Self‐actualizing men and women ‐ A comparison study

Abstract

Differences in the self‐actualization of men and women were investigated in this study. Ivy League men researched by John Gowan (1972) were compared to University of Michigan women who resided in the Martha Cook (MC) dormitory between 1950–1970. Gowan concluded that the men were caught in the parental stage or the hobbies, art, and travel stage and did not progress to actualization of their talent. In contrast, over twice as many women were self‐actualized using Gowan's definition of actualization. Moreover, three times as many women were considered accomplished, while only two percent were in the hobbies, art, and travel stage, as compared to 13 percent of the men. Finally, only 15 percent of the women were classified as in the parental stage, while 27 percent of the men were considered family focused. A second part of the study compared two groups of the MC women to each other for differences between groups which might help explain why some women self‐actualized in adult life while others did not.