Problems of Professional Couples: A Content Analysis

Australian academics: Career patterns, work roles, and family life-cycle commitments of men and women

“…Academics who lack geographic mobility are less likely to be able to take advantage of opportunities for career advancement. Several studies (e.g., Heckman, Bryson & Bryson 1977;Marwell, Rosenfeld, & Spillerman 1979;Rosenfeld & Jones 1987) have shown that marriage differentially restricts the mobility of professional men and women. It was found in these studies that wives often moved to further the husband's career despite interruption to their own career, but moves that gave priority to the wife's career were rarely made.…”

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

“…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. John Parsons, 1978) continued to document the problems of dual career couples, but focused on particular occupational groups (e.g., psychologists, managers, military officers).…”

“…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). …”

“…Similarly, early research on dual career couples suggested that even professionally trained women tended to subordinate their careers to family obligations and the career needs of their husbands (Epstein, 1972;Heckman, Bryson andBryson, 1977: Holmstrom, 1972;Poloma, 1972;Rapoport and Rapoport, 1971;Yohalem, 1979).…”

Family or Career First: How Professional Women Fare in Making the Choice

“…The study tested for specific types of supportiveness. For example, because professional women interrupt their careers to move with their husbands (Duncan and Perrucci, 1976;Heckman, Bryson, and Bryson, 1977;Niemi, 1975), it was hypothesized that women who moved less often for their husbands' careers and whose husbands moved more often for their wives' careers would be less likely to experience an interruption in their careers. The study also considered that husbands who had the same educational level as their wives (and probably a similar career orientation) would be more supportive than husbands who had a different educational level and were involved in other occupations.…”