Crossover of daily job stressors among dual‐career couples: A dyadic examination

Abstract

SummaryJob stressors remain a common organizational phenomenon, and research shows the ability to recover during nonwork time is critical for well‐being and job performance. Recent labor data suggest a rise in dual‐career couples, indicating employees may be affected by their own as well as their spouses' job stressors. Yet, investigations into dual‐career couples' mutual experiences of job stressors and nonwork outcomes are scarce. Informed by the work–home resources model and crossover theory, we use a dyadic modeling approach to examine how heterosexual, dual‐career couples' daily challenge, and hindrance stressors relate to social support/undermining received by the spouse and subsequent evening relaxation—a critical recovery experience. We find a gendered pattern where husbands' daily challenge stressors affect social support toward their wives and wives' nightly relaxation. Husbands' challenge stressors also related to social undermining toward their spouses, although this effect was moderated by the husbands' exhaustion at the end of the workday. Neither wives' challenge stressors nor both partners' hindrance stressors impacted spousal social behaviors. The results of this study highlight that job stressors can be differentially linked to dual‐career couples' evening relaxation experiences and point to the importance of investigating stressors on the day level within a realistic social context.