This article examines the effect of domestic labor, gender ideology, work status, and economic dependency on marital satisfaction using data obtained from self-administered questionnaires for 156 dual-earner couples. Analytic distinctions were drawn among three aspects of domestic labor: household tasks, emotion work, and status enhancement. The effects of each of these elements of the division of domestic labor on marital satisfaction were tested. We also tested the effects of a respondent's satisfaction with the couple's division of domestic labor on marital satisfaction. Finally, we tested the effects of gender ideology, hours spent in paid work each week, and economic dependency on marital satisfaction. For women, satisfaction with the division of household tasks and emotion work and their contributions to household and status-enhancement tasks were the most significant predictors of marital satisfaction. Satisfaction with the division of labor around both emotion work and housework were significant predictors for men's marital satisfaction. Partner's status-enhancement work was also predictive for men. Economic dependency, paid work hours, gender ideology, partner's hours spent on housework, contributions to emotion work, and number of children and preschool-age children had only indirect effects on women's marital sat-
This study extends previous research by Dilworth by examining antecedents of both positive and negative family-to-work spillover—a long-neglected area of research. It also uses an extended definition of domestic labor that includes emotion work and status enhancement. Using data from a random sample of dual-earner couples, the study found gender differences and similarities in the antecedents of family-to-work spillover. For both men and women, family cohesion and emotion-work satisfaction enhanced positive family-to-work spillover. For men, relationship satisfaction was associated with positive family-to-work spillover, whereas satisfaction with the housework arrangement was related to women’s positive spillover. The factors associated with negative family-to-work spillover are different for men and women. For men, satisfaction with the status enhancement they perform in support of their partner’s career was related to decreased negative family-to-work spillover. For women, the presence of preschool-aged children was associated with increased negative family-to-work spillover.
This study compares four theories of domestic labor in their ability to predict relative emotion-work performance among dual-earner couples. Specifically, the authors investigate the effects of gender ideology, time availability, relative resources, and crossover factors on the dependent variable of relative emotion-work performance using seemingly unrelated regression. The analysis is performed on data from a random sample (N = 156) of dual-earner couples in northern Utah. Results suggest that for men, partner's work-to-family spillover is negatively related to relative emotion work performance and men with more traditional gender ideologies report performing more emotion work relative to their partners. For both men and women, relative housework performance is positively related to relative emotion-work performance. The findings from the study suggest that new theories are needed to adequately predict this particular form of domestic labor.
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