Scaling Back: Dual-Earner Couples' Work-Family Strategies

Becker, Penny Edgell; Moen, Phyllis

doi:10.2307/354019

Cited by 467 publications

(476 citation statements)

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“…In fact, some of the strategies highlighted in these previous studies appear to be substantially related to the North American socio-cultural context (Becker and Moen, 1999;Haddock et al, 2001). …”

Section: Work-family Conciliation Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Using qualitative methodologies, namely interviews, Becker and Moen (1999) identified three types of strategies that are used to manage work and family. First, establishing limits around the number of hours at work or work schedule.…”

Section: Work-family Conciliation Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, the use of planning competences is present both by Skinner & McCubbin (1987) and Kirchmeyer (1993). In addition, limiting job involvement (Becker & Moen, 1999) and changing roles and patterns (Skinner & McCubbin, 1987), refer to similar action types.…”

Section: Work-family Conciliation Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Subsequently, Kirchmeyer (1993) Another important feature is that all these studies were undertaken with NorthAmerican samples, thus limiting our knowledge of how the process of conciliation of work and family is carried out in different cultural conditions. In fact, some of the strategies highlighted in these previous studies appear to be substantially related to the North American socio-cultural context (Becker and Moen, 1999;Haddock et al, 2001). …”

mentioning

confidence: 93%

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Managing Multiple Roles: Development of the Work-Family Conciliation Strategies Scale

Matias

Fontaine

2014

Span. J. Psychol.

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Juggling the demands of work and family is becoming increasingly difficult in today's world. As dual-earners are now a majority and men and women's roles in both the workplace and at home have changed, questions have been raised regarding how individuals and couples can balance family and work. Nevertheless, research addressing work-family conciliation strategies is limited to a conflict-driven approach and contextspecific instruments are scarce. This study develops an instrument for assessing how dualearners manage their multiple roles detaching from a conflict point of view highlighting the work-family conciliation strategies put forward by these couples. Through qualitative and quantitative procedures the Work-Family Conciliation Strategies Scales was In most western countries, women have now a preponderant role in the labour market. On this regard Portuguese women constitute almost half of the employed population (46,9%) and the majority (84,5%) work full-time (INE, 2010 (Eurostat, 2009). The aspect that seems to distinguish the European contexts is not women's labour force participation, as this is increasing in almost all countries, but the response by individuals, families, social organization and public services to this new social situation (Tobio, 2001). Moreover, the increase of dual-earners (couples where both members have work related income) challenges traditional gender allocation of responsibilities and asks for more effective work-family conciliation strategies. Despite in some countries women and men equally participate in the labour market, the assignment of responsibilities in the family sphere remains unequal (Amâncio, 2007) and follows a traditional division of work, with women performing more housework than men, even when both are working (Amâncio, 2007;Fontaine, Andrade, Matias, Gato, & Mendonça, 2007). Women and, in particular, mothers are still considered primarily responsible for childcare and housework, while in relation to their professional life they are usually the ones who restructure their career in order to cope with family demands (for a review see Matias, Andrade & Fontaine, 2012). In this paper we will address the conciliation strategies in a context where public support and childcare facilities are scarce and MANAGING MULTIPLE ROLES 5 families and individuals have to make use of their own resources to balance their multiple responsibilities. To fully understand this process, a reliable measure of work-family conciliation strategies is needed. Therefore, this study contributes to existent research as it presents the development of the Work-Family Conciliation Strategies Scale that can be used to assess dual-earners way of dealing with multiple responsibilities in a context of evolving gender role attitudes. Work-family conciliation strategiesResearch on work-family relations has focused almost exclusively on the negative aspects associated with role performance -role conflict (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985), therefore, researchers have been mainly focused on what people do...

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Section: Work-family Conciliation Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Work-family Conciliation Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Work-family Conciliation Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 93%

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Managing Multiple Roles: Development of the Work-Family Conciliation Strategies Scale

Matias

Fontaine

2014

Span. J. Psychol.

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“…Several studies [17,32,33] have argued that women have different notions of the appropriate amount of time to spend at work and for personal time. Other studies have determined that age, career stage and family structure affect the preferred hours for work and family/personal activities [17,34]. Single and married females effects of each marital, parental and spouse employment combination on balance.…”

Section: Marital Status Effect On Wfbmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Single and Married Females Have the Same Standard of Work–Family Balance? Case Study of Frontline Employees in Macau

Ha¹,

Ip²,

Lin³

et al. 2018

J Tourism Hospit

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A high-quality work-family balance (WFB) can enhance job satisfaction and superior task performance, as well as reduce absenteeism and turnover rate, thereby enabling organisations to improve the effectiveness and commitment of their employees. This research investigates the features of quality WFB for female employees in a casino hotel in Macau. Many female employees continue to face the double burden of their careers and families. Long working hours, shift duties, demanding customers and stressful environment have become neglected phenomena in the casino business and could lead to an unbalanced WFB. Female employees experience disappointments and frustrations when work prevents them from providing care to their families. Previous studies have determined that male employees have better WFB than female employees. In particular, male employees know how to deal with their emotions, face responsibilities, take action and solve problems. By contrast, females are challenged to achieve WFB.Over the past decades, practitioners in the main hospitality industry have become increasingly interested in the female workforce. The high levels of family responsibility and shift work that females handle may cause them to experience high levels of work-family roles. Compared with male employees, female employees display lower levels of shift work tolerance but report more fatigue and sleepiness whilst working in a risk-exposed environment.This qualitative study involves face-to-face interviews with 30 female casino hotel employees (e.g., dealers, service staff, supervisors and managers) from 8 large major casino hotels. These respondents include single and married female frontline employees. Content analysis is performed to elaborate the female employees' perception of WFB and identify their challenges in achieving such balance. Recommendations are provided for HR practitioners in terms of the appropriate policies and strategies to improve WFB of female casino hotel employees. Therefore, the proper approach will enable casino hotels to retain the best talents and increase the productivity and competitiveness of their organisation.

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Dual‐Earner Couples in theUnitedStates

Dai

2016

Encyclopedia of Family Studies

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With the massive movement of women into the US labor force, dual‐earner couples have become a norm in the United States. The shift from single‐earner to dual‐earner family has affected the marital relationship, the well‐being of family members, employers, and communities, with both positive and negative effects. Dual‐earner couples generally have less traditional gender ideologies and share household tasks more equally than single‐earner couples. This increase in the husband's participation in housework promotes the wife's marital satisfaction. Dual‐earner couples suffer from work–family conflict and are vulnerable to crossover stress. They usually negotiate their role conflicts between work and family. There are gender differences in experiencing work–family stress and how to cope with work–family conflict. Some research reports ethnic differences in the division of labor between husband and wife. Nonstandard work schedules negatively affect marital relationships and increase the chances of divorce. The majority of homosexual dual‐earner couples work outside the home and do the housework together. Their division of labor and relationship are more equal than those of heterosexual couples. With the increasing entrance of women into full‐time professional and managerial positions, dual‐career couples have emerged as a subset of dual‐earner couples. The dual‐career lifestyle will be viable among only a minority of couples because of its high demand for dedication and aspiration.

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Scaling Back: Dual-Earner Couples' Work-Family Strategies

Cited by 467 publications

References 27 publications

Managing Multiple Roles: Development of the Work-Family Conciliation Strategies Scale

Managing Multiple Roles: Development of the Work-Family Conciliation Strategies Scale

Do Single and Married Females Have the Same Standard of Work–Family Balance? Case Study of Frontline Employees in Macau

Dual‐Earner Couples in theUnitedStates

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