Projects

Silencing the Self across generations and gender (1999-2006)

Airi Hautamäki, Swedish School of Social Science, University of Helsinki, Finland

Funded by the University of Joensuu 1999-2001, Academy of Finland 2001-2003, Swedish School of Social Science 2001 and 2005

THEORY: The Silencing the Self Scale (STSS) (Jack 1987) measures cognitive schemas about how to make and maintain intimacy in close relationships. It has been designed to reflect the development and dynamics of the self-in-relation, the ability to grow and develop within a relationship, as well as the ability to participate in the growth and development of others (Chodorow 1990; Gilligan 1990; Miller 1990). Women tend to define themselves in the context of human relationships and judge themselves in terms of their caring abilities (Stein, Newcomb & Bentler 1992; Hautamäki & Hautamäki 2001, 2005). Cognitive schemas of how to create and maintain close relationships may, however, lead women to silence certain feelings, thoughts and actions. Jack & Dill (1992) showed that self-negation, a loss of self, as measured by the STSS, was associated with depression as measured by Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) in three samples of Caucasian women. STSS has proved to be a useful instrument in measuring gender-specific schemas associated with depression in women. The STSS scale has a high internal consistency and test-retest reliability (for Finland, see Nielsen 1999). Not many studies have been made concerning how males respond to the STSS items. A preliminary study (Jack & Dill 1992) indicated that even if males may endorse STSS schemas, their scores did not relate significantly to the level of depression, as measured by the BDI (for Finnish results, see Nielsen 1999).

PROBLEM: Silencing the self is bound to the demands of the social context concerning certain behaviours of females. Silencing the self may lessen, as women become more equal with men. It was assumed that silencing the self differs in accordance with the historical changes of the cultural context, i.e., the progress of the individualization of women (Bjerrum Nielsen & Rudberg 1995; Hautamäki 2000). Additionally, it was assumed that the insecure, particularly the dismissive/avoidant attachment style (self-report, Bartholomew & Horowitz 1991) is related to higher STSS scores.

METHOD: Two normative samples, a) a sample from a middle-sized city in Eastern Finland (14 grandmothers and 15 adult mothers, Ntotal=29), and b) sample from the capital of Finland (19 grandmothers and 19 adult daughters, including their husbands, Ntotal=57), were studied. Internal consistency (alpha) for the total STSS scores was .87. Alphas on subscales ranged from .67 to .82.

RESULTS: The distributions of the STSS scores were skewed to the left, e.g., the scores were lower for the two generations of Finnish women than those of the three Caucasian female samples studied by Jack & Dill (1992). The two generations of women differed significantly in regard to the STSS scores. The mothers (aged 42-76 years) had significantly higher scores than their daughters (aged 19-36 years). Particularly, divided self and silencing the self decreased from one generation to the next, while care as self-sacrifice and externalized self-perception remained the same from one generation to the next. The young women thought they were entitled to a voice of their own. Their responsiveness to self did not, however, exclude responsiveness to others (the scores of externalized self-perception and care as self-sacrifice were similar to those of their mothers). Rather, the younger generation of women was connected in terms of self-in-relation, envisioned by Chodorow (1978), Gilligan (1982) and Miller (1976), i.e., they experienced themselves as both connected and self-determined (Bjerrum Nielsen & Rudberg 1995; Harter 1999).

Males scored significantly higher than females on the total STSS, and the two subscales, silencing the self and divided self. The predominance of the avoidant pattern of attachment in Finland among males (Crittenden 2000), may explain the higher STSS scores of the males in the sample.

Self-reported dismissive attachment style (Bartholomew & Horowitz 1991) was significantly related to the level of scores of the STSS, and some subscales, i.e., the divided self and the silencing of the self scales. The dismissive individual is more prone to take the perspective of the significant other, even at the cost of losing the touch with his own feelings (Crittenden 2004).

DISCUSSION: Because of the sample size, the results should be interpreted with caution. The results may be discussed in terms of the historically early individualization and emancipation of Finnish women. The Finnish cultural context differs from other cultural contexts in the demand of behaviours measured by the STSS. Traditionally, there has been a weak male bread-winner model in Finland. The role of the woman is both that of a mother and a worker. In the old Finnish rural community men and women worked as equals, giving the Finnish woman her traditional identity of persistence and strength. During the Second War Finnish women entered the labour force and the public arena. Later the Nordic welfare state, providing public day-care for all children, have made possible that in 1996, about 91% of women worked outside home, mostly full-time. Currently, the educational level of Finnish women even excels that of the Finnish males in all age-cohorts except the 60+-age-cohorts. The relatively equal position of Finnish women may have decreased the demands of compliant connectedness, i.e., the appeasing behaviours, inhibition of self-expression and compulsive care giving as measured by the STSS.