Jun 29, 2015 04:27 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

New research suggests that millennials in the United States are more accepting of working mothers, Medical Daily reported.

Researchers  at the University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University found that while adults and adolescents are now significantly more accepting of working mothers, a growing minority from younger generations believe that wives should mind the household and husbands should make decisions for the family.

"Students are more accepting of mothers working, but a growing minority believes that men should be the rulers of the household or more believe that women should work, but still have less power at home," wrote the study authors. "This trend is particularly surprising given the legitimization of same-sex marriage over this time period, which challenges traditional gender-based views of marriage."

For the study, researchers looked at two nationally representative surveys of approximately 600,000 12th grade students and adults from 1976 to 2013, Time reported.

They found that in the 2010s, 22 percent  of 12th graders believed that a preschool-age child would suffer if his or her mother worked, down from 34 percent in the late 1990s and 59 percent in the 1970s. Among adults, 35 percent  thought preschool children would suffer from a working mother, down from 42 percent in 1998 and 68 percent in 1977.

Researchers also found that  in the 2010s, 32 percent of 12th graders agreed that it is best for men to work and women to take care of the family, up from 27 percent from 1995 to 1996. Today 17 percent of students also agreed that the husband should make the important decisions in the family, up from 14 percent from 1995 to 1996.

With the overall increasing acceptance of working women, the researchers suggest that these findings signal a need for public support for mothers who work.

"The majority of U.S. adults and high school students now accept the idea that women will work even when the have young children," researchers said. "This suggests a continued, urgent need for programs to help working families."

The findings are detailed in the journal Psychology of Women Quarterly.

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