Seasonal Stability and Change in Dual-earner Husbands' Psychological Responses to Work and Family Roles

Abstract

This short-term longitudinal study examined stability and change in dualearner husbands' psychological responses to work and family roles, as well as the correlates of these responses. A total of 104 couples, all parents of school-age children, were interviewed on three occasions: (1) during the winter months; (2) six months later, when their children were on summer vacation; and (3) the following winter. Winter and summer represent ecological contrasts in the yearly cycle of childrearing for dual-earner families with school-age children. At the group level, husbands and wives decreased their temporal involvement in work during the summer, and husbands increased their involvement in housework. Husbands' psychological responses to work and family roles, operationalised as role overload and concern with family time, were quite stable over time. Different patterns of change, however, were found for men in jobs of high vs. low prestige. Men in high prestige jobs experienced decreased overload and concern over the summer. They also decreased their involvement in work and increased their involvement in housework during the summer. Men in jobs with lower prestige remained stable on involvement in work and housework, experienced no change in role overload across the three times of measurement, and increased their concern about spending time with their families during the summer phase of measurement.