ICPR Abstracts: Session 9

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Session 9: Papers

Division of Labour

9.1
Accruing Benefits and Tolerating Costs: 
A Qualitative Exploration of Married Couples' Work 
and Family Decisions

Anisa M. Zvonkovic, Sean Brotherson, 
and Kathleen M. Greaves, Oregon State University

Married couples' descriptions of recent work and family 
decisions they have made were examined qualitatively for 
their mention of social exchange concepts. Participants 
were 61 married couples who had faced an important 
work/family decision. The longitudinal data set included 
detailed interviews. We found that as couples decided 
some aspect of their work and family lives, they made 
assessments of what sorts of benefits and costs the 
decision was likely to have, they dealt with unanticipated 
benefits and costs, they compared their outcomes from the 
decision to those of their partner, and in some cases, acted 
to mitigate the negative outcomes.

9.2
Distribution of Burdens in Close Relationships:
Women's Sense of Injustice Concerning Unequal 
Division of Household Labor

Gerold Mikula, Heribert H. Freudenthaler,
Sigrid Schroepfer, and Rosina Schmelzer-Ziringer
University of Graz

Women contribute larger shares to the household labor 
than men even if their workload outside the home and 
their financial contributions to the household budget equal 
those of their male partners. Interestingly, only a small 
proportion of women regard the imbalanced distribution of 
burdens and duties as unfair. Based on these findings and 
social psychological theories of social justice, two studies 
have been conducted with married working women and 
cohabitating student couples to explore some of the factors 
and conditions which contribute to women's sense of 
injustice regarding the distribution of household labor. 

9.3
Perceptions of Family Work Fairness: 
Associations to Marital Success, Depression, Anxiety 
and Social Comparisons

Nancy K. Grote and Margaret S. Clark
Carnegie Mellon University

Using data from the first phase of a longitudinal study of 
marital couples, we answered three questions:  First, is 
perceived fairness of family work associated with marital 
quality and individual distress?  Yes. Wives judging their 
share of family work to be less fair, report less marital 
satisfaction, more marital conflict and more depression.  
Husbands making analogous judgments were more 
anxious.  Second, do spouses comparing their share of 
family work to same gender others, as compared to their 
spouses, perceive their share to be more fair?  No.  Third, 
what makes one compare to one's spouse?  Comparisons 
with spouses, as well as comparisons with same sex 
others, were associated with measures of stress.  We 
speculate that it is stress that leads to making comparisons 
in general (although the causality could go in the reverse 
direction). 

9.4
Marital Interaction During Conflict About
the Division of Household and Paid Labor

Esther S. Kluwer, Jose A.M. Heesink 
and Evert van de Vliert, University of Groningen

A cross-sectional field study among 494 couples was 
designed to gain insight into spouses' behavior during 
conflicts about the division of labor as well as the 
correlates of destructive marital interaction during these 
conflicts. Results showed that the division of household 
labor was a greater source of aggravation among spouses 
than the division of paid work, and that wives experienced 
more aggravation about the division of labor than their 
husbands. During conflicts about the division of labor, 
Wife- Demand/Husband-Withdraw interaction occurred 
more often than the reverse, and was predicted primarily 
by wives' aggravation. Finally, Demand-Withdraw 
interaction during conflicts about the division of labor was 
related to destructive conflict outcomes and a decrease in 
marital satisfaction among spouses. Theoretical and 
practical implications are discussed. 

9.5
Sex-Typed Behavior in Marriage

Susan Gano-Phillips
University of Michigan-Flint

Sixty-four couples participating in a longitudinal study of 
early marriage completed a series of 5 telephone 
interviews over a 2 week time period which assessed their 
engagement in household tasks, affectional expression, 
and negativity toward their spouse.  The division of labor 
and rates of agreement between spouses on behavioral 
reports are described.  Additional analyses examine 
whether sex role orientation, sex role attitudes, perceived 
skill at various behaviors, or perceived sex role ideals 
predict the behaviors in which spouses become involved.  
Results are discussed in terms of the changing work and 
family roles that many young married couples are 
experiencing in the 1990's.