Changes in Marriage Associated with the Transition to Parenthood: Individual Differences as a Function of Sex-Role Attitudes and Changes in the Division of Household Labor

MacDermid, Shelley M.; Huston, Ted L.; McHale, Susan M.

doi:10.2307/353041

Cited by 174 publications

(164 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The congruence of attitudes between spouses is also important. Those who share similar attitudes are more likely to translate them into actual practice, and when both spouses hold more traditional attitudes, they share less housework than when both spouses share more egalitarian attitudes (Greenstein, 1996;MacDermid, Huston, & McHale, 1990).…”

Section: Attitudes Toward Gender Rolesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender and the Division of Labor

Coltrane

Shih

2009

Handbook of Gender Research in Psychology

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This chapter focuses on the division of labor between women and men and the distinction commonly drawn between domestic work and paid work. Work performed directly in the service of familiesincluding housework and childcare -is often unacknowledged because of cultural assumptions that a wife or mother should do it in the privacy of the home. Paid work, on the other hand, is much more public and historically associated with men. Holding a job and earning a salary has been considered to be a husband's traditional family obligation, whereas tending to home and children traditionally has been considered a wife's primary obligation (even if she also works outside the home). Why do we make these gendered assumptions, and what impact do these ideals have on individuals and society? In this chapter we investigate these questions by examining how the concept of separate work and family spheres for men and women arose and by exploring how scholars have researched the division of household labor. Links Between Work and FamilyRosabeth Moss Kanter (1977) was one of the first scholars to point out that it is misleading to treat work and family as separate institutional spheres. She rejected popular beliefs about the separation of workplaces and families, and she called for an examination of the interconnections between the two and the study of how and why people make and sustain attachments to each. Today, most social scientists recognize and appreciate the numerous mutual influences between the workplace and the home (Jacobs & Gerson, 2004;Moen & Coltrane, 2004). Near the end of this chapter we summarize research in this tradition by focusing on some findings about spillover from work to family and from family to work.Although there are many different linkages between work and family, most researchers have focused on how jobs influence family life. For example, there are many studies of how economic resources and job conditions affect marital functioning, parenting practices, or mental and physical health. In general, longer employment hours, harsher working conditions, and lower wages are associated with more family and health problems, and closely regulated work environments are associated with more restrictive parenting practices. Other work-family studies are focused on the different strategies people use to coordinate market labor and household labor, who does the housework, or how people balance commitments between work and family. Most studies show that job demands have important impacts on families and individuals and that, despite substantial shifts in

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Section: Attitudes Toward Gender Rolesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender and the Division of Labor

Coltrane

Shih

2009

Handbook of Gender Research in Psychology

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“…Longitudinal research has repeatedly confirmed that marital satisfaction declines with the length of marriage (Hirschberger, Srivastava, Marsh, Cowan, & Cowan, 2009) for both husbands and wives. Another line of research shows that couples are typically more affectionate toward each other and also more satisfied as newlyweds than they are 2 years into marriage (MacDermid, Huston, & McHale, 1990), confirming the effect of marriage length on marital satisfaction but also suggesting a strong connection between affective behaviour and satisfaction with relationship. In the same vein, couples involved in long-term marriages vary considerably in the amount of affection they express and the conflict they experience in their day-to-day life together (Braiker & Kelley, 1979;Orden & Bradburn, 1968).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…However, there are contradictory findings in this area. Namely, some researchers found declines in both satisfaction and love equally for parents and non-parents (MacDermid, Huston, & McHale, 1990), while others found greater declines in marital functioning among parents than among non-parents (Doss, Rhoades, Stanley, & Markman, 2009), particularly for wives (Cowan & Cowan, 1988;Glenn & McLanahan, 1982). A meta-analysis (Twenge, Campbell, & Foster, 2003) found lower levels of marital satisfaction among parents compared to non-parents, and among those with more children (although the effect sizes were small: d = -0.19 and d = -0.13 respectively).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceived Spouse's Affectionate and Antagonistic Behaviours and Marital Satisfaction

Jelić

Kamenov

Huić

2014

Drustvena istrazivanja

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The aim of the study was to examine how perceived spouse's affectionate and antagonistic behaviours contribute to one's marital satisfaction. Firstly, we explored whether perception of partner's affectionate and antagonistic behaviours vary with gender, age, length of marriage and family structure. Secondly, we examined the relation between perceived partner's behaviour and marital satisfaction, while controlling for contextual variables. Questionnaire assessing love, marital satisfaction, perceived partners' affectionate and antagonistic behaviours and demographic data was administered to a heterogeneous sample of 302 married couples from Croatia with the average marriage length of 18 years and age span of 20-82 years. Results indicate that perceived spouse's affectionate and antagonistic behaviours both contribute to marital satisfaction with the impact of antagonistic behaviours being buffered when it appears in affectionate relationship. These effects are not moderated by age, gender, marriage duration or family structure. Finally, the perception of partner's affectionate and antagonistic behaviours had significant incremental power over feelings of love and other contextual variables when predicting marital satisfaction.

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“…En outre, d'autres études suggéraient que malgré le déclin observé, les couples n'apparaissaient pas forcément moins heureux, moins satisfaits ou moins ajustés sur le plan conjugal que les couples sans enfant (Tomlinson, 1996;McDermid, Huston & McHale, 1990). En effet, même si la transition à la parentalité engendre de nombreux changements au sein de la relation conjugale, cela ne signifie pas forcément que les conjoints éprouvent une forme de détresse ou se sentent moins bien ensemble.…”

Section: Interprétation Des Résultatsunclassified

Relations entre la différenciation du soi, la triangulation intergénérationnelle et l'ajustement dyadique des femmes vivant la transition à la parentalité /

Cyr¹

2003

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Changes in Marriage Associated with the Transition to Parenthood: Individual Differences as a Function of Sex-Role Attitudes and Changes in the Division of Household Labor

Cited by 174 publications

References 26 publications

Gender and the Division of Labor

Gender and the Division of Labor

Perceived Spouse's Affectionate and Antagonistic Behaviours and Marital Satisfaction

Relations entre la différenciation du soi, la triangulation intergénérationnelle et l'ajustement dyadique des femmes vivant la transition à la parentalité /

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