The Influence of Gender Roles and Mate Selection on Family Formation of High Achieving Women

As a response to changing cultures, family structures shifted (Coontz, 2016; Gladding, 2019). Specifically, high achieving women shifted within the family from traditional gender roles to demanding careers and the inclusion of gender role flexibility (Gerson, 2010) and intentional mate selection (Lichter et al., 2019; Van Bavel et al., 2018). However, family life span developmental theories have not shifted with the changing roles (Lerner, 2013; McGoldrick et al., 2016; O’Brien, 2021). The incongruence of development theories with high achieving women renders them inadequate in describing their development (Brown, 2018; O’Brien, 2021). Without appropriate theories, family counselors and counselor educators act outside of ethical guidelines (ACA, 2014; IAMFC, 2017), cultural competency requirements (Brown, 2018; Singh et al., 2020), and CACREP (2016) curriculum standards. This study aimed to generate a theoretical conceptualization of the family formation of high achieving women with the consideration of gender role flexibility and mate selection. The researcher utilized a constructivist grounded theory research design, interviews, and nested sampling with 16 self-identifying female deans and associate deans in Texas. The results indicated that participants conceptualized family formation as an output of the relational interactions of their three systems (i.e., partner, family, and academic) with additional impact from external influences. Essentially, this study identified family formation for high achieving women as a multisystem relational experience influenced by external factors. Thus, the results of this study offer family counselors and counselor educators a conceptualization of the family formation of high achieving women.

Embargo status: Restricted until 06/2028. To request the author grant access, click on the PDF link to the left.