Couples 'Employment/Retirement Patterns and Perceptions of Marital Quality

Abstract

This study explores the impact of couples' employment/retirement patterns on indicators of marital quality (conflicts, heated arguments, marital happiness). Logistic regressions based on data from the National Survey of Families and Households (N= 672) reveal that the husband retired/wife employed pattern is associated with perceptions of lower marital quality among traditional gender-role couples. On the other hand, traditional gender-role employed husbands with retired wives report somewhat higher marital quality than husbands in dual-earner couples. In addition, dual-retired spouses with recently retired wives score lower on marital happiness than spouses in current dual-earner couples.