control. If she fails, the "external person" assumes that the task was too difficult or that she was unlucky (or both). If the "external person" succeeds, she attributes her success to the easiness of the task or to luck. (Weiner, 1986)
Bandura's theory of observational learning concerns learning from models. (Bandura, 1969) He asserts that much behavior is acquired through observing and imitating other people. He contends that new patterns of behavior are learned through observing behavior without the observer overtly responding or receiving any reinforcements in the exposure setting. He writes, "Modeling influences . . . can create generative and innovative behavior." (Bandura, 1977: 40-41) He argues that observers watch models performing responses which embody a certain principle. Later the observers behave in a way stylistically similar to the model's behavior, even though the observer is not mimicking the model's specific responses, because the observer has applied what she has learned from the model to a new, but related, situation. (Bandura, 1977)
Bandura and Walters assert that teachers as role models may have three types of effects on students. The first is the "modeling effect," which involves the student's direct imitation of the model's behavior. The second is the "disinhibitory effect," which involves the student's observing the consequences of the model's actions and consequently choosing behavior in opposition, if the model's observed consequences were undesirable. For example, when female faculty members are regarded with low esteem by school administrators and are not treated as equals, the effect may be to inhibit female students' aspirations toward the teaching profession. The third modeling effect is the "eliciting effect," which involves the increased susceptibility in a student to the influence of the role model. For example, a female teacher who holds high expectations for female students' achievement may have an increased probability of influencing the female students' performance through cues which elicit a positive response in the students. (Bandura and Walters, 1969)
Studies provide evidence that same-sex role modeling may be especially important for female students. Finn finds that, in England's all-girls schools, girls are superior readers compared with male peers but that reading scores for females in English coeducational schools are about equal to those of male students. (Finn, 1980) Johnson finds evidence of a positive relationship between same sex-role modeling and academic achievement in his studies of students and teachers in the United States, Canada, England, and Nigeria. He finds that females are academically superior in courses taught by females and that males are academically superior in courses taught by males. (Johnson, 1973-74).
Studies of many educational researchers support the ideas that female role models affect professional choices, career salience, academic and professional success, self-esteem, and attitudes toward women in female students and in female professionals. Douvan asserts that studies of adolescent and college women consistently report that girls and women whose mothers worked outside the home are likely to aspire to higher-skilled and more prestigious jobs than those women whose mothers were full-time housewives. (Baruch, 1972; Tangri, 1972; Douvan & Adelson, 1966).
Douvan further points out the importance of older women role
models in the biographies of successful women. (Douvan, 1976)
The role of a crucial older women model is prominent in the
biographies of women successful in politics (Kirkpatrick, 1974),
poetry (Dickinson, 1984), the academic world (Almquist &
Angrist,
1975; Mead, 1972) and psychoanalysis (Deutsh, 1973; Erickson,
1965).
In her . . . autobiography Helen Deutsch (1973) writes of her
experiences . . . , 'I was seeking models with whom I could
identify;
these could only be found among the feminine leaders . . . I
found
two . . . I needed . . . . In this gathering that swarmed with
famous
men, both of these women were treated with significant respect,
and their speeches had a strong decisive influence on the
proceedings.
I heard these speeches with awe. (Douvan, 1976: 6)
Douvan reflects on evidence related to the importance of older women role models for younger women at women's colleges. She expresses gratitude, like her undergraduate peers, for the availability of female faculty role models at Vassar. She suggests two important reasons why eastern women's colleges produce a disproportionate number of women who achieve prominent positions in the arts, business, politics and other professional fields. Douvan contends that a serious and intense intellectual climate exists at women's colleges, a climate that has been described by a number of observers. (Newcomb, 1943; Sanford, 1962) That climate contains another reason for the disproportionate number of achieving women at women's colleges. (Adelson, 1962; Katz, 1962)
. . . modeling is also important in the process that allows
these
women to integrate achievement strivings and the industry and
discipline needed to realize their talents. Familiarity with
adult women who have integrated achievement into gratifying
lives . . . ease . . . anxieties that so commonly accompany and
inhibit success in women (Horner, 1970) . . . . My colleague was
particularly affected by women on the Vassar faculty who were
committed intellectuals and scholars at the same time that
they . . . led rich, full family lives . . . . the model who most
impressed me was an unmarried social scientist of international
reputation . . . . a department chairman with a staff that
included
men. (Douvan, 1976: 7-10)
Female faculty role models at Vassar impressed
Douvan and her undergraduate colleagues with their involvement and commitment. Douvan and
her student colleagues were disappointed, however, when they went to graduate school and
did not find the same number and availability of female faculty role models.
"Graduate school was. . . disjunctive . . . with . . . undergraduate life at Vassar .
. . We were concerned about the absence of . . . models. (Douvan, 1976: 7-10)
Douvan presents Walum's findings in a study of twenty-five female
Ph.D.s, who were integrating professional and traditional family activities and who had
strong identification with a female role model. In some cases it was a grandmother, aunt,
or teacher,. Nearly all of the women spoke with passion concerning the importance these
models had in motivating them, not only towards professional careers but also in
alleviating the guilt often associated with being a working mother. Walum asks her
subjects about books they remember from childhood. Her subjects allude to books about
famous women and speak of their identification with the heroines in these books. In a
further study of undergraduate women, Walum finds a significant relationship between
career aspirations and memories of heroines from books read in childhood. (Douvan, 1976;
L. R. Walum, personal communication, 1974).
Tidball reports from her studies that female role models enhance the career salience of female college students and concludes that women's colleges produce twice as many achieving women as do coeducational colleges. In a paper based on her speech at the American Association of the Advancement of Science, Section on Education, Tidball, professor of physiology at George Washington University, gives her perspective on affirmative action as it relates to academic women. (Tidball, 1973)
Tidball begins by recounting that girls were not able to attend even public elementary schools prior to the end of the eighteenth century. She asserts, however, that affirmative action existed then as women such as Mary Lyon, Catherine Beecher, and Emma Willard led the way to the founding of the first American colleges for women. Consequently, by the mid-nineteenth century, a number of institutions had been established in which women could participate in studies leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree. Most of these institutions were for females only, although a few were coeducational. By 1870, women comprised one-fourth of all students enrolled in institutions of higher learning. Tidball states that affirmative action in institutions of higher learning has emphasized hiring, paying, and promoting professional women to enhance opportunities for women faculty and administrators. Tidball contends that it has become recognized that the educational climate must be improved for women students and for women who are professionally engaged in the educational process. (Tidball, 1973)
As more is understood of human development, it will become
increasingly apparent that the two are related, that the
nutritive
environment for women undergraduates is closely related to the
environment that prevails for women faculty and administrators,
and that one cannot expect a high return on the investment in
women students if institutions are uncommitted or hostile to
women academic professionals. Thus, the potential effects of
. . . affirmative action plans are much broader than might appear
superficially, reaching beyond the individuals specifically
involved
to students and to . . . society as well. (Tidball, 1973:
131)
Tidball asserts that the period of late adolescence and early young adulthood is pivotal in "actualizing the potential that is genetically inherent and which was influenced early in life." (Tidball, 1973: 31). She contends that in this period, individuals develop a firm identity and "the capacity to become involved with others, to explore one's inner self, one's . . . commitments." (Tidball, 1973: 131) She argues that according to developmental theory, during adolescence and young adulthood, individuals reevaluate, integrate, and redirect past identities (positive and negative).
But far too often the young woman, at this crossroad in her
life,
feels a conflict between being accomplished and being female. . .
If she denies her newly found capabilities, the waste has begun.
If she accedes to them, she is beset by . . . a fear of success.
. . . Yet the college years, when this pressure is so strong,
are critical to the total development of a woman's talent and to
the momentum and self-assurance necessary to subsequent
achievement.
The apparent dichotomy cannot be taken lightly. . . . The young
woman
must be able to view competence in a . . . spectrum of options at
a
time when she is receptive and capable of making midcourse
adjustments.
Men do not face these same problems . . . (Tidball, 1973: 132)
Tidball states that due to her understanding of developmental tasks of young women, she studies career-successful women and their undergraduate origins in order to find clues to the composition of a supportive environment during a pivotal direction-setting time in the lives of female college students. She selects at random 500 students from three editions of Who's Who in American Women. Tidball determines, from 1,500 "career-successful" female students over a span of five decades, how many graduated from women's colleges and how many graduated from coeducational colleges. (Tidball, 1973)
When the number of achievers/1,000 women graduates/decade was
calculated for the two types of colleges . . . . The paired
difference calculation indicates that the greater achievement
output from the women's colleges compared with the coeducational
colleges is highly significant (p <0.005). The overall
comparison
for the five decades indicated approximately a two-fold
difference
in achiever output for the two types of colleges. (Tidball, 1973:
132)
Tidball questions why these results are found. She addresses the effect of the presence of female role models on female students in the educational environment. "The influence of women faculty and administrators present in the environment, as well as guest lecturers whom the college places in prominent view, cannot be underestimated in the developmental process of young women, especially at this turning point in life." (Tidball, 1973: 133) Tidball compares the number of women faculty to women students in the female-only and coeducational colleges in her study. " . . . there were almost twice as many women faculty/1,000 women students in women's colleges as in coeducational colleges." (Tidball, 1973: 133)
Tidball concludes that the results of her study suggest that
. . . the significantly greater number of women
faculty/students at
women's colleges account in part for the statistically greater
output of achievers at women's colleges . . . . the number of
women
faculty and the number of women achievers were highly and
positively
correlated; their dependence was not a matter of chance . . . .
(Tidball, 1973: 133)
Tidball discusses the implications and impact of her findings
. . . .
These findings have considerable impact. While many educators
have,
for some time, thought the presence of role models was beneficial
for
young women, these data clearly indicate that the development of
young
women of talent into career- successful adults is directly
proportional
to the number of role models to whom they have access. Whether
they
are students in coeducational institutions or women's colleges, a
continuum exists which is predictive for achiever output. Any
future
affirmative action should, therefore, consider role models.
(Tidball, 1973: 133)
Having examined the correlation between 1,500 career-successful women and the number of female academic professionals, Tidball attributes this high career salience among graduates of women's colleges to the greater number of female role models at women's colleges. (Tidball, 1973) However, Lentz, questions the results of Tidball's research since the procedure used to select women was whether or not they were listed in Who's Who of American Women (a biased sample according to Lentz) and because a positive orrelation between the number of career achievers and the number of female faculty, in Lentz' view, were interpreted as having a cause-effect relationship. Lentz reviews the literature by looking at three important variables: the impact of female colleges, the impact of female professors as role models, and female socialization. She is not convinced by the results of previous research concerning these three variables. (Lentz, 1980)
Lentz studies the career salience (the degree of career motivation) of girls who chose female colleges and who chose coeducational colleges to see if those who chose female colleges were more career salient before they enrolled than those who chose coeducational colleges. She pursues her study by administering questionaires given to female students at the beginning of their freshman year.
Lentz studied 1818 subjects. They were volunteers, who were not randomly selected. There was a 65% rate of response of questionaires by volunteers. Subjects were from five women's colleges and nine coeducational colleges, which were small, private, liberal-arts, non-denominationally affiliated colleges in the Northeast. All the colleges had yearly fees of over $3500 and offered similar programs. In her causal-comparative research, Lentz studied two existing groups, girls who enrolled in female colleges and girls who enrolled in coeducational colleges. (Lentz, 1980)
Lentz's study involved ex post facto research in that career salience was looked at as a possible cause of choice of college. Lentz theorized a direction, a causality in her research. Lentz found that females who chose female colleges were more career salient before going to college than females who chose coeducational colleges, and that females who chose females colleges had more career-oriented reasons for their choice of college. Lentz concluded that students who chose female-only colleges did so out of the conviction that the female-only colleges more positively reinforced career salient attitudes and goals. Lentz's study did not discount earlier research concerning what affected career salience in female college students. In her study she simply found that another factor, that of career salience before college enrollment, affected the college choices of females. (Lentz, 1980.)
Tidball's research analyzes the differential productivities of women's and coeducational colleges,in her study of 1,500 women randomly selected from Who's Who of American Women. (Tidball, 1980) She justifies the source for her random sample, ". . . Who's Who in American Women . . . listed some 24,000 women in thirty-four broad fields who were included by virtue of their achievements rather than of their titles. . . . As a research instrument, this wider range of listings minimizes bias in terms of career-field accomplishments . . . " (Tidball, 1980: 506) Tidball refers, to the research of Oates and Williamson, which utilizes ". . . Who's Who in America for the basis for identifying achievers, to assess differences in career-field participation by graduates of women's and coeducational colleges . . . verifies the outstanding record of the women's colleges in graduating women of accomplishment." (Tidball, 1980: 516, Oates & Williamson, 1978)
As Tidball discusses the design, results, and conclusions of her research, she explains that the ratio of women achievers to women graduates, or women enrolled, is plotted on a regression line against the number of faculty to women graduates or women enrolled. A positive correlation coefficient is found to be positive and is statistically highly significant. On the regression line, data from the women's colleges (which she finds are twice as productive of achievers and have a women faculty/women student ratio twice as large as the coeducational colleges) tended to cluster toward the upper portion of the regression line and coeducational colleges toward the lower portion of the regression line. She asserts that this statistically highly significant dependence between the two variables indicates that this relationship is very unlikely to occur on a chance basis. The substantial importance of women faculty to achiever productivity can be inferred with strong confidence.
Tidball attests that when a correlation coefficient is calculated for the relationship between women achievers and men faculty, the obtained value indicates no statistically significant correlation. She contends that the number of men faculty neither enhances nor detracts from the output of women achievers. Tidball examines her data relative to the correlation of men students and women achievers. She relates that this correlation is negative, which she contends means that the larger the proportion of men students on campus, the less likely it is that women are cited for career achievement. (Tidball, 1980)
In her work on the relationship between baccalaureate origins and career patterns, Tidball uses the Doctorate Record File since ". . . this registry is large, complete, and sub-categorized according to six broad fields of career-related accomplishments. From fifty-three years of data, the ratio of the number of women receiving a doctoral degree to the number of women graduates for each field is calculated separately for graduates of women's and coeducational colleges." (Tidball, 1980: 515, 1978) Tidball contends that graduates from women's colleges are more than twice as likely to have received research doctorates in all fields as are women graduates from coeducational colleges. (Tidball, 1980, 1976)
Tidball concludes from her research that although women students in women's colleges have extensive opportunities for leadership and are encouraged to study in non-traditional fields, these advantages may be derivatives of high expectations held by the large number of adult women in a women's college who themselves exemplify achievement. Further, she asserts that while women faculty are more supportive of issues that concern women than are men faculty, the proportion of women faculty in all types of institutions, except the women's, is so small that their impact on women students is severely constrained. (Tidball, 1980, 1976, 1974) Thus, she contends that
. . . the importance of the number of women faculty, in
relation
to the faculty population and to the number of women students,
emerges and reemerges as a major influence in the development of
women students who subsequently become achievers . . . . the
overwhelming majority of women students are to be found in the
coeducational settings, but we know they have not flourished
there
in the past in numbers commensurate with their presence. Studying
various aspects of the women's colleges and their graduates has
provided a glimpse of what women can become when certain
environmental
conditions obtain, most particularly a high women faculty/women
students ratio. (Tidball, 1980: 516-517)
Solnick reaffirms Tidball's contention that women's colleges promote achievement, particularly in typically male fields. Solnick contends that
. . . women's colleges have been found to produce two or three
times
as many natural science Ph.D's, medical school entrants and
"achievers (identified by inclusion in Who's Who of
American Women)
per capita as coed schools, controlling for size, selectibility,
and per students expenditure (Tidball 1980, 1985, 1986).
Successful
women's college graduates are more likely than their counterparts
from coed schools to be found in fields that are traditionally
male
. . . . Tidball identified the percentage of female faculty as
the
crucial factor leading to female achievers. (Solnick, 1995:
506-507)
Walker also reported on the effects of role models on female students. Interested in interaction and identification in female professional and career role-modeling, Walker designed a study in which freshmen girls were asked to participate in a project which examined the effect of female role models on the girls' career choices. This experimental study involved a homogeneous, randomly-sampled treatment group and a homogenous, randomly-sampled control group. It used a pretest-posttest control group design with random assignment. A random sample of incoming freshmen girls participated in this study. Role models were provided for the female freshmen treatment group in two ways: through interaction with female faculty advisors and through exposure to female career role models in a course on career exploration. At the end of the first year, data was collected from a treatment and from a control group. This data indicated significant changes in self-esteem and in attitudes toward women in the treatment group but not in the control group.
Walker's results of the first year of the study of the treatment and control groups were reported from attitude surveys: Coppersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, Attitudes toward Women Scale, Life Style Index, and Occupational Status Inventory. Data from the first year of the study, using these measures, indicated significant positive changes in self-esteem and in attitudes toward women in the treatment group but not in the control group. However, when some of these same subjects were surveyed again after the freshman year on the same instrument that they used as freshmen, the results were not as significant. Realizing the value of longitudinal data, Walker surveyed subjects from the original study at the end of four years and did not find the same significance. In the original project, fifty-seven were in the treatment group and thirty-four were in the control group. This was not a large number, and there was significant attrition. Only 59% participated in the study at the end of the fourth year. At that time, analyses of variance indicated significant increases in scores on all measures with no significant differences between the two groups, although the most interesting difference between the two groups was that girls from the treatment group were still more likely to name females as role models than those in the control group after the fourth year. (Walker, 1984)
Walker and Kuk followed-up, in 1987, these same groups of women, studied originally during their freshman year in 1978, in a longitudinal project designed to investigate the career development of women. Of the 113 surveys mailed, 47 women responded and 45 responses were usable. The 1987 study indicated no significant positive changes in self-esteem and in attitudes toward women. (Walker & Kuk, 1990: 22-23) It was only at the end of the first year of the 1978 study that data indicated significant changes in self-esteem and in attitudes toward women in the treatment group.
Although in Walker's study the effect of role models on female students is significant only in the students' freshmen year, Walker's study is among those research projects that support the idea that a positive relationship exists between female role models and females students' self-esteem and career salience, especially during the first year of college. (Walker, 1984) An important body of educational theories and research exists which supports the idea that a positive relationship exists between students' career choices, academic and professional success, and attitudes toward women and female professionals. (Lentz, 1980)
Further, academic achievement is related to the construct of
locus of control in educational literature. Strain studies locus of control as a predictor
variable related to academic persistence and achievement motivation. She asserts that
other educational researchers predict that
. . . students with internal locus of control will persist longer
in college. Mink & Watts, 1977; Roueche, J. Mink, Fisher,
& Linquist,
1978) . . . the findings of previous studies . . . warrant the
conclusion that locus of control should be prominent in any
current
examination of motivation. Further, research findings accumulated
over the last 20 years affirm the importance of locus of control
as
a factor in the motivation of students (Coleman, 1966; Crandall,
1968; Deci, 1975; Weiner, 1972, 1978. Strain, 1993: 6)
Strain contends that locus of control is a valuable construct in studying academic persistence and motivation. " . . . other than identifying locus of control as an important motivational factor, research has revealed little about the complex relationship between student motivational behavior and persistence in college." (Strain, 1993: 7) Strain asserts that the process of motivation is complex but clearly related to locus of control. Strain stresses that studying student motivation is important in that it is linked to student retention and achievement. Strain states that lack of motivation is "associated with the withdrawal of academically unprepared students from college (Roueche, J., 1968; Astin, 1975; Tinto, 1985).
She further asserts that although factors of intrinsic motivation are a basis for students' persistence behavior, only one concrete, measurable motivational factor, that of locus of control, has been identified in research. Strain asserts that the construct of locus of control has been particularly valuable in studying academic persistence.
. . . . research conducted in the late 70s . . . conducted at
multiple institutions with large numbers of students, reported
findings that locus of control was related to persistence
(Roueche, J. & Mink, 1976a; Mink & Watts, 1977; Roueche,
J., Mink,
Linquist, & Fisher, 1978). All . . . studies found that
students
who were more internal persisted at higher rates. (Strain, 1993:
31)
The studies Strain discusses contribute a major finding related to locus of control as a factor in persistence. This finding defines an aspect of weak motivation and identifies " . . . a motivational factor which was amenable to intervention (Mink & Watts, 1977; Roueche, J. & Mink, 1976b; Mink & Watts, 1977). (Strain, 1993: 31) Strain contends that motivational theory provides a basis for associating motivational factors with persistence behavior.
Motivation describes forces that energize a person and direct
activity; therefore, persistence is believed to be a behavioral
pattern that forms a basis for inferences about motivation.
(Maehr & Archer, 1985) Motivational theory aims to account for
changes from one activity to another. Intrinsic motivation
relates
to the character of the motivation that is described by goal
commitment. Thus, an examination of the principles of
motivational
theory could assist in identifying factors of motivation that may
be basic to student persistence. (Atkinson, 1964; Atkinson &
Feather, 1966) (Strain, 1993: 30-31)
Strain studied the effect of locus of control among other possible predictors of persistence in low-achieving students in a two-year college. She examined a sample of 313 students in a developmental studies program enrolled on the basis of cutoff scores from institutional entrance examinations. Locus of control was measured by the adult Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale. Achievement motivation was measured by a work and family questionnaire, composed of three factors: work, mastery, and competitiveness. Among the possible predictors of persistence were locus of control, achievement motivation, age, sex, race, family income, educational objective, major, intended duration of schooling, and college grade-point average. From the study emerged three significant predictors of persistence: first semester college grade point average, locus of control, and race. A series of t-tests revealed statistically different means on the locus of control scale between female and male subjects. Females were found to be more internal than males.
Educational research provides evidence of locus of control as
a significant factor in achievement motivation. Evidence of locus of control as predictive
of academic persistence and role modeling as effectual of academic success is also found
in educational literature. Further, there is evidence that role modeling by female
professionals affects self-esteem, attitudes toward women, professional choices, career
salience and professional success in female students.
Psychological Literature
Studies in the field of psychology provide evidence of locus of
control as a changeable variable which can be affected by modeling. Studies in this field
also address the relationship of modeling to change, the relationship
of models to locus of control, the relationship of investigation of knowledge (cognitive
inquiry) to locus of control, and the relationship of locus of control in women to their
competitors. Studies in counseling psychology investigate the use of models to motivate
change by observational learning. (Myrick, 1969; Sarason, Ganzer, & Singer, 1972;
Stone & Stebbins, 1975)
Modeling is found positively related to motivation to change in counselees in many counseling categories. In counseling sessions, modeling procedures for counselees are found positively related to motivation in counselees to increase talk time on specific topics (Duke & Frankel, 1971); to increase referring to themselves (Myrick, 1969; Stone & Stebbins, 1975); to increase admitting problems (Marlatt, Jacobson, Johnson, & Morrice, 1970); to increase statements about their feelings (Schwartz & Hawkins, 1965); and to increase self-disclosure (Stone & Gotlib, 1975).
Dowling and Frantz report the results of a study designed to
test
the hypothesis that a facilitative model, one that communicates empathy, respect, and
genuineness, enhances imitative learning by an observer.
The subjects, seventy-two college students, were randomly assigned to eight experimental
and two control groups, in which the level of facilitative conditions and attitudinal
posture of the group leader model were varied. Facilitative models generated significantly
more imitative learning than control groups. The results provide evidence that ". . .
if the counselor offers certain faciliative conditions . . . with a client, the client
will be come more self-directing, more open, and flexible . . . . " (Dowling &
Frantz, 1975: 263)
Numerous studies in the field of psychology have investigated
internal locus as a changeable variable and as a variable which can be affected by
modeling. Stone & Jackson explored the relationship between locus of control,
modeling, and instructional effectiveness in a study using university students, divided
into "internals" and "externals" according to scores on Mirel's factor
of "personality internality." (Mirels, 1970)
Subjects were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups: instructional
(subjects instructed to be highly concrete in talking about experiences); modeling
(subjects exposed to a model who discussed experiences in highly concrete fashion); and
control (subjects given general
instructions in talking about experiences). All subjects participated in a monologue,
after treatment, which was scored for concreteness. Results indicate that modeling is
effective, and that internal-modeling subjects
are more effective in concretely talking about experiences than internal-instructions
subjects. (Stone & Jackson, 1975)
Fry relates the results of a study designed with subjects
engaged in
an occupational information and vocational exploration study. Subjects were given varying
degrees of control over the programming of their exploration, when they were assigned to
groups in which high, low, and intermediate levels of external control were manipulated.
High cognitive inquiry, high "internal" subjects made significant gains in all
treatments but learned most under a high degree of their own control of information
studied. High cognitive inquiry, low "internal" subjects gained significantly
more under
a high degree of external control of information studied.
In Fry's study, among the high "internal," high cognitive inquiry subject types, those in the treatment group, in which subjects had a high degree of control themselves over information studied, gained significantly more than any other subjects in treatment or control groups. These subjects were far superior to other groups and demonstrated the most gain of all subject-type groups in the experiment. Consequently, Fry observed that the high internal high inquiry subject types had a better predisposition to learning, and, therefore, their gains were superior in all treatment groups. (Fry, 1975)
Teglasi studied locus of control in 144 female undergraduates, randomly selected from psychology, sociology, and education classes at a community college. Pretests and posttests were used in this experimental research. Similar test booklets were passed out to all subjects who are only told they were participating in a study investigating attitudes and creativity. Subjects were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Subjects were asked to indicate causal attributions for success or failure outcomes. Working in pairs, one half of the subjects cooperated with either a male or a female partner, while the other half competed with a male or female opponent. All female subjects in the study were pretested on achievement motivation and sex-role orientation. (Teglasi, 1978)
Teglasi found that females who valued the traditional feminine
roles were more self-effacing in causal attributions than non-traditional females. She
found that females who valued achievement, like male counterparts, were more
self-enhancing following failure. Teglasi found, however, that, following success in
competition against male opponents, females who scored
high in achievement motivation were less self-enhancing than those who scored low. This
finding is consistent with the view that females who are highly achievement motivated also
fear negative consequences associated with
success, especially in competitive settings with men. (Horner, 1968; Tidball, 1973) There
has been some evidence that expectancy and attributional biases which derogate women are
culturally determined and shared by men and women. (Deaux & Taynor, 1973; Deaux &
Emswiller, 1974; Deaux & Farris, 1974).
Teglasi investigated what determines the causal attributions of female college students. In her study independent variables were the sex-role orientation and achievement motivation of the students. The manipulated variables were the following: cooperative-competitive condition, success or failure feedback, and male or female partner or opponent. The dependent variables concerned casual attributions. The following hypotheses were confirmed. In terms of intercorrelations of role orientation, women with traditional role orientation have lower achievement motivation than women with non-traditional role orientation. In terms of role-orientation, non-traditional women are more self-enhancing than traditional women following failure feedback and non-traditional women are more internal for success than traditional women. In terms of achievement motivation, women who score high on achievement motivation are more self-enhancing in the causal attributions for failure but less self-enhancing for success. (Teglasi, 1978)
From the results of her study, Teglasi concludes that internal locus of control in women is stronger in relation to other women than in relation to men. She concludes that women are internal in their attributions of their success in competition with women, but external in their attribution of success in competition with men. In her study of a female's locus of control in relationship to competitors, Teglasi contends that, in general, women assume responsibility and personal control of their success in competition with women, but do not, in general, assume responsibility and personal control of their success in competition with men. She asserts that women demonstrate stronger internal locus of control in competition with women. (Teglasi, 1978)
Literature in the field of psychology provides evidence of locus of control as a changeable variable, of the positive relationship of role models to locus of control, of the positive relationship of cognitive inquiry to locus of control, of the positive relationship of role models to change, and of the positive relationship of locus of control in women in competition with other women.
Sociological Literature
Many studies in the field of sociology also present evidence concerning the effect of the presence or absence of role models on female college students. Rossi supports the idea of the positive effect of female role models on female college students, after her extensive study of female professional career choices and the barriers female professionals encounter in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine. Sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation, the National Institute of Health, and the National Opinion Research Center, Rossi identifies factors which encourage and discourage female achievement in professional fields, especially in science, engineering, and medicine. In her conclusions, Rossi addresses the issues of stereotypes and social climate that discourage female professional, non-traditional achievement by discouraging females to be independent thinkers. She concludes that women in non-traditional professions are more likely to have had female professional role models. (Rossi, 1965)
Women scientists, engineers, and doctors . . . . womanpower is seen
as a major reservoir from which the nation may draw to meet the
continuing critical shortages in these important fields . . . .
Campaigns to . . . support . . . the college-age woman to enter the
sciences, engineering, or medicine can only . . . reach and help the
young woman who is already interested and prepared by a background
in science and mathematics to take advantage of opportunities offered
her college. Such women are a tiny minority of their sex, whose
experiences at much earlier ages have set in motion an . . . interest
in things generally disapproved of for girls . . .
Rossi further contends that female college freshmen seldom shift from
traditionally female fields to traditionally male fields, such as from
. . . fine arts to chemistry, or from journalism to engineering,
except in rare instances. . . . efforts to be . . . effective must
concentrate on . . . earlier stages of life and must involve . . .
changes in the rearing of girls. . .(Rossi, 1965; 52-54)
Rossi insists that stereotypes are persistent, but if we are seriously
. . . interested in attracting more women into medicine and
engineering,
it is surely worthwhile to correct these . . . and portray the
contemporary doctor . . . engineer in work contexts typical of
today rather than yesterday. . . . Young women need exposure to women
scientists and doctors as models. (Rossi, 1965: 98)
Rossi addresses the need for a social climate that encourages females to be the kind of independent thinkers that are needed in the fields of science and math. She asserts that
. . . . results suggest that, on the average, girls develop
cognitive
abilities along somewhat different lines from boys, and that they enter
adolescence with a style of thinking less appropriate to scientific
work
than that of boys. Although the final interpretation of this sex
difference awaits further research, what is known is that the key to
the difference between boys and girls lies in the kind of and degree
of independence training the child receives in childhood. If a girl
is encouraged to assume initiative, to solve problems for herself,
she tends to develop the same analytic abilities as the boy typically
does. . . . (Rossi, 1965: 115)
Rossi asserts that behind the fact that few women are represented in
science is the difference in cognitive style of male and female, which is affected by the
general culture.
. . . which is in turn the result of differences in the way girls are
brought up compared to boys. If we want more women to enter science,
not only as teachers of science but as scientists, we must
encourage the cultivation of the analytic and mathematical abilities
science requires. To achieve this means encouraging . . . self-reliance
instead of feminine submission . . . (Rossi, 1965: 117)
Furthermore, Rossi describes relationships which encourage a girl
toward science and other professional fields. ". . . such women, when questioned
in college about the background of their science interests, frequently point
to a particularly important teachers they had, often as early as the third
or fourth grade, who stimulated and challenged them to stretch their minds." She
contends that women in non-traditional professions are more likely to have had female
professional role models. (Rossi, 1965: 122).
Fox computed, for several universities, the correlation between the number of female faculty and the number of female undergraduates in major academic divisions: social sciences, natural sciences, humanities, education, and applied sciences. Fox reported a positive correlation from her computation between the number of female faculty and the number of female undergraduates in these major academic departments. She interpreted this result as support for the idea that same-gender role models affect undergraduate choice of major. (Fox, 1974)
Basow and Howe study role-model influence in college students
and give an overview of related literature on the subject.
. . . a number of studies have demonstrated the importance and
influence of female role models on the career development of
women
at various ages and educational levels. Mothers have been found
to
be particularly important in influencing their daughters' career
orientations and attitudes (Almquist & Angrist, 1971; Baruch,
1972,
Tangri, 1972). Exposure to other female role models through work
experiences has been found to be influential to the
career-oriented
college women studied by Astin, . . . as well as Almquist and
Angrist
(1971) and O'Donnell and Anderson (1978). Female teachers and
college
influences on female students in regard to achievement and
success,
(Tidball, 1973), goals and values (Douvan, 1976), and subsequent
professional achievement and productivity (Epstein, 1970;
Goldstein,
1979).(Basow & Howe, 1980: 559-560)
Based on their review of literature, Basow and Howe predict that women are particularly influenced by female role models in making important life decisions. Besides the variable of the same-sex subject and same-sex model in their research on role modeling, Basow and Howe consider another variable in the role-modeling process, that of an individual attitudes regarding sex-role behaviors and stereotypes. Basow and Howe give an overview of the literature on this variable. They find that one basis for feelings of interpersonal cohesiveness is attitude similarity (Frieze, Parson,Johnson, Ruble, & Zellman, 1978).
For example, persons with traditional sex-role attitudes might
therefore expected to be more influenced by traditional role
models.
Furthermore, cognitive development theorists emphasize the role
of sex-role attitudes and stereotypes in the process of
information
categorization and development of sex-role behaviors (Kohlberg,
1966).
(Basow & Howe, 1980: 560)
Basow and Howe measure sex-role attitudes with the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS) designed by Spence and Helmreich (1972a). The Attitudes Toward Women Scale involves the degree to which a subject accepts or rejects sex-role stereotypes and identifies subjects as traditional, moderate, or liberal based on the subjects' attitudes toward rights and freedom for women. Subjects classified as "traditionals" would look more toward standard authority figures as role models. "Moderate" or "liberal" subjects would look more toward nonstandard authority figures. Basow and Howe examine the effect of role models on certain decisions made by undergraduates on the basis of their sex and sex-role attitudes. (Basow & Howe, 1980)
In Basow and Howe's first experiment they investigated the effect of role models on college choice, high school career choice, and college career choice for college undergraduates. Basow and Howe's second experiment investigated the effect of role models on college career choice for college seniors. Their research project involved sixty-two undergraduates, evenly divided by sex. Basow and Howe rated the degree of influence of six or eight people on the students' choice of college and career. They also assessed the attitudes of the subjects on sex-roles. In the first of the two experiments, the sexes showed different patterns of influence as did the sex-role groups. In the second experiment, in which only college seniors were used and matched by sexes on an attitude scale, the researchers found again that females were more influenced by female models in their choice of career than were males. Basow and Howe conclude from their study of college students that "female models are particularly important for female college students in their career decisions, especially mothers and female teachers." (Basow & Howe, 1980: 571)
Many studies in the field of sociology provide evidence concerning the effect of the presence or absence of role models on female college students as related to science careers. Smith and Erb report on an experiment in which one group of students were in contact with female scientists and a control group was not. In a pretest survey, the groups were similar in their responses to questions about women in science. In a posttest survey, the experimental group had a more positive attitude toward women in science. Smith and Erb conclude that "the use of women science career models may positively affect both enrollment in science courses by girls entering high school and their personal consideration of a science career." (Smith & Erb, 1986: 673) However, Canes and Rosen challenge Smith and Erb's conclusions. They contend that just because the experimental group in the Smith and Erb study had a more favorable attitude toward women in science, following exposure to women scientists, that did not necessarily mean that the girls in the experimental group were more likely to enroll in science classes. (Canes & Rosen, 1995)
McLure and Piel report results of a survey concerning females' perception of career barriers for females in science careers. After interviewing college-bound female high school seniors, McLure and Piel, conclude that "one of the major barriers" to women's success in science is that females "perceive that preparation for science careers is too difficult because they lack awareness of successful women scientists." (Canes & Rosen, 1995: 487, McLure & Piel, 1978) From the McLure-Piel survey, Betz and Fitzgerald argue that ". . . there is evidence that the relative lack of female faculty is a deterrent to women's educational and career pursuits, particularly in science (McLure & Piel, 1978) and other pioneer fields (O'Donnell & Anderson, 1978)." (Betz & Fitzgerald, 1987: 70-71)
Betz and Fitzgerald study the career psychology of women and
contend that a significant
. . . barrier to women in education has been the lack of female
role
models and mentors, most notably female faculty within higher
education (Douvan, 1976). . . The facilitative effects of
same-sex
models and mentors were suggested by Goldstein's (1979) report
that
about 80% of the articles published by recent doctoral degree
recipients were published by individuals whose faculty advisers
were
the same sex. Tidball (1980) also reported that as the proportion
of
women faculty relative to . . .women students increases, so does
the
proportion of women high achievers in professional life. (Betz
&
Fitzgerald, 1987: 70-71)
Lafortune asserts that "only an increase in the number of women in scientific careers, and/or the teaching of math and science at advanced levels, will change the masculine . . . image associated with these fields, and encourage more girls to enter them." (Lafortune, 1990: 273) Furthermore, Tilghman argues that "all but the most determined women will tend to gravitate to the environment which is most positive and rewarding, and that tends to be where other women have led the way." (Tilghman, 1993: A17)
Canes and Rosen assert that young women need female role models because a person is most likely to emulate someone who appears similar to herself in external characteristics. They argue for the need for female role models in light of the traditional role of women in American society. According to Canes' and Rosen's position, the character attributes needed for professional achievement are incompatible with traditional feminine qualities, so that young women with serious career ambitions need female role models to demonstrate that success is possible. Canes and Rosen state that sociologists present strong evidence and arguments concerning the value of female role models for female students, especially in the field of science. However, they urge that further research be conducted, especially as to the effect of female role models on the specific endeavors of female students. (Canes & Rosen, 1995)
In summary, the effects of same-gender role models have been
studied
in the psychological and sociological literature . . . .the
general
view is that role models affect women's educational and career
choices.
Most of the evidence, however, is based either on case studies or
on
surveys. We have found no attempts explicitly to relate changes
in
the number of female role models to changes in young women's . .
.
careers. (Canes & Rosen, 1995: 488)
Industrial and Labor Literature
The fields of industry and labor also present evidence concerning
the positive relationship of female role models to female college students' educational
and professional choices and attainments. In April 1995, The Industrial and Labor Relations Review published a series of papers entitled
"Symposium: Role Models in Education." Three papers deal with the importance of
female faculty as role models in higher education: "Following in Her Footsteps?
Women's Choices of College Majors and Faculty Gender Composition" by Canes and Rosen,
"Changes in Women's Majors from Entrance
to Graduation at Women's and Coeducational Colleges" by Solnick, and
"Do Female Faculty Influence Female Students' Educational and Labor Market
Attainments?" by Rothstein.
Canes and Rosen address whether the presence of female faculty in traditionally male science and engineering fields induces female students to enter those fields. They point out this question cannot be answered by looking across departments at an institution, at a point in time, to determine the correlation between the percentage of female majors in a department and its percentage of female students. They suggest that this question can only be answered by looking at whether changes over time in the proportion of a department's faculty that are women are positively related to changes in the proportion of the department's majors that are women. (Canes & Rosen, 1995)
Ehrenberg discusses the Canes and Rosen study and describes
how they conducted tests using
. . . several years' data on the fractions of female faculty and
majors in different fields at a private research university
(Princeton), a public research university (Michigan), and a
coeducational liberal arts college (Whittier). Using panel data
methods, they find no evidence that an increase in the
fraction of female faculty in a department was associated with
an increase in the fraction of its majors that were female . . .
.
Why did these authors fail to find any evidence to support the
"role model" hypothesis? One possibility, they suggest
is that the
importance of role models and mentors may be greater at earlier
stages
in a student's educational career than at later stages.
(Ehrenberg,
1995: 483; Canes & Rosen, 1995)
Solnick hypothesizes in her study of 2,500 female college students that women who begin in traditionally female majors are more likely to shift to other types of majors if they attend a traditionally single-sex women's college than if they attend a coeducational institution. She hypothesizes, secondly, that women who start in majors traditionally dominated by males are more likely to persist in those majors if they attend single-sex colleges. Solnick tests these hypotheses using data on subjects from eight women's colleges and seven coed colleges. She finds evidence to support her first hypothesis but not her second hypothesis.
Solnick found evidence to support her theory that women who begin in traditionally female majors are more likely to shift to other majors, if they attend a single-sex women's college than if they attend a coeducational institution. She found that women at single-sex colleges were more likely to leave female-dominated majors than women in coed colleges. Solnick concluded that single-sex schools may benefit female students by providing them more flexibility to move into majors in traditionally male-dominated fields that tend to be more rewarded in the labor market. (Ehrenberg, 1995; Solnick, 1995)
My analysis of a sample of eight women's colleges and seven
coeducational institutions, like other similar studies (Polachek,
1978; Angle and Wissman, 1981; Lyson 1981; Jacobs, 1985, 1986,
1989; Fuller and Schoenberger, 1991) shows marked differences
between the sexes in initial and final choice of major . . .
women's choices of college major appear to contribute to the
persistent gender gap in wages. In research by Daymont and
Andrisani
(1984), differences in college majors accounted for between 28%
and
43% of the difference in earnings between men and women. A study
that distinguished starting and current salaries reported that
differences in college majors accounted for 43% of the gap in the
former and 18% of the gap in the latter (Gerhart,1990). (Solnick,
1995: 512)
Solnick's study yields support for the proposition that gender compositions of students at a college, coeducational or single-sex, influences the movement of students among majors. However, Solnick found women at single-sex colleges substantially more likely to leave female-dominated majors than women at coeducational colleges. In her study, the women's colleges yielded fewer graduates in female-dominated fields and more graduates in male-dominated fields than did the coeducational colleges. "Since wages for college graduates depend in part on field of study, exploring the determinants of college major may further understanding of labor market discrimination." (Solnick, 1995: 513)
Rothstein addresses the concern over the low percentage of female university faculty in the United States and, consequently, the possible long term effect on female students' advanced educational and market attainments.
There is . . . concern that the percentage of female faculty
at U.S.
colleges and universities is too low . . . . a recent article in
the
New York Times (1993) emphasized this issue, and noted that
whereas
about 20% of faculty . . . are women, the percentage of
undergraduate
women is more than double that figure. The question arises as to
how
female students might benefit from an increase in the percentage
of
female faculty. One view is that female faculty act as mentors
and
role models for female students, and thus promote their
subsequent
educational and labor market attainments. (Rothstein, 1995: 515,
De Palma, 1993)
Rothstein studies the question of the influence of female faculty on female, coeducational college students' post-graduate achievements using data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. The results of her study show a statistically significant positive relationship between the percentage of female faculty and the probability that female students would attain advanced degrees. Rothstein does not find that the percentage of female faculty has a statistically significant direct effect on female students' labor market earnings. However, the advanced degrees of the subjects does have a positive impact on earnings. (Rothstein, 1995)
The influence of the percentage of female faculty is
especially
interesting, because it may be that by acting as role models, or
(indirectly) creating a favorable environment at the institution,
female faculty may influence the career paths of female
students. (Rothstein, 1995: 516)
Ehrenberg, Goldhaber, & Brewer address and extend the
question as to whether role models are most important early in an individuals' secondary
educational career.
Canes & Rosen and Solnick's suggestion that role models . . .
may
be more important early in an individual's career than later in
the career is a theme explored in the paper by Daniel Goldhaber,
Dominic Brewer, and myself, which addresses the importance of
teachers'
race, gender, and ethnicity in secondary schools. Using data from
the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, which
permits
researchers to match students with individual teachers, we
examine
how a teacher's race, gender, and ethnicity influence students
from
both the same and different race, gender, and ethnic groups.
(Ehrenberg, 1995: 485)
Ehrenberg, Goldhaber & Brewer find teachers race, gender,
and ethnicity are more likely to influence teacher's subjective evaluations of their
students than to influence what the students learned.
. . . although white female mathematics and science students'
test
scores did not increase more if their mathematics and science
teachers
were white women than if they were white men, white female
teachers
in these fields tended to evaluate these students more highly
than
did white male teachers. To the extent that these higher
subjective
evaluations are communicated to the students or lead to placement
of the students in higher "track" classes, these female
teachers may
well be serving as mentors for their female students. (Ehrenberg,
1995: 485)
Literature in the four fields of education, sociology,
psychology,
and labor points toward the positive relationship of locus of control in females and
female modeling (of females in general on other females, and the effects of female role
models on female college students). Studies in these areas indicate that internal locus of
control, self-esteem, career salience, and achievement in females is positively related to
the presence of female role models.
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH DESIGN AND PROCEDURE
Research Questions
Two basic questions emerged from the 1992-1995 University of Mary Hardin-Baylor historical study:
1. Is locus of control in female college students a
changeable variable?
2. Does female college students' locus of control tend to become increasingly more internal when they are influenced by female role models?
These questions guided the development of seven research questions for the 1994-1996 research project:
1. Will first-year female students who identify for
themselves a female faculty or staff role model (RM) measure as having a stronger internal locus of control than first-year female students at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor who do not claim to have a female faculty or staff role model (NM)?
2. Would a testing of subjects in October, the fifth week of the first semester of a school year, show a statistical difference in locus of control between the RM group and the NM group?
3. If so, what would be the difference in their locus of control?
4. Would same subjects in the RM group and in the NM group tested in May, at the end of school year, show a difference in, or a change of direction of, locus of control?
5. If so, what would be the difference in, or change of direction of, locus of control of the RM and NM groups from the beginning of the school year to the end of the school year?
6. Would a second group tested in March, the fifth week of the second semester of the school year, and in May, at the end of the school year, show similar differences in, or change of direction of, locus of control, as those of the first group tested in October and May of the same school year?
7. What would the relationship be between identification of role models and the direction of change of locus of control over the course of one school year?
Research Design
To answer these questions, the researcher developed a study to investigate the relationship of locus of control in first-year, coeducational female students who had identified a staff or faculty role model, or not, at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. The population of first-year female students was selected because evidence suggested that the influence of role models may be greater at earlier stages in a college student's educational career than at later stages. (Canes & Rosen, 1995)
In this study of first-year female, coeducational students at
the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, in mid-October, during the fall semesters of
1994-95, two instruments were used in pretests: Rotter's Internal-External Locus of
Control Scale (Rotter 1966) and a questionnaire developed by the researcher. This
questionnaire was used by the subjects to identify whether or not they had a role model at
the university and to describe their perceptions of the role model's attributes. The term
role was defined as an individual who had "skills or qualities" that the student
admired and wished "to emulate." (Anderson & Ramsey, 1990:183)
These two instruments were used again in spring semester pretests in 1995-96. Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale was chosen because of the reliability and validity of the scale. The researcher's role model questionnaire included a definition of a role model, a section in which the subject marked whether or not she had a role model, and questions about the role model's attributes. The answers to the questions were designed to validate whether or not the subject had identified a role model. A brief section was included for the subjects to add attributes which they perceived important but had been unlisted on the questionnaire. This second pretest, administered at the beginning of the the 1995-96 spring semesters, was to provide reliability.
In the study conducted in 1994-96, correlated t-tests were used to study the relationship of the identification or not of role models to locus of control in first-year female college students at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. The independent variable was the identification, or not, by the students of role models. The dependent variable was the locus of control of the first-year female students as measured by Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale.
Hypotheses
1. First-year female college students will develop over a semester, or a year, a stronger internal locus of control, as measured by Rotter's Internal-External Locusof Control Scale, if they have a female faculty or staff role model (RM), than the no role model (NM) group.
2. Scores of first-year female college students obtained from
Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, given at the beginning of the
first and second semesters, and at the end of the school year, will render
a significant value at the alpha level of .05.
Subjects
Four mandatory courses with the largest number of first-year
female students were selected
to obtain the largest sample. All first-year female students
in these courses (N=189) were studied. The study of first-year female, coeducational
college students at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor began in the fall of 1994 and was
continued through the spring of 1996.
In mid-October, during the fall semesters of 1994-96,
first-year female students (N=95) enrolled in 1994 study skills classes and 1995 public
speaking classes were pretested at the university at the end of class periods at the same
time of day. A continuation of this study was conducted in the spring semesters of
1995-96. First-year female students (N=93) enrolled in composition classes and mathematics
classes at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor were pretested. They were tested during
the fifth week of spring semester 1995 at the end of morning classes. During the last week
of the spring semesters 1995-96, all students who were pretested in mid-October during the
fall semesters of 1994-95 and in the beginning of the spring semesters of 1995-96, and who
were still enrolled at the university, were invited and encouraged to be post-tested during
the same range of hours in the office of the researcher. The same instruments
as had been
used earlier in each pretesting were used in the post-testing. The sample population was
reasonably homogeneous, with the basic difference of whether or not role models had been
identified. There was no controlled "treatment." The comparison groups were
those subjects who had identified female staff or faculty role models.
Procedures
Four mandatory courses with the largest number of first-year
female students were selected to obtain the largest sample size. All first-year female
students in these courses were studied (N=189). Faculty members teaching these courses
were contacted for permission to survey their students. A cover letter was given to the
students describing the study. Participants were reassured that their participation was
voluntary, confidential, and would not jeopardize them. The completed surveys and
results were kept in the researcher's file cabinet in her locked office.
The students were reassured that the results and conclusions of the study, of which they
were to be informed, could be beneficial to them academically
and professionally. This study posed no risks to the participants. It provided only
potential benefit to the participants and to society (see Significance of Study section).
The pretests in this study were conducted in classrooms and the posttests were conducted in the researcher's office at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. All students participating in this study in all groups from fall 1994 to spring 1996 were pretested and post-tested with Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale and with the researcher's questionnaire. In this study, correlated t-tests were used to study the relationship of identification of female staff or faculty to locus of control in first-year female, coeducational college students.
Permission was granted by the university's academic vice president and by participating faculty and students.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS
For purposes of data analysis, the subjects of this study were
divided into two groups. Each group completed the measurement instruments during three
different testing periods. Therefore, there is a total of six scores in the overall
design: two pretests and one posttest per group. The administration periods were in
October, March, and May, during the 1994-96
school years.
Furthermore, as a control measure, a portion of the population completed both the pretest and the posttest, thereby permitting a matched pairs t-test analysis.
The examination of this data showed the subjects were
essentially equal in locus of control in the baseline measurement period (mean 14.29 NM
and
14.32 RM).
The scores from the posttest period in May demonstrated the
predicted effects of the identification of a role model on internal locus of control (mean
11.78 NM and 15.76 RM). This data clearly represented that locus of control is subject to
change. Thus, this first hypothesis was upheld
(p < .0001, absolute value difference scores-posttest, p < .001 matched
pairs posttest, and p < .05-matched pairs difference scores) .
The second hypothesis, concerning the effect of the identification, or not, of a role model on the change of direction of locus of control, was clearly supported (p < .001 posttest, p < .05 matched pairs difference scores, and p < .001 matched pairs posttest). No significance was found on the within group pretest to posttest scores in the matched pairs samples but was found in the absolute value difference scores. The overall data trend of the change in direction of locus of control is positive for those subjects who identified a role model and negative for those who did not. Furthermore, that change is strengthened over time.
CONCLUSIONS
In each of the 1994-96 pretests and posttests, there is
difference
and direction in the results. There is significance at the .001 level in
the posttests.Therefore, evidence provided by this study suggests that first-year, female,
coeducational college students who identify a female faculty or staff role model may have
stronger internal locus of control
than first-year, female, coeducational, college students who do not identify a female
faculty or staff role model. This study also presents evidence
that suggests that locus of control may be a changeable variable and may increase over the
first year of college in female, coeducational college students who identify a female
faculty or staff role model.
Further, this study presents evidence that suggests
that internal
locus of control may decrease over the first year of college for female, coeducational
college students who do not identify a female faculty or
staff role model. The results of this study indicate that for first-year, female,
coeducational college students there may be a positive effect for students who
identify a female faculty or staff role model and a negative
effect for those who do not.
The first hypothesis of this study was supported that
first-year
female college students will develop over a semester, or a year, a stronger internal locus
of control, as measured by Rotter's Internal-External Locus
of Control Scale, if they have a female faculty or staff role model, than
if they have no role model. The second hypothesis was supported, by the 1994-96 testings,
that scores of first-year, female college students, measured by Rotter's Internal-External
Locus of Control Scale, given at
the beginning of the first and second semesters and at the end of the school year, will
demonstrate a a significant change in locus of control
(alpha .05).
These scores were compared by correlational t-tests and showed significance (p < .001 posttest, p < .05 matched pairs difference scores, and p < .001 matched pairs posttest). Therefore, this study suggests a factor which may strengthen internal locus of control in first-year female college students, especially in coeducational settings.
CHAPTER FIVE
LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS
LIMITATIONS
The results and conclusions of this research should be
considered in conjunction with the limitations identified by the author at the conclusion
of this study. Anecdotal evidence provided by the subjects on the researcher's
questionnaire and by the data analysis suggested a positive relationship between female
faculty role models and internal locus of control in first-year, female, coeducational
college students, who
identified a female faculty role model. However, anecdotal evidence
provided by the subjects on the investigator's role model questionnaire suggested a
different relationship, in some cases, between female staff
role models and internal locus of control in first-year, female, coeducational college
students, who identified a staff model. In some cases, where subjects identified staff
role models in such categories as coach,
residence hall advisor, and library staff, the subjects' internal locus
of control score was,
in fact, low and became lower over time.
Female staff in these categories may have had relationships to the subjects and/or job descriptions that were, in general, qualitatively different than did female faculty models. Or perhaps, some staff role models had external locus of control which influenced the locus of control of students who identified them as role models in an external, rather than internal, direction.
Further, the researcher's cover letter and role model questionnaire may have been reactive. They may have influenced the students' answers to the questions on the locus of control scale. Finally, there may have been a differential drop-out rate of subjects in the posttests, as they were conducted in the researcher's office, rather than in the classrooms, where the pretests were conducted. Although subjects were encouraged by the instructors in whose classrooms pre-tests were given and by notes and calls from the researcher to participate in the posttests, subjects' personal characteristics or their self-selection may have affected attrition in the posttests.
FUTURE RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS
The researcher suggests that further related studies
refine the definition of the role model. The researcher recommends future related studies
compare over time the locus of control of the role models to that
of the students who identify them as their models. It is recommended by the investigator
that further related studies utilize subject variables: age, marital status, changes in
address, grade point average, and different
academic majors. It is recommended by the author that related studies address the
difference in effect on locus of control in college students in different categories of
role models and/or mentors on college campuses.
The researcher recommends that further related research projects study the relationship
between internal locus of control and role models and/or mentors in college students in a
variety of categories and configurations,
such as the following: male-female, high risk-low risk, high G.P.A.-low G.P.A, math and/or
science-arts and/or humanities, and minority-majority. Further research which addresses
the question why role models in different
categories affect the locus of control differently in different categories of students is
recommended by the researcher.
The results of this study and the review of literature lead
the investigator to recommend future research which addresses the question of why female
students at female-only colleges seem to move from traditionally female majors to
traditionally male majors more than female college students in coeducational colleges.
(Solnick, 1995) The researcher recommends research which studies the relationship between
locus of control, career salience, and female faculty role models in female,
coeducational, college students. Finally, the researcher recommends research which studies
the relationship between female faculty role models and postgraduate degrees, postgraduate
achievement goals, and postgraduate earnings in female, coeducational college students.
APPENDIX A
Description of Rotter's
Internal-External Locus of Control Scale (1966)
Including Discussions of Reliability and Validity
From Robinson & Shaver's (1969)
Measures of Social Psychological Attitudes: Appendix B
R
obinson & Shaver address the reliability and homogeneity of the Rotter scale. They state that internal consistency coefficient (Kuder-Richardson) of .70 was obtained from a sample of 400 college students (Rotter, 1966). They relate that two subgroups of Rotter's 1966 sample test-retest reliability coefficients were computed , with a value, after one month, of .72 for 60 college students. (For males r=.60. For females=.61) They state that Rottter explained that individual versus group administration accounted for the decrease, after the two month period (Robinson & Shaver, 1969).
APPENDIX E
Samples of Anecdotal Evidence of Female Role Models
and of Internal Locus of Control in Female Students
at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
During Its Female-Only Days
The research questions addressed in this study
emerged during the researcher's ethnographic, historical studies at the University of Mary
Hardin-Baylor from fall 1992 through spring 1995. The first research
focused on the female-only days of the university from 1886-1972. The researcher studied
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor students from the female-only days by reading published
works by former students and faculty on the female-only history of the college. Further,
the researcher
surveyed the Class of 1945, collected oral histories from key female
leaders from the female-only days of the school, and audio-taped and transcribed the voices
of two former students (Berneta Peeples of the
Belton Journal and Lena Armstrong of the Belton Library, who lived near
the institution and studied its history for 60 years).
The researcher wrote scripts, performed critical events in the
lives of significant faculty and students from the female-only days
of the university, and directed scenes from female-only days in the sesquicentennial
historic production. From these activities emerged
evidence of the existence of female role models and internal locus
of control in those former students who reported female role models
during the female-only days of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Dr. Eleanor James reviews the first one
hundred years in the
history of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in her book Forth From Her Portals, The First One Hundred Years in Belton. She
reveals, through this historic project, evidence of her own internal
locus of control. Dr. James began her education in the college's
demonstration kindergarten, earned straight "A's" in all courses, and received
her B.A.in English from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
(then called Baylor College for Women) in 1933. She earned a teaching
fellowship at the University of Wisconsin, where she completed her
Ph.D. degree. Dr. James taught English for thirty-two years at
Texas Women's University.
In her account of the first one hundred years of Mary
Hardin-Baylor's history, Dr. James reports the existence of many female role models
during the college's female-only days. She admiringly begins with
Miss Frances Trask, the founder in the 1830's of Independence Female Academy, the first
school for girls in Texas, which developed into coeducational Baylor College in 1846.
. . . . Miss Frances Trask was an intrepid New
England lady who
came into this largely uninhabited country with the Dix Family
who settled in Coles Settlement. She pioneered with her school
in Coles Settlement, later known as Independence. She began her
school with the five daughters of Mrs. Coles, adding the
daughters
of other plantation owners. . . . Dr. Frederick Eby, thus sees a
straight line of descent from Independence Academy to Baylor
Female
College. He writes: 'among the most popular schools for girls
during
the forties was Independence Academy which later flowered into
the
Baylor Female College. This institution, which is the oldest in
the
state, was removed to Belton in 1886.' (James 1986: 2-3)
(The school took Judge Robert Baylor's name as he assisted in preparing the charter, secured the charter's passage through the legislature, presided as president of the first Board of Trustees, and gave the first gift of one thousand dollars to Baylor College. The school was made up of two divisions, one for men and one for females. Judge Baylor is buried today on the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor campus.)
Dr. James writes of another female role model, Miss Elli Moore Townsend, from the early female-only days of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (then called Baylor Female College). Elli Moore Townsend had a profound and long history of influence on female students at the college. In her institutional history of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Dr. James devotes a chapter to Elli and the Cottage Home System.
Dr. James recounts how seven years after
Baylor Female College had opened in Belton, after separating from Baylor Men's College in
Independence
in 1886, a very plain cottage was built back of the campus. This was the materialization
of a dream of Elli Moore, graduate of the Class of 1879,
who then was presiding teacher at Baylor Female College. The little
dwelling was to be the first of seven. This raw cottage stood in
sharp contrast to the fine stone college building on campus. However,
it was to be home to twelve poor students and a sign of a covenant
Miss Elli had made with God. (James, 1986)
Dr. James describes Elli as being bright,
strong-willed, loyal to
the college, and devoted to God. Dr. James describes Elli's lifelong
dream as that of helping Baylor and worthy, but impoverished girls, to
educate themselves. Early in her teaching career, Elli was besieged by
girls who could not afford college, but who saw in education their only
hope for advancement. While in Philadelphia, Elli learned of Mary Lyon,
a strong Christian woman who in 1837 founded
Mt. Holyoke College for
women in Massachusetts. All students at Mt. Holyoke were to work for
the college a certain number of hours a day for their education.
(James, 1986)
Influenced by Mary Lyon, Elli established a series of modest cottages, in which poor girls could live and work, in order to be able to attend Baylor Female College. Mary Lyon and Elli Moore's initiatives were extremely innovative in the 1890's. Even in New England and in older southern states a college education for girls was bold. Mary Lyon had fought against the idea that women's minds were not capable of the same studies as men. She had fought as well for the opportunity of the same examinations for her young female students as the young male students were given at Yale and Harvard. (James, 1986)
Dr. James asserts that at the turn of the century parents discouraged and refused their daughters from thinking of attending college. They were afraid that their daughters would be unattractive to men if they were educated. They even feared that a college education might render their daughters unfit as mothers and as wives. Girls of wealth were allowed and limited to pursue cultural accomplishments like playing the piano, drawing likenesses, or embroidering doilies. It is a wonder that a college for women, like Baylor Female College would develop before the Civil War in 1845 and would provide educational opportunities for poor girls at the turn of the century. It was due largely to the faith, patience, and perseverance of Elli Moore. (James, 1986)
Dr. James depicts Elli as determined of will,
but as never physically robust. As Lady Principal she drove herself into illness after
illness, disregarding the urging of her doctors that she rest and relinquish some
of her responsibilities. After twelve years of teaching, she resigned her teaching post to
devote herself exclusively to the development of the Cottage Home System, a kind of early
work study program at Baylor Female College. Having been refused permission by the board
of trustees at the college to build a house for cooperative living on campus, she
determined
to go ahead and somehow build a cottage close to the campus. (James, 1986)
A trustee who sympathized with her offered to give her half the
value of the house and easy terms to pay the remainder for a lot he owned near
the college. Using her own savings, Elli arranged for carpenters to build
a small cottage. Like an answer to prayer, three train carloads of lumber were sent to her
from a sympathetic alumna. By September 1892 a simple little house with three small
bedrooms, a kitchen, and a sitting room was available for twelve girls, four to a bedroom.
Meager furnishings were used. Wooden boxes served as washstands and curtains on wires
served as closets.
(James, 1986)
Dr. James describes the first twelve to live in the cottage with Elli. Some were orphans, some were ministers' daughters, and all were very needy. Sometimes cold, hungry, and uncomfortable (sleeping on shuck mattresses and so forth), Elli shared hardships with these girls. However, Dr. James asserts that the early Cottage Home students described Elli as wonderful, friendly, and energetic. (James, 1986)
Dr. James recounts anecdotes about Elli Moore and the first cottage home. The first is a tale of a Friday when a carpenter, who was yet to be fully paid for his work, insisted to Elli that he be paid his $150, which he had earned and needed for his own family. Elli told him to come back Monday, having no source for the money. On Monday, after a spartan breakfast and prayers, Miss Elli sent two girls for the mail. The carpenter arrived and Miss Elli seated him, while she glanced at the mail. From the first envelope a check fell out for $150. Elli endorsed it and handed it to the carpenter. (James, 1986)
Elli Moore, who married Ernest Gale Townsend in 1899, also had a significant impact on a student in the 1940's, Marg-Riette Montgomery, whose life as a published author, like Dr. James's, suggests internal locus of control. Ms. Montgomery writes a biography of Elli Moore Townsend, a faculty member for sixty years during the female-only days, beginning in 1886. Ms. Montgomery's biography of Elli Moore Townsend,Ten Thousand Texas Daughters, was published in 1950 by a regional Texas publishing company. It is dedicated to the Mary Hardin-Baylor Alumnae Association, whose goals were to sponsor and promote the ideals of Christian education for women. This alumnae association was organized by Elli Moore Townsend, who was considered a model Christian educator.
According to Ms. Montgomery, Ms. Townsend was
one of the great educators of her generation. Ms. Montgomery writes how Elli Moore came
from Independence to Belton as Lady Principal of Baylor Female College.
Ms. Montgomery describes how Elli worked with great dedication to raise money for both the
female college in Belton and the male college in Waco
and to set in place the early work duty program (The Cottage Home System). Ms. Montgomery
credits to Ms. Townsend the eleven "cottage homes,"
(early work-study homes), two cooperative dormitories, and the raising
of a quarter-million dollars in scholarship funds. Ms. Montgomery further credits Ms.
Townsend for influencing over ten thousand girls. (Montgomery, 1950)
In Ten Thousand Texas Daughters, Ms. Townsend gives
rationale for separate schools for women.
Why do we need separate Christian schools for women? . . . In
coeducational schools, there is what has been called the
'vice-president complex' on the part of women students. But here,
women assume full responsibility for leadership. . . . through
the work-week, there is no distraction from study life.
(Montgomery, 1950: 168-69.)
When Ms. Montgomery was writing her biography
of Ms. Townsend,
Elli would only consent to the writing of her story, if the biography essentially
concerned her inner spiritual growth. Therefore, Elli's
factual story and name were told, but the names of the Christian college, university, and
presidents were fictionalized to stress the importance of Christian education, without
referring to a denominational institution.
Elli also insisted that her weaknesses honestly be presented. She felt
that her story of working through struggles would be an encouragement
to the readers. Ms. Montgomery was a student in Mrs. Townsend's dormitory and a close
friend of Mrs. Townsend's niece. Ms. Montgomery verified her
story of Ms. Townsend by exhaustive research. (Montgomery, 1950)
Another writer influenced by Elli Moore Townsend, was
Winifred Cheaney, who also wrote a biography in 1901 of Elli Moore.
This book, Chapters From Life, chronicles the lives of early Cottage Home girls and
their relationship with Ms. Townsend. This book, which was actually published by Elli
Moore Townsend, is dedicated by Ms. Cheaney
to Elli and her girls. Ms. Cheaney, who knew Elli personally, did not
know the girls personally but writes this book based on the girls' autobiographical
stories. (Cheaney, 1901)
The profits from the sale of this book were used to continue the
educational support of poor, but worthy, girls. The nine girls in Ms. Cheaney's story are
not from the first cottage home but from subsequent years. Ms. Cheaney includes in her
book excerpts from letters from three of the Cottage Home girls: Leah, Louise, and Rachel.
These girls became Elli's inner circle prayer partners. (Cheaney, 1901).
The first girl's story that is told by Ms. Cheaney is that of
Leah.
She was born into a poor country family. Nevertheless, she loved to read, had strong
self-esteem, and had aspirations of becoming a leader. As a young girl she longed to go to
college, but her family could not afford to send her. She decided to study on her own to
take the county teacher's examination, which she passed. She was able to secure modest
teaching positions and began to save her money for college. During her fourth year
of teaching, her contract was terminated and she was replaced by a male teacher. During
the second year of Elli Moore's Cottage Home, Leah was
able to gain admittance. College for the year cost her nearly all her savings, $88 for
tuition and board. The following excerpt from a letter written by Leah to her cousin
Rachael suggests evidence of internal locus
of control and of Elli Moore as a role model. (Cheaney, 1901)
My Dear Cousin Rachel:
. . . Miss Moore is the best manager I ever saw. Every girl
chooses
the task that is most agreeable to her and when she gets tired,
the
task is changed. Miss Elli has been sick most all the time I have
been here but she always, when possible, comes to worship and
always
has us come to her room on Saturday and teaches us Hebrew History
to
the Life of Christ . . . . On Sunday afternoons she teaches us
lessons
from different parts of the Bible . . . As for my idea of Miss
Elli
. . . the secret of her grandeur and nobleness of character is
her
childlike trust in God and her complete submission to His will.
The
object of every plan and act of her life is to honor and glorify
God
. . . In spite of the fact that Miss Elli is an invalid she is
ever
busy . . .
Yours sincerely,
Leah
(Cheaney, 1901: 9-22)
Another story is told of Louise, who was introduced first in a letter to Miss Elli by her friend Miss Ella Yelvington. An excerpt from this letter indicates internal locus of control in Miss Ella and Louise and Miss Ella's looking to Miss Elli as a role model. (Cheaney, 1901)
Dear Miss Elli:
I address you . . . on behalf of a young girl
with whom I have . . .
been associated. She is a peculiar genius . . . an English girl .
. . .
She has been greatly disappointed in her struggle for an
education,
having been compelled by poverty to leave school when she was in
the
height of . . . great distinction . . . . Louise . . . is capable
of leading great numbers . . . she has no money, but I will bear
part of her expenses . . . You can plan ways and means for others
better than I can, for your whole life has been spent in such
work.
If you help me to give Louise the education her soul craves I
shall
be deeply grateful . . . (Cheaney, 1901: 23-34)
Ms. Cheaney tells another story about one of the early cottage
girls, Rachael, Leah's cousin. Rachael loved to read and had high ambitions like Leah. She
had a beautiful singing voice. She was, unfortunately, orphaned at twelve. She, like Leah,
was able to gain a county teaching position and struggled to save money to go to college
as well. Miss Elli Moore drew the orphaned but ambitious girl to her heart and enabled
Rachael to join the Cottage Home family. The following excerpt from a letter from Rachael
to Leah suggests evidence of indicates internal locus of control and of Elli Moore as a
role model before Rachael joined the Cottage Home family. (Cheaney, 1901)
. . . I am studying in this little country school the very books
I
should take were I in Baylor. After Christmas I shall teach a
little
school out here. It is a very small school and a short term but I
shall be very economical and it will be a start . . . I feel
something
like Thomas Moore's Peri must have felt when it found itself shut
out
of Paradise. But you know the Peri gained paradise after while,
and
I doubt not, enjoyed it better for its exile. So may the door of
Baylor at last open for me. Shall I not improve the opportunity
more
because of the waiting? (Cheaney, 1901: 35-49)
Ms. Cheaney recounts another anecdote about Elli and the first cottage home in her book Chapters From Life. Ms. Cheaney tells of an event that took place in the first plain cottage, while wealthier students lived across the street in a great deal more comfort in a beautiful stone college building on the Belton campus of Baylor Female College. (Cheaney, 1901)
This scene takes place in near starvation
times for the first cottage home in 1893. The day comes when the first twelve cottage
students and Miss Elli have no money nor food. Heavyhearted and weeping, Miss Elli's eyes
fall upon her jewel box full of family heirlooms. It occurs to her that this box could
provide the needs of the girls. She takes the jewelry to the bank and asks that it be held
as collateral for a loan or until the bank can dispose of it profitably. At her
insistence, the banker complies with her wishes. It is an answer to Elli's prayers. Prayer
was at the center of the Cottage Home life. All sources agree that Elli would pray
fervently with her eyes open, fixing as on acountenance in the sky, visible only to her.
(Cheaney, 1901)
The stories and descriptions of Mrs. Townsend by Dr. James,
Ms. Montgomery, and Ms. Cheaney are supported by many other sources:
Mrs. Townsend's letters and writings, interviews of those who knew her,
oral histories with her former students, news articles, yearbooks,
and so forth. These sources consistently portray Elli Moore Townsend
as a great woman of faith who was very outspoken, assertive, and sacrificial. From these
various sources, it is apparent that after
1879, for most of Elli Moore Townsend's life, Ms. Townsend's intense
energy was focused primarily on enabling orphaned or poor girls to
go to college. At the end of her life, she was described as continuing
to be intense whenever she heard of a girl who couldn't go to college
for lack of funds. (James, 1986; Montgomery, 1950; Cheaney, 1901)
Ms. Townsend also enabled Negro boys and girls to get their
education. Some of them were the grandchildren of her grandfather's slaves. She left her
estate to provide scholarships for Baylor College students on the basis of need and
scholarly promise. Students at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor still receive today
scholarships from Townnsend Memorial Scholarship Funds. Ms. Townsend died in 1953 and is
buried in the North Belton Cemetery, where lie many of the University of Mary Hardin
Baylor's presidential families. (James, 1986; Montgomery, 1950; Cheaney, 1901)
Due to Elli Moore Townsend's influence and example, in 1994, Ms. Gene Skeen gave $100,000 to assist in the building of a new female dormitory at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Ms. Gene Skeen, a Baylor Female College student in 1923, heard about Ms. Elli Moore's selling her jewels to secure monies for students. She promised herself that if she lived to retirement that she would give back to the school what she could because Ms. Moore gave all she could so that needy girls could go to school.
Finally, another Baylor Female College Cottage
Home student who
became a respected writer and journalist, Bess Whitehead Scott,
looked to Ms. Townsend as a role model. Ms. Scott wrote a poem, which
is dedicated to Ms. Townsend and found in the foreword section of Ten Thousand Texas Daughters.
It seems to me the very light that shone
From countenance of Christ in days of old
Is mirrored in your eyes. In perfect mold
His life by love is blended with your own.
Like Him you walked Gethsemane alone
And borne the cross that others might behold
The gifts of God. And in your heart is sown
The seeds of peace that naught but wisdom hold.
Oh friend, to us whose faith has not been tried,
Who need the clasp of hand- a word, a sign,
You are a tower of strength, a beacon guide,
A living well of truth and love divine.
It seems to me that always by your side
The lights of God in benediction shine.
(Montgomery, 1950: ix)
As well as identifying a role model in Ms.
Townsend, Bess Whitehead Scott also displayed evidence of internal locus of control in her
life.
She grew up in a home with eight siblings, which was held together by her widowed mother.
Measles and a mastoid operation left her with a serious hearing handicap, but she overcame
her physical impairment and her family's financial difficulties. She graduated from
college and taught school briefly. Then, at the age of twenty-five, in 1915, she entered
the male-dominated world of news reporting for the Houston Post. Her success with that
newspaper led to other jobs in the public relations field.
While trying her hand at writing screen scripts in the film world of Hollywood, she became
friends with Lyndon Johnson and Clark Gable.
(Scott: 1989)
Further outstanding examples of students who exhibited internal
locus of control and were influenced by female faculty role models in the female-only days
of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor came from interviews conducted in 1995-96 by the
researcher with Betty Sue Beebe, Director of Alumni Affairs at the university, and a
former student in the last female-only days of the university. Ms. Beebe, described Mary
Hardin-Baylor students, who demonstrated internal locus of control and who made national
contributions: Ailese Parten, another student of journalism, from the Class of 1925, who
was influenced by Elli Moore Townsend, established the first program in journalism for
women in the United States. Miriam Ferguson was the first female governor of Texas, and in
the nation. Oveta Culp married former Governor Hobby of Texas. She was very capable and
knowledgeable about law and politics. She was appointed by President Roosevelt to head the
first womens' military organization, the Women's Auxiliary Corps (WACS), during WWII. She
then served as Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare under
President Eisenhower. Finally, she became owner of the Houston Post and was the power
behind it and its broadcast affiliates.
Ms. Beebe also provided for the researcher evidence of female faculty role models, who exhibited internal locus of control, during the female-only days of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. These female faculty role model examples clearly influenced students, who later exhibited internal locus of control and developed outstanding national reputations.
An example of a female faculty role model, who
exhibited internal locus of control and who clearly influenced students, during the
female-only days of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, was Dr. Amy LeVesconte. She
served the university from 1931-52 and from '57-70. She served in the capacities of
professor and as chairman of the Chemistry Department. She was highly regarded by her
students, even after they graduated. In 1985, Charter Day was proclaimed "Amy
LeVesconte Day" at the university. Dr. LeVesconte was given an album of notes and
letters written by former students in which they
expressed their gratitude to her for her example.
Sally Provence was influenced by Dr. LeVesconte, the sponsor of
Sally's Class of 1937. After earning her bachelor's degree in general science with
pre-medical courses at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Ms. Provence earned her M.D.
degree and affected the field of pediatrics nationally. She developed the Child Study
Center, bearing her name, at Yale University.
Dr. Allena Pace, another student from the female-only days of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor who had a female role model and displayed internal locus of control, wrote a letter to the researcher in responseto an interview in 1994. After graduating from the university (then Mary Hardin-Baylor College) in 1939 in vocational home economics education and science, Dr. Pace married a military officer at the beginning of the WWII. After planning their wedding for a year, war was declared just days before the Paces' wedding. The war immediately affected their wedding and marriage.
First, as a reserved officer, groom was obligated to wear his dress uniform for his wedding. Since his new wife, Allena, was teaching, the groom was called in to see the base commander, to answer by endorsement, why he, an officer in the United States Army, would allow his wife to work. After being married in 1941, Allena's military husband was killed in a battle in France in 1944. Dr. Pace asserted, that at that time, she especially grew in Christian character. In her 1994 letter written to the researcher, Dr. Pace wrote,
I was teaching . . . in 1941 . . . In 1944 my husband was
killed in
battle . . . My wonderful mother helped me to keep my feet on the
ground. I secured a job in a junior college and began working on
my
master's degree . . . then my doctorate . . . worked with wives
of
veterans who were returning to college and pioneered adult
education
. . . In my 39 years of teaching . . . I developed new curricula
in the area of nutrition . . . fashion merchandise . . . child
development, interior decoration . . . during these years of
teaching
in three universities, I have been treated with respect and . . .
as well as . . . many of the men faculty.
One of the oral histories gathered by the
author in this study was with Berneta Peeples, a University of Mary Hardin-Baylor student
during the fifties, who has since demonstrated internal locus of control as an active and
assertive journalist for the Belton Journal for sixty years. The oral history revealed
Berneta's internal locus of control, especially in her driving desire to research and
report Belton and University of Mary Hardin-Baylor history. The oral history also revealed
the impact on Berneta of a female faculty role model at the university, Dr. Mildred
Fussel.
Dr. Fussel had been head of the English Department, when Berneta was a student at the
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Ms. Peeples told a story with awe about her role model,
Dr. Fussel, in a 1994 oral history with the researcher.
She was a child protege . . . when she started school at six
years
old she was in the third grade, both her parents were teachers.
She was teaching in high school . . . before she was nineteen
years
old. She had her masters when she was twenty-one. Along came WWII
and
Mildred enlisted in the WACS. She was one of thirty-six girls who
were
chosen for cryptoquote. It was a code. They sent code messages.
There
were thirty-six of them. They lived in separate barracks. They
never
saw anybody but these thirty six. They were transported in
armored
trucks from their barracks to Lord only knows where . . . All
these
strange little messages about Project Manhattan were going. About
four o'clock one morning she realized that somebody was breathing
down her neck. She got through sending that message. She slammed
her chair back on somebody's toes. And Harry Truman was standing
there. (Peeples, 1993)
Surveys were sent by the researcher to living
members of WWII-era classes of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Questions were asked
about the educational and professional goals the graduates had when they were students,
and the effect of the war on their education and professional lives. Eleven responded and
provided stories which indicated that they had both internal locus of control and female
role models. With the Class of 1945 survey, Strelsa Burks wrote of attending graduate
school at Julliard
in New York. Betsy Hunt wrote, on her Class of 1945 survey, of preparing for teaching and
having been influence by her aunt, who was an Army nurse and who was her female model.
Betsy described her aunt.
She had a difficult time even making enough at
times to live on after
graduation from Baylor Nursing School during the grim depression
years.
She had gone on to New York City to do graduate work then to
nurse
there. We did not see her for quite a few years. She enlisted in
the
new Army Nurses Corps and was stationed at Brook General after
her
basic training. I enjoyed seeing what her life was like . . . She
wore
her uniform with pride and I believe she thrived under the
discipline
and regimentation that came with the job.
Neta Mayfield, graduate of Mary-Hardin Baylor
in 1947, testified,
in an interview with the researcher in 1993, that the faculty at Mary Hardin-Baylor
provided the students with security, stability, and direction. Ms. Mayfield asserted that
the faculty had a special, close bond with the students, especially during the war years.
She said they were like personal guides, mentors to the girls.
Graduates interviewed, who graduated in 1947-48 from Mary Hardin-Baylor College, remembered with particular fondness Imogene Emery, the speech instructor, and Emilie Johnson, the drama instructor, who had trained the girls well in the personal skills of public speaking and who instilled confidence in the students. Ms. Emery prepared the girls to win many collegiate debates. The students developed a deep loyalty to the faculty, to the college, and to the traditions of the school, because in these they found security during the troubled war years.
Mary Purcell, who graduated from Mary Hardin-Baylor College in 1947, wrote to the researcher after an interview in 1993. Ms. Purcell, who had been influenced by Ms. Emery in the Speech Department at Mary Hardin-Baylor, wrote that she finished her graduate degree in speech at Louisiana State University in 1948 and went to Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to teach speech and to direct the women's debate program. Interestingly, her students in her public speaking course were mostly men, who had returned from the war and who were older than she was. She testified that she was not awed by her students, but only felt challenged. She stated that her years at Mary Hardin-Baylor College gave her immense confidence to handle whatever came her way. In the 50s she began working with the American Association of University Women and served on the national board in the 70s. She continues today in leadership of the International Federation of University Women.
During and after WWII the loss of male competition as the girls graduated and entered the professional world was to their advantage. Many Mary Hardin-Baylor war year graduates told the researcher of abundant professional opportunities that were available to them. Mary Hardin-Baylor graduates in education, during and immediately after the war, stated that teaching jobs were plentiful from the elementary to college levels. Along with equal pay for equal work appeared, new opportunities emerged for women to teach on college faculties.
Many former Mary Hardin-Baylor female-only
students were influenced
by Dr. Rachel LaRoe.
Dr. LaRoe, as Mary Hardin-Baylor student from 1935-37, had been
influenced Lucile Capt, a female biology faculty member. In an oral history with the
researcher in 1993, Dr. Rachael LaRoe, recounted how when she was on the Mary
Hardin-Baylor faculty at the onset of the WWII, she was invited to teach physics with one
other female physics instructor at Oregon State University. She also taught pre-flight
physics for the Air Force. She would not have had these opportunities had not some of the
previous male faculty been drafted. She told humorous stories about teaching the Air Force
students who were as old as she was. The Air force program was extremely rigid in its
demands of the students to exhibit military courtesy in the classroom. Dr. LaRoe told the
author that, in class, the students were expected by their commanders to keep both feet on
the floor, to keep their chin off their hands, to sit up straight, and to stand to
attention in the aisle when called on and to say, "Miss LaRoe, Air Cadet Jones, John
C. reports to answer the question." She would say, "Yes, Mr. Jones." And he
would sometimes say after all that, "I don't know the answer." Rachel got tired
of this, went to the commandant, and told him that she could not teach effectively under
the conditions of the rules of military etiquette, as it wasted too much time. The
commander allowed the military courtesy to be suspended in her classroom. He said if any
commander were to come into her classroom, she could tell him to get out, that this was
her classroom,
and she was not obligated to military etiquette. The students continued to be marched to
her class, but they could behave as normal college students once in her classroom.
Dr. LaRoe was invited to teach physics at Duke
University as the only female instructor. Before the war there had been resistance at Duke
against female graduate students, let alone female faculty. Dr. LaRoe returned to Mary
Hardin-Baylor in 1953 and continued to serve as role model in math and physics through the
end of the female-only era. She later served as Dean of Arts and Sciences.
Maxine Presnall, in the Class of 1945 survey, wrote of being
hired on Wall Street, New York, after graduation. Her third year at Mary Hardin-Baylor she
took all business courses, thinking that would be her last year in college, due to the
war. The following year, she worked in a bank and within a few months was in charge of the
bookkeeping department. She felt this duty and her job later on Wall Street came due to
the male shortage. In 1946, she worked again in what was formerly a male-dominated field,
in a Civil Service finance department. There she was the first woman among twenty-three
men.
In 1993, on the Class of 1945 survey, Enid Davidson, testified of finding jobs plentiful in the field of chemistry in 1945 "because the men were not yet back." Helen Sedge, Class of '45 told of finding jobs "galore" in Washington. Having been with the Signal Corps three weeks learning "crypt," she was offered eight jobs in one day. Bolling Field was her choice and she went from hangar duty to the commanding general's office in a few months. She served with the Army, Pentagon for four years, and went to Viet Nam. She went to work at NASA's Johnson Space Center in 1964. She received many honors.
Although, male shortages at home during WWII
opened up new doors of professional opportunities, especially for female college
graduates, the
researcher found, as well, examples of evidence of female faculty role models and of
female students influenced by them who exhibited internal locus of control, during this
period. Throughout the history of the female-only days of the University of Mary
Hardin-Baylor, the researcher found many examples of female role models and of female
students influenced by them who exhibited internal locus of control. The researcher has
reported here samples of evidence of the existence of female role models and of the
existence of internal locus of control in the female students, during the female-only days
at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
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