The relationships of career salience, attitudes toward women, and demographic and family characteristics to marital adjustment in dual-career couples

Abstract

Facilitation of women's increasing involvement and satisfaction in career pursuits necessitates understanding of ways in which multiple roles may be managed and integrated by both women and men. Accordingly, the present study was designed to investigate predictors of levels of marital adjustment in dual-career couples. Both husbands and wives in 42 dual-career couples completed Greenhaus' Career Salience scale, the Attitudes toward Women scale, the Dyadic Adjustment scale, and a demographic information questionnaire. Results indicated, first, that the dual-career couples studied reported relatively high levels of marital adjustment, relatively profeminist attitudes toward women, and moderate levels of career salience; family interests were ranked as more important than were career interests. Second, higher levels of marital adjustment in both husbands and wives were found in couples in which the wife was more highly educated and which had relatively high combined incomes. In addition, greater marital adjustment in husbands was related to higher levels of career salience among wives. Contrary to expectation, husbands' attitudes toward women's roles were unrelated to their levels of marital adjustment. Implications for further research on dual-career couples and for the successful integration of career and family roles are discussed.