This chapter reviews literature relevant to the problem investigated in this study. The research problem investigated was as follows: Overcoming obstacles confronting U.S. Army officers' wives on frontier Army posts in the American west. The research question investigated was as follows: How did the behaviors and perceptions of U.S. Army officers' wives affect their success (or lack thereof) in adapting to life on a frontier Army post in the American west? The hypothesis tested in this study was as follows:
Successful adaptation by U.S. Army officers' to the obstacles confronting them on frontier Army posts was associated with: (a) assumption of responsibility for maintaining morale among dependents at a post; and (b) rejecting the scripted passivity and deference in social behavior expected of women in the United States in the late-nineteenth century.
In the following two sections of this chapter, literature is reviewed in relation to two questions associated with the hypothesis. The two questions are as follows:
1. What effect did the personal role behaviors of the wives of U.S. Army officers have on their success in adapting to the obstacles confronting them on frontier Army posts in the American west in the late-nineteenth century?
2. What effect did the attitudes of the wives of U.S. Army officers towards scripted gender behavior in the late-nineteenth century United States have on their success in adapting to the obstacles confronting them on frontier Army posts?
Adaptation and Personal Role Perceptions
What effect did the personal role behaviors of the wives of U.S. Army officers have on their success in adapting to the obstacles confronting them on frontier Army posts in the American west in the late-nineteenth century? Within the context of this question, personal role behaviors were defined operationally as (1) assumed responsibility for maintaining morale among dependents at a post, or (2) shunned re...