Soc. 3155 Answers to Homework 3

10.3 a.) Dependent variable: decision-making (lower mean = more sharing of decisions)

Traditional	Dual Career	Cohabiting	Total
T1 = 35	T2 = 31	T3 = 13	T = 79	∑ j (Tj^2 /nj) = 392.5
n1 = 6	n2 = 6	n3 = 6	N = 18	∑i∑j (Xij^2) = 433
mean1 = 5.83	mean2 = 5.17	mean3 = 2.17	grand mean = 4.39	T^2/N =346.72

Source	Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F-ratio	F.05(2,15)
Between	45.78	2	22.89	8.478	3.68
Within	40.50	15	2.70		Reject H0
Total	86.28	17

We conclude that there are differences between the populations of traditional, dual-career, and cohabiting couples in the extent to which the partners share in decision-making. Cohabiting couples seem to be more egalitarian in decision making (i.e., sharing responsibility for decisions) than either dual career or traditional couples.

10.3 a.) Dependent variable: happiness (lower mean = more happiness)

Traditional	Dual Career	Cohabiting	Total
T1 = 113	T2 = 85	T3 = 98	T = 296	∑ j (Tj^2 /nj) = 4933
n1 = 6	n2 = 6	n3 = 6	N = 18	∑i∑j (Xij^2) = 5200
mean1 = 18.83	mean2 = 14.17	mean3 = 16.33	grand mean = 16.44	T^2/N = 4867.55

Source	Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F-ratio	F.05(2,15)
Between	65.45	2	32.725	1.838	3.68
Within	267.00	15	17.80		Retain H0
Total	332.45	17

We conclude that there are no differences between the populations of traditional, dual-career, and cohabiting relationships in marital happiness.

SPSS: the relevant parts of the output are:

Here are the group means for each of the sexual attitude variables:

(A higher mean indicates higher acceptance of the behavior, i.e., more permissiveness)

		N	Mean
SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE	married	205	2.66
	widowed	40	2.18
	divorced or separated	82	2.98
	never married	152	3.13
	Total	479	2.82
HOMOSEXUAL SEX RELATIONS	married	204	2.05
	widowed	44	1.73
	divorced or separated	90	2.24
	never married	126	2.49
	Total	464	2.18
SEX WITH PERSON OTHER THAN SPOUSE	married	210	1.20
	widowed	45	1.36
	divorced or separated	98	1.40
	never married	128	1.34
	Total	481	1.29

Here are the ANOVA summary tables:

ANOVA

		Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE	Between Groups	37.790	3	12.597	8.041	.000
	Within Groups	744.127	475	1.567
	Total	781.916	478
HOMOSEXUAL SEX	Between Groups	25.157	3	8.386	4.422	.004
	Within Groups	872.351	460	1.896
	Total	897.509	463
EXTRAMARITAL SEX	Between Groups	3.591	3	1.197	2.859	.037
	Within Groups	199.661	477	.419
	Total	203.252	480

Premarital sex is the most acceptable of the three behaviors, and extramarital sex is the least acceptable. As for differences among marital statuses, the pattern is the same for each sexual behavior - higher permissiveness among the never married, divorced, and separated, and lower permissiveness among married and widowed persons. Marital status makes the most difference in attitudes about sex before marriage, with a full point between the most permissive (never married) and the least permissive (widowed) groups. There is more conensus on extramarital sex, which is generally considered unacceptable by most American adults, although the differences are still significant. The F-ratios are all significant (p < .05), which means that the differences found between the samples are generalizable to the population. Marital status does make a difference in sexual attitudes. Some of these differences may be more a matter of age than marital status, however. Widowed persons are the most conservative, but they are also likely to be older. The never married represent a younger population. Generational differences may be reflected here. Divorced and separated persons’ attitudes mostly fall between the married and the never married. This makes sense; being divorced is probably closer to being single in terms of sexual relationships and experiences, but divorced persons are as a group older than the never married.