Unfair to Me or Unfair to My Spouse: Men's and Women's Perceptions of Domestic Equity and How They Relate to Mental and Physical Health

Polachek, Alicia J.; Wallace, Jean E.

doi:10.1080/01494929.2015.1031420

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Eckstein and Lifshitz (2011) find that the rise in education level accounts for roughly 33 percent of the increase in female employment since the 1960s, the rise in female wages accounts for roughly 20 percent, and the remaining is highly correlated with the cost of child‐rearing and other inputs of home production. With regard to mental health outcomes, Polachek and Wallace (2015) find that spouses who perceive the household division of labor as unfair to themselves also report worse mental health compared to those who view it as fair.…”

Section: Background and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does marriage protect mental health? Evidence from the COVID‐19 pandemic

Piano

Makridis

2021

Social Science Quarterly

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Using weekly variation from April 23 to June 23 2020, we exploit the surge in unemployment over the coronavirus pandemic to identify the effects on mental health outcomes and the role of marital status as a protective factor for households. We find that married respondents are 1–2 percentage points less likely, relative to their unmarried counterparts, to experience mental health problems following declines in work‐related income since the start of the pandemic. Our results suggest that the combination of intrafamily substitution and the psychological benefits of marriage helps insure against unanticipated fluctuations in job and income loss.

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Section: Background and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does marriage protect mental health? Evidence from the COVID‐19 pandemic

Piano

Makridis

2021

Social Science Quarterly

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“…Perceived unfairness in paid work, conceptualized and measured in a variety of ways, has been linked to compromised mental health [ 55 ]. Though studied much less frequently, perceived unfairness in the division of family labor has also been associated with poorer mental health in women [ 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Equity theory posits that an imbalance between the contributions made and the benefits received in a close relationship can result in distress, particularly for the partner that is under-benefited [ 56 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the spring of 2012, the survey was broadcast to a randomly selected sample of panel members who then answered several screening questions; respondents who indicated being 24–54 years of age, female, employed, and partnered with at least one non-adult child living in the household, were provided a link to the complete survey. We focused on: (1) 25–54-year-olds, as this is a period in the life course when women are most likely to be simultaneously engaged in childrearing and paid work roles [ 31 ]; (2) mothers, because childrearing is a core component of unpaid family work; and (3) partnered mothers, given previous research suggesting that the way couples share domestic labor seems to be important for women’s mental health [ 20 , 21 , 22 ]. During data collection, the socio-demographic profile of the participants was regularly examined to ensure that a broad socioeconomic spectrum of women was being sampled.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Largely ignored in research attempting to elucidate work-related mechanisms involved in SES gradients in mental health is the role of unpaid domestic labor; that is, whether characteristics and qualities of housework and caregiving, just like paid work, may not only impact mental health, but also be shaped by socioeconomic circumstances [ 15 , 16 ]. Understudied, but not absent—a small body of research has reported more mental health problems among women involved in domestic labor that is demanding [ 17 , 18 ], routine [ 19 ], lacking in control [ 19 ], inequitably shared [ 20 , 21 , 22 ], high in demands and low in control [ 23 , 24 ], and imbalanced in effort versus reward [ 15 ]. Research further linking these stressful domestic work conditions to social inequalities in mental health is more limited.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Household Income and Psychological Distress: Exploring Women’s Paid and Unpaid Work as Mediators

Janzen

Hellsten

2021

IJERPH

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Research suggests that a socioeconomic gradient in employed adults’ mental health may be partially mediated by their work conditions. Largely ignored in this body of research is the potential role of unpaid domestic labor. The objectives of this paper were to determine whether socioeconomic disparities in mental health were present in a sample of employed, partnered mothers, and if so, identify the intervening mechanisms which contributed to the disparity. Participants for this cross-sectional study were 512 women recruited from an online research panel of residents living in Saskatchewan, Canada. Household income was the primary exposure and psychological distress was the dependent variable. Potential mediators included material deprivation, job control, job demands, work–family conflict, and the conditions of domestic labor. Descriptive analyses followed by simple and multiple mediation analyses were performed. Lower income was associated with greater distress, with material deprivation, work–family conflict, and inequity in responsibility for domestic work acting as mediators. These results suggest that in addition to more well-established mechanisms, the conditions of unpaid domestic labor, particularly how that labor is shared within households, may play a role in the genesis of mental health inequities among employed partnered mothers. Limitations of the study are discussed as are implications for future research.

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“…HH tasks consist of routine house cleaning and repairs, paying bills, grocery shopping, car and lawn care, planning and making meals, etc. The literature shows mothers perceive having a disproportionate responsibility for the majority of the CC and HH tasks [ 2 ] and mothers who work outside the home often come home to a “second shift” of parental, home, and family responsibilities [ 3 ]. Married women perceive they spend about twice as much time on CC and HH responsibilities than their husbands [ 4–7 ], whether they are a stay-at-home mother or working outside the home [ 8 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Doing it all: Effects of Family Responsibilities and Marital Relationship Quality on Mothers’ Ambulatory Blood Pressure

Graff,

Birmingham,

Wadsworth

et al. 2023

Annals of Behavioral Medicine

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Background The shared provider responsibility between married couples does not translate to equally shared division of childcare (CC) and household labor. While some marriages contain highly positive aspects, marriages may also simultaneously contain both positive and negative aspects. The negativity in these relationships can negate the positivity and could potentially lead to the detriment of mothers’ health. Purpose We examined mothers’ ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) associated with their marital relationship quality and perceived equity with her spouse on CC and household tasks. Methods We investigate these associations using a mixed multilevel model analysis on a sample of 224 mothers in heterosexual marriages, all of whom had children under the age of 18 years currently living in the home. Results Mothers’ perception of equity in the division of CC responsibilities contributed to lower ABP. Additionally, mothers in supportive marital relationships (low negativity and high positivity) had lower ABP than those in ambivalent relationships (both high negativity and positivity). There was a crossover interaction such that the effect of relationship quality on ABP was moderated by the perception of equity in the division of CC. For mothers who report doing all the CC, they had lower ABP if they had a supportive marital relationship compared with mothers in ambivalent relationships. Whereas mothers who report more equity in CC and have a supportive relationship have higher ABP compared with mothers in ambivalent relationships. Conclusions This study has implications related to dynamics within marital relationships. These results demonstrate important relational influences on mothers’ ABP.

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Unfair to Me or Unfair to My Spouse: Men's and Women's Perceptions of Domestic Equity and How They Relate to Mental and Physical Health

Cited by 8 publications

References 59 publications

Does marriage protect mental health? Evidence from the COVID‐19 pandemic

Does marriage protect mental health? Evidence from the COVID‐19 pandemic

Household Income and Psychological Distress: Exploring Women’s Paid and Unpaid Work as Mediators

Doing it all: Effects of Family Responsibilities and Marital Relationship Quality on Mothers’ Ambulatory Blood Pressure

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