Female Labor Force Status and Couple's Marital Satisfaction: A Chinese Analysis.

Xiao Yu,Shu Liu

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.691460

Abstract

While China has decreasing female labor participation and increasing marital instability, compared to the rest of the world, its female labor participation rate is higher on average. The effect of female labor force status on couples' marital satisfaction, as one of the main factors for evaluating marital quality, has been separately discussed, including extensive margins considering whether women are in the labor market and intensive margins on women working hours per week. This study analyzed data from the 2014 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) using a binary logit model and a stability test. Results showed that the work hours, rather than the occupational status, of women affect marital satisfaction. In addition, regardless of the gender role attitudes held by the couple, marital satisfaction increases when women are in the labor market. This study has retroactively reviewed the effects of women working outside the home on marital quality. The dual roles of Chinese women, as both employee and homemaker, have been socially accepted. However, the requirements of maintaining multiple roles often contradict and present conflicts among the roles, time, and pressure, in the long run, giving rise to marital dissatisfaction.

Highlights

Most developed countries experience an increase in female labor participation and marital instability simultaneously (Greenstein, 1990; Rogers, 1999; Sayer and Bianchi, 2000)
A stability test was applied to further support female labor participation effects on marital satisfaction, and an adjusted dependent variable without a neutral response was chosen, revealing whether a neutral response affects the stability of the outcomes
An intersection variable with gender role attitudes and female labor participation was established, which evaluated how interviewees and their spouses’ gender role attitudes affect couples’ marital satisfaction separately when the wife is in the labor market

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Most developed countries experience an increase in female labor participation and marital instability simultaneously (Greenstein, 1990; Rogers, 1999; Sayer and Bianchi, 2000). Based on gender role differences, the loss of economic power exchange between the genders when women are employed and the independence of working women have contributed to the positive causal relationship between a rise in female labor participation and increasing marital instability (Parsons, 1949; Ross and Sawhill, 1975; Booth et al, 1984; Becker, 1991). This study developed Hypothesis 2: Under traditional gender roles, wives’ labor participation decreases both wives’ and husbands’ marital satisfaction. If women have a higher income and occupational status than their husbands, and husbands are reluctant to accept this development, married couples are likely to experience a decrease in marital satisfaction and increase in the risk of divorce (Zhu and Qiao, 2015; Sun, 2018; Liu, 2019). Women may choose to exit the labor market to parent at home (Wu, 2019)

Methods

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

DISCUSSION

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT