Gender Differences in the Performance of Household Tasks by Adults and Children in Single-Parent and Two-Parent, Two-Earner Families

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine gender role differences between adults in two-parent, two-earner families; their children; and children from single-parent families in time spent on household work. Stepwise discriminant analyses were used to assess data from 47 single-parent and 47 two-parent families. Conclusions drawn from these analyses were that parents were highly sex segregated in their household task behavior, that household tasks were sex related for the female parent, and that children were less sex segregated in their household task behavior than were parents. Boys in two-parent families were the least sex segregated of the males in the sample, and girls in single-parent families were less sex segregated in their household task behaviors than all other adults and children in the study.