The aim of the present research was to experimentally test Blood and Wolfe's resource theory of family power according to which it is the comparative socioeconomic resources rather than tradition that form the bases of conjugal power. The technique used in two studies comprised presenting decision-making situations, in the form of scenarios contained in booklets, to male and female students at Florida State University and examine their perceptions of these situations. The scenarios depicted husbands and wives with comparatively greater, equal, and lesser resources (in terms of their occupational status) engaged in family decision-making. / Six decision tasks, including renting an apartment/buying a house, relocation because of a lucrative job offer, purchase of furniture, place of vacation, color preferences for the car to be bought, and TV program to be watched, were used to write the scenarios used in the two studies. / Study I addressed the question "what decision-making outcomes would be expected when decision-making situations were presented to subjects in scenarios with no outcomes. The question asked in Study II was what reasons subjects would assign to outcomes in scenarios when they were provided with their outcomes. In addition to writing their responses to scenarios with respect to their outcomes (Study I) and reasons (Study II), subjects also rated the importance of decisions to the couples. / The subjects often perceived a spouse with no obvious resources or with comparatively less economic resources as having his/her way on decision-making scenarios presented without their outcomes. They also perceived decision-making process often resulting into compromise and conciliation. Another finding of this research was that subjects perceived the scenarios to vary in importance. In short, the findings of this research lend minimal support to resource theory. According to the subjects' perceptions, such factors as whose domain of interest (husband's or wife's) a decision falls in, consideration for peace in the home, nature of entity involved, and personal qualities and sex roles appeared to be playing a more significant role than socioeconomic resources in patterning marital decision-making. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: B, page: 2598. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74576 |
| Contributors | FAROOQUI, MUMTAZ U., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 133 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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