This article presents an exploratory study that furthers our understanding of the functioning of two-career couples at midlife and, in particular, our understanding of the husband's contributions to family and household activities. More specifically, it addresses the following questions regarding dual-career couples: (a) Whose career has…

This manuscript reports on a study of how low-income employed single mothers and young adolescents manage household daily life. Analysis is based on longitudinal ethnographic data collected from families of 35 young adolescents over 3 years following the 1996 welfare reforms. Although mothers worked, young adolescents spent time unsupervised,…

The present study examined the fairness judgements and reasoning offered by children and adolescents in the context of the division of household labour among siblings. The data were examined for grade level differences in the endorsement of three distributive justice principles (equality, equity and need). Male and female third grade, sixth grade…

Division of labor in the family is viewed as an indicator of relative power and justice in a marital relationship. During the transition to parenthood it becomes one of the most salient correlates of marital satisfaction. This study examines the relationship between the division of family labor and marital quality as well as changes in this…

Analyzed the housework time of 1,618 White couples. Found that the salience of work and family roles in the family life cycle affected the respective amounts of time that spouses allocated to household labor. Women spent less time in housework before and after childbearing stages, and husbands spent more time in domestic labor during periods of…

Patterns of time allocation of parents were examined for 29 mothers in one-parent households and for 30 mothers and 30 fathers jointly heading two-parent households. Mothers in two-parent households differed significantly from the other groups in time allocated to employment/unpaid work, household work, and leisure. (Author/CH)

This study of 75 families with at least one preschool child examined the effects of sex-role orientation and wife's employment status on the division of housework and child care and husband and wife's satisfaction with that division. Results indicate that where wives work outside the home, husbands and wives share child care and housework more.…

Compared preschoolers' and parents' reports of division of labor in single- versus dual-earner homes. Found that children with nonemployed mothers underestimated mother's responsibilities and overestimated sharing of caregiving by parents. Daughters in dual-earner families believed fathers engaged in more caregiving than parents indicated. All…

Three principles of work distribution were considered: (1) direct cause; (2) self-regulation; and (3) continuing responsibility. Children of 8, 11, and 14 years of age performed a job sorting task and commented on the fairness of work arrangements in vignettes. Results showed a differential development for the three principles rather than a…

Proposes a framework that considers differences in the type of work contributions to family (amount, style, person specificity, and consensus), the impact of various circumstances (age, gender, competence, preference, family position of individual, ethnic background, custom, parents' needs, or availability of children), and the feelings people…

Investigated how men and women with high and low levels of education perceive male and female targets who participate or do not participate in household chores. It was found that both highly and less educated individuals perceive a male target who participates in household chores more favorably, this preference is more pronounced among more…

We identify multiple predictors of five types of father involvement in 167 low- to moderate-income two-parent Mexican American families with fifth-grade children. Analyses show that fathers' egalitarian gender attitudes and mothers' education are associated with higher levels of father involvement. Fathers are more involved in monitoring and…

This study extends the literature by identifying two new dimensions of rural women?s status (husband?s housework sharing and women?s exposure to the larger world, in addition to power and autonomy) based on rich information from a representative sample of 1.062 childbearing women in rural Yunnan, China. It utilizes linear structural relations…

This article analyzes gender attitudes and behaviors of husbands and wives across three urban Chinese cohorts. While women remain egalitarian in gender ideology across cohorts, the percentage of men who hold egalitarian gender attitudes declines significantly across cohorts. At the same time, the division of household labor has become somewhat…

Using microdata from the 2004 Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), this study takes a cross-national perspective to investigate the division of household labor among older couples (aged 50 years or more). Across nine continental European countries, the authors find considerable variation in the overall distribution of…