The Psychological Toll of Emotion Work in Same‐Sex and Different‐Sex Marital Dyads

Abstract

Objective This study considers how the provision of daily emotion work may affect the psychological well‐being of the emotion worker, and how this linkage may vary for men and women in same‐ and different‐sex marriages. Background Emotion work–work intended to bolster a spouse's well‐being by reading and managing the spouse's emotional needs—is common within marital relationships and often gendered, with women more aware of and concerned with emotion work than men. Yet, the psychological cost of performing emotion work is largely unexplored. Method This study relies on 10 days of daily experiences data from spouses in same‐ and different‐sex marriages (n = 756 individuals). Mixed effects multilevel regression modeling is used to examine how the provision of emotion work is associated with the emotion workers' psychological well‐being. Results Providing emotion work is inversely associated with emotion workers' psychological well‐being, especially when provided for a spouse with elevated depressive symptoms. These estimated effects are generally similar for men and women but greater for those married to a man than for those married to a woman, whether in a same‐ or different‐sex marriage. Conclusion Emotion work appears to adversely affect the worker's own psychological well‐being, especially when a spouse has elevated depressive symptoms and when one's spouse is a man. These results point to the importance of dyadic approaches and consideration of gendered relationship dynamics of same‐ as well as different‐sex couples in studies of emotion work and other marital processes.

Relationship Status-Based Health Disparities during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Notably, the advantage for married women compared to other groups of women still exists across the pandemic, just shows less change over time compared to what is observed among men. Married women also likely received fewer of the benefits of marriage than men (e.g., social control and caregiving), as previous research prior to the pandemic suggest would be the case ( Umberson et al 2020 ).…”

“…Second, women tend to report worse marital quality, including more relational conflict and more stress, than men ( Yu & Liu 2020 ). Given that unpaid work provisions and low relationship quality are negatively associated with multiple health outcomes ( Umberson et al 2020 ; Yu & Liu 2020 ), it makes sense that marriage would provide fewer health benefits to women, including during the pandemic.…”

Social Cost and Health: The Downside of Social Relationships and Social Networks

“…Existing studies are mostly ego centered due to their data limitation. To better distinguish and compare the effects of egos, alters, and their shared attributes, future research on dyadic relationships requires data collection on both sides of such relationships, and future research on social networks should rely on data collection on both ego and alters or full networks (Baller and Richardson 2009; Inanc 2018; Umberson et al 2020). Also, for the purpose of generalization and causal inferences, prospective longitudinal national data are needed, especially for social network research.…”

“…Providing care to spouses or partners increases depression, especially for men with part-time work (Glauber and Day 2018). In a diary study, providing emotion work is inversely associated with psychological well-being to a greater degree for those married to a man than for those married to a woman (Umberson et al 2020).…”

Support in response to a spouse’s distress: Comparing women and men in same-sex and different-sex marriages

“…Previous studies and theoretical frameworks suggest that women are more reactive to marital stress than men, reflecting constructions of women as more emotional than men and unequal divisions of labor wherein women are more responsible for and attentive to the well-being of intimate partners than are men (Simon & Nath, 2004; Taylor, 2015). Although this has been primarily studied in different-sex couples, there is emerging evidence of differences between men and women in reactivity to stressors in same-sex couples as well (Umberson et al, 2020).…”