THE IMPACT OF AGE AND ENVIRONMENT ON GENDER ROLES AMONG S.R.O. (SINGLE ROOM OCCUPANCY) ELDERLY

MARSHA YAGGIE SMITH, Purdue University

Abstract

A symbolic interaction approach is utilized to investigate the effects of community size and type of S.R.O. on the gender role expression of sixty-one elderly male and female residents of hotels in central Indiana. Specific aims include: (1) to provide descriptive information of personal and environmental characteristics of S.R.O.'s in central Indiana; (2) to investigate the impact of age on changing definitions of gender role attributes, to compare tenants in terms of perceived masculine and feminine attributes, instrumental and affiliative perceptions of self and the effects of differing hotel types on these self-conceptions; and (3) to assay the usefulness of a symbolic interaction perspective for explaining variations among tenants in self-perception and evaluation of gender role attributes. Three types of metropolitan S.R.O. hotels and four medium size city types, with differing environmental constraints and structures, are described. The data further suggest that although age seems to have some impact on changing gender role, age alone cannot explain how changes may occur. Rather, it is the environment in the hotel and the socialization experiences within it which influence which gender characteristics are expressed. In hotels with strong affiliative support systems, these act to increase feminine gender attributes and decrease masculine ones for both males and females. Finally, the data offer support that environmental and personal characteristics influence the self-structure variables of masculine and feminine gender attributes only indirectly through socialization variables, offering support for the symbolic interaction framework that is utilized in this study.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Welfare

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