RESULTS

Analysis of variance was conducted to determine the relationship of gender, number of siblings and family type as they relate to the emotional reliance and assertion of autonomy measures of dependency. See table 1 for emotional reliance descriptive statistics, and table 2 for assertion of autonomy descriptive statistics.

There is no significant three-way interaction between gender, family type and number of siblings as related to assertion of autonomy. (F(2,376) =0.104 MSe=36.658 p>0.05). All three two way interactions are also not significant, descriptive of the three way. The main effects of family type and number of siblings are not significant, but the main effect of gender is significant as it relates to assertion of autonomy (F(1,376)=14.836 MSe= 36.658 p>.05).

There is a significant three-way interaction between gender, family type and number of siblings as they relate to emotional reliance (F(2,376)=3.813 MSe=70.396 p<.05). The two-way interaction between gender and family type is not significant (F(1,376)=0.035 MSe=70.396 p>.05). This pattern is potentially misleading in that females have significantly higher emotional reliance scores than males in traditional families, the rest of the pattern is descriptive of the three-way.

The two-way interaction between gender and number of siblings is also not significant (F(2,376)=1.078 MSe=70.396 p>.05). This pattern is potentially misleading in that females have significantly higher emotional reliance scores than males with two siblings, and there is no significant interaction between males and females with 0-1 sibling, the rest of the pattern is descriptive of the three-way.

The two-way interaction between family type and number of siblings is also not significant (F(2,376)=1.878 MSe=70.396 p>.05). This pattern is descriptive for males, but potentially misleading for females.

The main effect of gender is significant as it relates to emotional reliance (F(1,376)=4.566, MSe=70.396 p<.05) which is potentially misleading for males. The main effect of family type is not significant (F(1,376)=.793, MSe=70.396 p>.05) which is potentially misleading for females. The main effect of number of siblings is also not significant (F(3,376)=1.183 MSe=70.396 p>.05) which is potentially misleading for females.

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