The Mediating Effects of Marital Intimacy and Work Satisfaction in the Relationship between Husbands' Domestic Labor and Depressive Mood of Married Working Women.

Su-Yeon Choi,Jun-Pyo Myong,Hyoung-Ryoul Kim

doi:10.3390/ijerph17124547

Su-Yeon Choi, Jun-Pyo Myong + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17124547

Copy DOI

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationships between the husbands’ domestic labor and marital intimacy, work satisfaction, and depressive mood in married working women. We used the sixth (2016) dataset from the Women and Families Panel Survey conducted by the Korean Women’s Development Institute (KWDI). The subjects were 791 married working women who lived with a wage-earner husband and who did not have a housework assistant. The correlations between variables were measured and the fit of the structural equation model was assessed. We used a mediation model in which the husbands’ domestic labor affected the depressive mood of married working women through mediation of marital intimacy and work satisfaction. Bootstrapping was used to verify the significance of the indirect effects of the mediating variables. Husbands’ domestic labor had a significant effect on married women’s marital intimacy and work satisfaction, but no significant direct effect on depressive mood. Marital intimacy had a significant effect on work satisfaction, and these two variables were significantly related to reductions in the depressive mood score. Husbands’ domestic labor was found to be a complete mediator of depressive mood through its effects on marital intimacy and work satisfaction. Husbands’ domestic labor did not directly reduce married working women’s depressive mood scores, but instead reduced them indirectly through effects on marital intimacy and work satisfaction.

Highlights

In Korea, a growing number of families are diverging from the traditional family structure where men are the breadwinners to a new gender role structure where housework and parenting is divided and both men and women are earners
In this study we focused on how husbands’ domestic labor, marital intimacy, and work satisfaction in women from dual-earner households were associated with depressive mood
When analyzing the correlations between the main variables, we found statistically significant correlations between the latent variables except between husbands’ domestic labor and depressive mood

Summary

Introduction

In Korea, a growing number of families are diverging from the traditional family structure where men are the breadwinners to a new gender role structure where housework and parenting is divided and both men and women are earners. According to Statistics Korea data from 2015 and Ministry of Employment and Labor data from 2017, the division of roles in reality does not seem simple because housework and parenting are generally still considered the woman’s responsibility [1,2]. Even when compared to neighboring countries, it seems difficult to balance work and family among dual-income Korean women [3,4]. For dual-income couples, unless the traditional gender and family norms of housework and parenting change or a conflict occurs between the two areas, problems related to this may become inevitable [5,6]. Research related is needed because this can directly or

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion