Breadwinning, Occupational Sex Composition, and Stress: Examining Psychological Distress and Heavy Drinking at the Intersection of Gender and Race

Abstract

Research on couples’ earnings arrangements has focused on men’s and women’s (non)conformance to the male-breadwinner/female-homemaker model. By doing so, research has ignored the following: Breadwinning can be a source of stress for men; the male-breadwinner/female-homemaker model does not apply to all racial groups; and the proportion of women in an occupation may moderate the stress process associated with divergent earnings arrangements. To address factors overlooked, I applied mixed-effects models to the 1999–2017 Panel Study of Income Dynamics data to examine the internalizing (psychological distress) and externalizing (heavy drinking) responses to stress among married, non-Hispanic white and Black men and women. Greater relative earnings reduce Black women’s psychological distress and heavy drinking, but increase Black men’s heavy drinking. Among white men, greater relative earnings reduce psychological distress and demonstrate a curvilinear relationship with heavy drinking, whereas no significant pattern emerges for white women. Occupational sex composition moderates these relationships. Among Black women, greater relative earnings lower psychological distress the most for those in women-concentrated occupations, and moving from economic dependency to equal breadwinning decreases heavy drinking the most for white men in men-concentrated occupations. Findings showcase the value of an intersectional approach to capture the diverse meanings associated with earnings arrangements.

Ongoing Remote Work, Returning to Working at Work, or in between during COVID-19: What Promotes Subjective Well-Being?

“…Women may be involuntarily moving to hybrid arrangements given their generally lower status ( Padavic and Reskin 2002 ), what Kossek and colleagues (2021) refer to as “inflexible flexibility, whereby employees have little choice about schedules and which days they may work remotely.” The fact that only White women experience declines in well-being concomitant with the move to hybrid suggests some other processes are at work. Unlike their minority counterparts, White people tend to place more emphasis on the domestic expectations of women ( Fan 2022 ), and White couples on average have a less equal division of household labor ( Penha-Lopes 2006 ). For White women, therefore, a hybrid arrangement may feel like too little time for work and for home.…”

“…The fact that only White women experience declines in well-being concomitant with the move to hybrid suggests some other processes are at work. Unlike their minority counterparts, White people tend to place more emphasis on the domestic expectations of women (Fan 2022), and White couples on average have a less equal division of household labor (Penha-Lopes 2006). For White women, therefore, a hybrid arrangement may feel like too little time for work and for home.…”

‘If you're a male primary teacher, there's a big “why are you doing that? What is wrong with you?”’ Gendered expectations of male primary teachers: The ‘double bind’

“…Lack of pay and status acts as a push factor for men who often move on to other occupations with more pay or are deemed to be higher in status. This is arguably part of expectations of hegemonic gender roles and masculinity (Fan, 2022).

We had a couple of men teachers who came and then went on to dosomething else and in our college, there were quite a few young men at thebeginning and more men left during the course… because they didn’t feel itwas going to be enough money or status for them.

…”

“…(Bob) Lack of pay and status acts as a push factor for men who often move on to other occupations with more pay or are deemed to be higher in status. This is arguably part of expectations of hegemonic gender roles and masculinity (Fan, 2022).…”

“…Gendered conformance is sold by schools as 'for your own protection'. The man's role as chief breadwinner in the home is frequently linked to demonstrating hegemonic masculinity in many societies (Fan, 2022;Padavic & Reskin, 2002). Therefore, the type of work a man performs is an important aspect used to shape and demonstrate their masculine identity.…”