The Effects of Work History and Timing of Marriage on the Division of Household Labor: A Life-Course Perspective

Abstract

First-married couples (n = 1,467) interviewed for the National Survey of Families and Households were studied to evaluate how two life-course measures, work history and marital timming, predicted the time each spouse spent doing housework. Housework time estimates of each spouse were regressed on life-course measures, background factors, sex role attitudes, and work-based resources in hierarchical regressions. Direct relations were found for each spouse 's work history on husbands' contributions to housework. Only indirect relations, however, were supported for marital timing and employment histories with wives' housework contributions. Timing of marriage was related to family composition, which, in turn, affected women's housework. In addition, women's employment history predicted the types of jobs women were likely to have, which influenced their time spent doing housework. For decades researchers have struggled with the question of what factors influence the division of labor within the household. While women have entered the job market at unprecedented rates, research has shown that men's contributions to household labor have risen only slightly (Berk & Berk, 1978; Coverman & Sheley, 1986; Spitze, 1988) or not at all (Berk, 1985; Rexroat & Shehan, 1987; Shelton, 1990). In fact, the underlying theme of the family work literature is that unpaid work is divided systematically according to gender (Thompson & Walker, 1989). Although several researchers note a gradual change toward a more egalitarian division of household work (Blair & Johnson, 1992; Douthitt, 1989; Pleck, 1985), neither the set of variables nor the processes that explain the allocation of tasks or predict their egalitarian division have been identified adequately. To date, three theoretical perspectives have received the lion's share of the research attention in this area. These perspectives examine resources, sex/gender roles, and family structure (including personal and family characteristics). More recently, a fourth model associated with the life-course perspective (Bengtson & Allen, 1993; Elder, 1978) seems to be gaining prominence in the literature. This study is intended to contribute to this development. REVIEW OF LITERATURE The resource approach to the allocation of family work has a long history (Blood & Wolfe, 1960). Resources such as income, education, and occupational status are thought to contribute to a spouse's prestige or power in a relationship, making it possible to avoid mundane housework (Huber & Spitze, 1983). The following resource measures have met with fairly consistent but modest success in the explanation of variance in the division of household labor: wives' income (Antill & Cotton, 1988: Kamo, 1988; Model, 1981), husbands' and wives' education levels (Coverman, 1985; Ross, 1987), and husbands' and wives' occupational statuses (Berardo, Shehan, & Leslie, 1987; Maret & Finlay, 1984). Consistent with predictions, possession of greater resources is typically associated with performing less household labor. Time is another resource (Rice & Tucker, 1986) and has also received considerable attention in the family work literature (e.g., Coverman, 1985; Presland & Antill, 1987). Rather than a power-focused resource, however, available time seems to obligate its owner to contribute more to housework. Therefore, available time, unlike other resources, tends to be positively related to the amount of housework done (Coltrane & IshiiKuntz, 1992; Geerken & Gove, 1983; Presland & Antill, 1987). Although time and power-based resources play a part in the way housework is allocated, they do not offer a complete explanation. Consequently, researchers have looked to psychosocial factors such as sex-role attitudes (Hiller & Philliber, 1986; Kamo, 1988; Model, 1981; Pleck, 1985; Ross, 1987) and other gender issues (e.g., Thompson & Walker, 1989) to assist in explaining family work. …