Participation in Household and Paid Labor: Effects on Perceptions of Role-Taking Ability

Abstract

Our work contributes to research on variation in role-taking by investigating changes in perceptions of role-taking ability over time as a result of exposure to situations and activities typically associated with others; that is, we investigate how “walking in others' shoes” contributes to individuals' perceptions of role-taking ability. Using a sample of newly married couples, we examine the effects of participation in nonnormative domains on such perceptions. We suggest that the more husbands participate in household labor activities, the more they will perceive that they can role-take with their wives; the more wives participate in paid labor activities, the more they will perceive that they can role-take with their husbands. We find, however, that these effects depend on the couple's gender ideology; this point suggests that individuals must be open to the knowledge such experiences provide. We consider the implications of our findings for research on the division of family labor.