Relationships between family structure, ego-defensiveness and attitudes toward feminism

Abstract

Family adaptability concerns the extent to which a family system is flexible andable to change, and family cohesion refers to the degree to which family members are connected to the family system. Excessive rigidity and enmeshment are hypothesised to be detrimental to family functioning and are likely to give rise to the syndrome of ego-defensiveness, which in turn predisposes family members toward holding negative attitudes toward feminism as a result of the threat posed by feminist beliefs and aims. Self-report data obtained from 196 Australian university students confirmed this hypothesis. A significantly high negative correlation between egodefensiveness and favourable attitudes toward f..