Record Details
Identification of young homemakers' management problems related to resource limitations
ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | Identification of young homemakers' management problems related to resource limitations |
| Names |
Koza, Mary Speckhart
(creator) Plonk, Martha (advisor) |
| Date Issued | 1974-03-01 (iso8601) |
| Note | Graduation date: 1974 |
| Abstract | This study was designed to identify young homemakers' management problems and to see if limitations of selected resources caused problems. Sources used for current homemaking information were also explored. The sample was composed of 50 married homemakers, age 30 or under, who were living with their husbands. Homemakers were randomly selected from a newsletter mailing list. Thirty of the homemakers were classified as full-time homemakers. Twelve were employed full-time and six on a part-time basis. Only two were currently enrolled as students taking credit courses. Their average age was 26 years and they had completed a mean of 14 years of education. All but seven had families ranging from one to four children. The family mean income was $10,500. All 17 tasks studied were carried out most often on a regular or sometimes basis by the homemakers. Tasks included: meal preparation, dishwashing, packing lunches, special food preparation, food preservation, regular house care, special house care, upkeep of the home, washing, ironing, sewing and mending, physical care of adults, physical care of children, financial planning, record keeping, marketing for food and marketing for clothing. Homemakers rated tasks on a scale ranging from very simple to very complex. Upkeep of the home was listed as most complex while dishwashing was named the least complex task. Hypothesis 1. Hypothesis 1, management problems of young homemakers will not differ with respect to: length of marriage, age, type of housing, place of residence, homemakers' education, homemakers' occupation, composition of family and income, was accepted since there was no indication of relationship at the 0.10 level of signficance between management problems expressed and the demographic variables. If tasks were complex, homemakers were asked if one or more of six resource limitations including: money, time, knowledge, equipment, energy or space caused the complexity. Chi-square tests indicated that resources were unevenly distributed among the tasks. Limitations causing the most difficulty were time followed by money and knowledge. Resource limitations were unevenly distributed for special food preparation, financial planning, record keeping, marketing for food, marketing for clothing and special house care at the 0.005 significance level. Limitations were unevenly distributed at the 0.01 signficance level for ironing, the 0.05 significance level for food preservation and 0.10 significance level for upkeep of the home. Hypothesis Z. Hypothesis 2, there will be no relationship between the expressed problem areas and the limitations of resources of time, money, knowledge, equipment, energy or space, was rejected for the tasks mentioned above due to the uneven distribution at the stated signficance levels. The task enjoyed most by homemakers was physical care of children even though it took the most time. Dishwashing was least enjoyed, while ironing and packing lunches were least time consuming. The most energy was spent on special house care while washing took the least amount. Sixty-two percent of the homemakers followed daily routines while three-fourths of the homemakers made spending plans regularly. Sixty-eight percent had monetary resources to cover expenditures on a regular basis. Appliances available to all homemakers included a refrigerator or refrigerator-freezer, range and vacuum cleaner. Two-thirds of the families owned or were buying their homes. Twenty-eight felt they could use additional living space. Of these 28, 17 specified the need for at least one additional bedroom. All homemakers received current homemaking information from the Oregon State University Cooperative Extension Service Young Homemaker Newsletter. They requested additional information on community resources, use of personal energy, time, money, household space and equipment via, the newsletter. The majority of homemakers were managing the tasks and resources discussed in this study effectively in terms of the homemakers' satisfactions. The homemakers appeared to place a high value on their dual roles as wife and mother and were willing to try new ideas to enhance their roles. |
| Genre | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Topic | Home economics -- Accounting |
| Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/1957/46213 |
