Title

Married women in missions: the effects of cross-cultural and self gender-role expectations on well-being, stress, and self-esteem.

School/Department

Rosemead School of Psychology

Publication Date

Winter 2003

Abstract

The present study explored the effects of self-expectations and societal expectations of the host culture on the well-being of 37 married missionary women. The results did not support a relationship between the expectations of the host culture, and well-being. Homemakers appeared to be more relaxed and to experience life as more satisfying and interesting than women involved more actively in the missions task. The congruence of roles with self-expectations, role satisfaction, and freedom in choosing a role emerged as highly related to several indices of well- being. These findings highlight the centrality of freedom in choosing a role, and suggest that important subcultural differences in self-expectations exist in the Christian subculture which should be taken into account in research on women’s issues.

Keywords

Women missionaries; Missionaries' spouses

Publication Title

Journal of Psychology & Theology

Volume

31

Issue

4

First Page

303

Last Page

314

DOI of Published Version

10.1177/009164710303100401

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