Date of Award:

5-1971

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Human Development and Family Studies

Department name when degree awarded

Household Economics and Management

Committee Chair(s)

Edith Nyman

Committee

Edith Nyman

Committee

Jane Lott

Committee

Jay Schvaneveldt

Abstract

The difficulty of decision - making by women who are widows compared to when they were wives was studied. The areas of decision-making that were rated as to difficult concerned family finance, child care, homemaking (family foods, clothing, home furnishings, and housing), social activities, and yard and car care.

The sample consisted of 33 widows living in Logan, Utah during Spring Quarter, 1971. The subjects had at least one child living at home and had been widowed at least one year.

The instruments used were: (1) a background questionnaire, and (2) a decision-making questionnaire. The statistical test used for analysis was the sign (binomial) test.

Decisions concerning family finance, child care, cleaning and upkeep of the home, and yard care were more difficult for the women as widows than such decisions had been for them as wives.

Decisions concerning food, clothing, and home furnishings were not more difficult for the women as widows.

Decisions concerning washing the car were not more difficult, while decisions about maintenance, servicing, and repairs for the car were more difficult for the women as widows.

Decisions concerning social activities that are often done as individuals, not couples, were not more difficult for the women as widows. Decisions concerning those social activities that couples often participate in were more difficult for the women as widows than such decisions had been for them as wives.

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