Critical events in the lives of college-educated minority and white women. 1981.

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Avery, Donna M. Critical events in the lives of college-educated minority and white women.

Critical events in the lives of college-educated minority and white women. 1981.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26615601

The purpose of these two studies was to determine the perceptions of major life transitions of women of different ethnic backgrounds, and the role of these perceptions in the formation of their identities as adult women. The first sample included 36 African-American women and 64 white women. The second included 25 Mexican American and 25 Puerto Rican women. The typical participant was in her 30s to early 40s, employed in a professional or technical occupation or self-employed, and college educated. The participants also combined the roles of wife, mother, and worker. In 1979 and 1981, the participants of each sample were asked to identify and describe those critical events or turning points in their past lives which they believed had made a difference in their present identity as adult women. The Critical Events Interview format was used to organize the participants' descriptions of various dimensions of the events such as associated thoughts and feelings, coping strategies, factors related to the resolution of the events, and sources of support or frustration associated with the events. The critical event was used as the unit of analysis. The Murray Center has typed transcripts of 813 single critical events from the 150 participants. The majority reported five or six critical events.

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Harvard University, Murray Research Center