Career Developments and Transitions of Middle-Aged Women

Abstract

Job transition behaviors of women ( N = 71; M = 42.5 yrs.) in their middle years of professional careers who had changed jobs within the previous 3 years were investigated. They were employed in a major utility company in a midwestern city where 11% of the jobs had been eliminated. The women were classified according to job transition attitudes and behaviors into groups labeled Wanters–Planners or Creators ( n = 12); Wanters–Nonplanners or Maintainers ( n = 15); Nonwanters–Planners or Conventionalists ( n = 28); and Nonwanters–Nonplanners or Reactors ( n = 16). Significant differences were obtained from three developmental perspectives: Person, Situation, and Person-by-Situation aspects of job-leaving/job-procuring behaviors. Three multivariate analyses of variance were followed by appropriate one-way analyses of variance and post hoc chi-square and Tukey's tests to identify the variations among the groups. Three multivariate discriminant analyses correctly classified the women into the four groups.