Stetter later described the household as abusive, plagued by alcoholism and emotional abuse.
Her education became a source of refuge, allowing her to explore her talents as a writer.
She left home for good when she graduated high school in 1902.
Stetter enrolled in college at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln when she was only 16 years old.
She completed her bachelor’s degree and teaching certificate in 1906 and married Harry Hollingworth in 1908.
She soon moved to New York to be with her husband as he completed his doctoral studies.
She took a position at the Clearing House for Mental Defectives where she administered and scored Binet intelligence tests.
She continued herpsychology studiesunder the guidance of famed psychologistEdward L. Thorndike.
Research on the Psychology of Women
Hollingworth’s earliest research interests centered on the psychology of women.
She found that there were no performance differences at any point in a woman’s menstrual cycle.
Research With Gifted Children
Hollingworth is also famous for her work with gifted children.
As part of her work administeringintelligence tests, she became interested in the psychology of giftedness.
Hollingsworth’s studies of gifted children coincided withLewis Terman’s famous studyof highly intelligent people.
Some of her most frequently cited publications include:
Hollingworth, L. (1914).
Variability as related to sex differences in achievement.American Journal of Sociology, 19,510-530.
Hollingworth, L. (1916).
Sex differences in mental traits.Psychological Bulletin, 13,377-384.
The new woman in the making.Current History, 27,15-20.
(1928).The psychology of the adolescent.New York: D. Appleton and Company.
What Were Leta Hollingworth’s Contributions to Psychology?
Hollingworth died on November 27, 1939 of abdominal cancer.
Hollingworth LS.Variability as related to sex differences in achievement: A critique.American Journal of Sociology.
1914;19:510-530. doi:10.1086/212287
Hollingworth LS.Functional periodicity[thesis].
New York: Teacher’s College, Columbia University; 1914.
IntellTheory.Leta Stetter Hollingworth (1886-1939).
Held, L.Leta Hollingworth.
Psychology’s Feminist Voices.
Hollingworth HL.Leta Stetter Hollingworth: A biography.Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press; 1943.
