Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations University of Queenlsand Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations

Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations

 
 


Research projects

Ms Melissa Johnstone
PhD candidate

 

 

Doctoral Thesis: The aspirations and life goals of young women during the period of emerging adulthood
Supervisors: Professor Christina Lee and Dr Nancy Pachana (School of Psychology, University of Queensland)
University: School of Psychology, University of Queensland

Objectives:
• To examine young Australian women’s aspirations for work and family, with reference to the theory of Emerging Adulthood as well as Hakim’s Lifestyle Preference Theory.
• To identify and understand young Australian women’s aspirations/goals/life plans and uncertainties, regarding employment, family, relationships, residence, living and finance, during their transition into adulthood.
• To understand how young women successfully navigate and subjectively experience the passage into early adult life.

Phase 1
Quantitative analyses of the data collected from Surveys 1, 2 and 3 of the younger cohort of the ALSWH were conducted, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, focusing on responses to the questions regarding young women’s aspirations for
employment, motherhood and relationship status at age 35. The results were assessed with reference to Hakim’s Lifestyle Preference Theory and the theory of Emerging Adulthood. It was found that Hakim’s Lifestyle Preference Theory did not adequately explain young women’s aspirations for work and family. Young women could not be easily categorised into Hakim’s Lifestyle Preference Groups, they were not consistently aspiring to a particular ‘type’ of lifestyle and they were not aligning their behaviour at Survey 3 with their aspirations from Survey 1. Based on these findings, a manuscript which discusses the limitations of Hakim’s model, the discrepancies between Hakim’s model and the present data, and which provides support for the theory of Emerging Adulthood has been prepared and submitted to an international journal.

Phase 2
The second phase of the project involves analysing the written comments obtained from Surveys 1, 2 and 3 of the younger cohort of the ALSWH. This analysis will focus on young women’s comments that are specific to the topic of aspirations and the transition into adulthood; particularly comments regarding employment, family, relationships, living, finance and lifestyle. Currently, the comments from all three surveys are being read and the comments relevant to aspirations and the transition to adulthood are being identified. Thematic analysis of the identified comments using a grounded-theory approach will then be conducted. Once this has been completed, the written comments from individual women will be cross-referenced to the women’s responses on the aspiration items in the quantitative data.


To contact Melissa
Melissa Johnstone
School of Psychology
University of Queensland
Herston QLD 4006

 
Link to Project Aims page Link to Project Progress page Link to Project Methods page Link to Project Progress page 		 


 
 

Last updated: 16 July 2004 by Timothy Neve © Copyright