Family Size, Satisfaction, and Productivity in Dual-Career Couples

Abstract

Responses by 196 couples—in which both spouses were members of the American Psychological Association—to a series of questions regarding domestic satisfaction, job satisfaction, and productivity were examined as a function of years since final degree and number of children in the family. There were consistent differences between the sexes in responses to these questions, indicating that wives were less satisfied and less productive than husbands in these couples. However, prior differences between groups in age, years since final degree, and rate of full-time employment disallowed any meaningful interpretations of these differences. Family size was found to influence satisfaction with time available for domestic activities, job, and avocations. Significant interactions indicated that these effects were more severe for the wife than for the husband, indicating that wives in dual-career couples bear a disproportionate share of the burden for child care. Influences of family size on satisfaction with rate of advancement and freedom to set long-term career goals were also noted.

The Effects of Teleworking on Housework Division and Well-Being of Couples

“…Greenhaus et al (1987) found that extensive time commitment to work is positively associated with work family conflict. Given that family work, house chores and childcare require many hours, we expect that the employed women have not enough time for family activities (Bryson et al, 1978). However, the question in this study is whether those who are teleworkers spend more time on family work.…”

The Effects of Work on Family Life: A Review and Analysis of the Literature

“…The effects appear to be stronger or more consistent for women than men, however. In a study of 196 dual career couples, increases in the number of children decreased satisfaction with time available for domestic activities for women, but had no affect for men (Bryson, Bryson and Johnson, 1978). Women who are employed, married, and parents also generally experience more conflict than women who are single or married but without children (Cooke and Rousseau, 1984;Hall, 1915;Hall and Gordon, 1973;Holahan and Gilbert, 1979b;Pleck et al, 1980).…”

“…shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry) tends to get left undone or becomes "overtime" work. This creates the sense of overload and time pressure experienced to some degree by nearly all dual career families (Bryson et al, 1978;Epstein, 1971;Heckman, Bryson and Bryson, 1977;Holmstrom, 1972;Poloma and Garland, 1971;Yohalem, 1979). …”

“…These early dual career studies were concerned with Identifying and categorizing the major barriers (e.g., Holmstrom, 1972) and dilemmas (e g., Rapoport, 1971, 1976) dual career couples faced in their efforts to integrate work and family life. More recent dual career research tends to focus on how variations across dual career couples or variations in the experiences of husbands and wives in dual career couples are related to various personal, family and career outcomes (e.g., Bryson, Bryson and Johnson, 1978;Simpson and England, 1982).…”

“…Issues addressed in these later studies include the career achievements of women in dual career marriages (Bryson, Bryson, Licht and Licht, 1976;Bryson, Bryson and Johnson, 1978;Butler and Paisley, 1977), joint job-seeking (Berger, Foster and Wallston, 1978) factors related to marital and family adjustment (Hardesty and Betz, 1980;Simpson and England, 1982), and correlates of career salience (Sekeran, 1982). Other researchers (e.g., Handy, 1978;Heckman, Bryson and Bryson, 1977;St.…”