Dual-career Families Research Articles

Sociological Analysis of the Conflict between Work and Family Roles in Dual-employee Families

The conflict between work and family roles in dual-career families has always been an important research topic in the field of sociology. This paper discusses the root causes, influencing factors and solutions of this problem from the perspective of sociology. It is found that social expectations and traditional gender role concepts play a key role in dual-employee families, which leads to the conflict between work and family roles. Society usually expects men to bear the economic responsibility, while women mainly bear the responsibility of family care, which often leads to the career development challenges of family members in dual-employee families. The division of labor planning within the family also has a significant impact on the conflict between work and family roles, which requires coordination and balance to ensure that housework and care responsibilities are reasonably shared. External support measures, such as nurseries, domestic nannies and domestic helpers, can reduce the burden of conflict between work and family roles. In addition, social policies, such as paid maternity leave, flexible working arrangements and nursery subsidies, can also alleviate this conflict to some extent. This study is helpful to better understand the conflict between work and family roles in dual-career families, and provides a useful reference for making more effective policies and family internal planning. The research in this field is still developing to cope with the changing social and family dynamics.

The Analysis of Gender Roles Divisioan In Dual Career Families In District Cities

<em>This research focuses on discussing the division of productive, reproductive, and social gender roles in dual-career families in the Inderalaya Raya sub-district. The division of roles in a dual-career family certainly has its own difficulties and challenges, such as the division of roles involving children, work, household, and time. The purpose of this study is to identify the division of roles between husbands and wives who work in deciding the division of roles in family life. The research method used is descriptive-qualitative with a narrative research strategy. This study used role theory, and data was obtained from six pairs of husband and wife informants and three child informants through observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation. The results of the study show that the husband and wife have agreed on a joint decision to balance work responsibilities in the formal sector and household affairs, which can be in the form of full direct involvement of the husband and wife or assistance from a third party in carrying out the reproductive role. The multiple roles that are carried out will experience role conflict if there are two or more pressures that occur simultaneously. Role theory states that role strain and role failure carried out by someone will also lead to conflict and can even lead to gender inequality. However, workers and parents who carry out their roles well are made role models by the child</em>

Child attachment in Dual Career Family

Attachment is a strong relationship between a child and his mother or caregiver that makes both of them feel satisfaction and pleasure. Experience of establishing attachment continuously will determine how children interact with their environment in the future and tend to persist throughout their life span. Attachment is formed starting from the family environment. This research aims to describe the attachment of children in dual-career families. The method in this research is descriptive qualitative. The data collection was carried out by observing and interviewing parents and caregivers in dual-career families. The material obtained was analyzed with thematic analysis technique. The results have shown that there were differences in the attachments of children in dual-career families, including secure attachment, ambivalent attachment, and avoidant attachment. Different attachment patterns are shown because of the varied sample characteristics, where the samples have different parenting styles and family backgrounds. Children who make their mother an attached figure with a democratic parenting style can build a secure attachment for the child. Meanwhile, children who make someone other than their mother as attachment figure with a permissive and authoritarian parenting style causes the build of insecure attachments, namely ambivalent and avoidant attachments

Alternative care takers for children of health care workers during COVID-19 pandemic in Kashmir valley: a cross sectional study

Background: COVID-19 pandemic forced health care workers to seek alternatives of child care due to strong standard operating procedures (SOPs). Informal child care workers include patrilineal, matrilineal, immediate family members, neighbours, friends and housemaids. The present study tried to explore and highlight the role of Informal child care workers in alternative spaces. Methods: The present study aimed to reveal new facts about COVD-19 pandemic, its implications in relation to the alternative child care spaces available to the children of health workers in the valley of Kashmir. Total sample size constituted 100 respondents including doctors, Para medicals and other supportive staff chosen through snowball sampling technique. For data collection, a structured questionnaire was constructed and sent to respondents through different social media platforms like Facebook, e-mail ids and WhatsApp. Results: In the study majority of dual career families especially health workers working as frontline COVID warriors in the valley of Kashmir reported that their children were taken care either by alternative care takers mostly patrilocal or matrilocal family members. Conclusions: The study reveals that dual career families of Kashmir prefer largely female members as alternative care takers as compared to male members. The immediate family members are the most preferable choice of Alternative care followed by housemaids.

CROSS-NATIONAL DIFFERENCES IN ATTITUDES TOWARD FAMILY AND GOVERNMENTAL SUPPORT FOR ELDER AND CHILD CARE

Abstract Population aging in wealthy western nations has raised concerns about who will provide care to older adults. At the same time, the rise of single parenthood and dual-career families has heightened the need for childcare. As governments and families face challenges in meeting these dual needs, this study compares responses to the question of “who should primarily provide” eldercare and childcare across three countries: the US, Germany and Israel. Analysis of 2012 International Social Survey Programme data reveals that while persons in the US endorse family as care providers to both older adults and children, Israelis endorse government as eldercare providers yet family as the source of childcare provision. German respondents prefer both government and family as childcare providers, yet believe the government should provide eldercare. The paper discusses how cross-national differences in attitudes toward care are associated with cultural and socio-economic characteristics, and highlights implications for policy and practice.

Mothers and Workers in the Time of COVID-19: Negotiating Motherhood within Smart Working

The article is an autoethnographic account written by three Italian academic researchers and mothers with children of different ages. The authors engage in a reflection starting with their experience as working women committed to the work–family negotiation process while facing the COVID-19 health emergency that has affected the whole world. This article focuses on how we, as middle-class, heterosexual, white mothers working in a privileged employment context during the period of the pandemic lockdown, negotiated the complex mother and worker roles, balancing work and family time while smart working (teleworking from home). We start with a reflection on the use of autoethnography as a research tool and then propose an analysis of work–family balance strategies in an anomalous situation, such as that of the lockdown, highlighting the tensions in gender roles within dual-career families.

Living in harmony: The negotiation of intergenerational family language policy in Singapore

Parents are often considered the pivotal stakeholders in Family Language Policy (FLP). However, grandparents are increasingly acting as surrogate parents among multi-generational families around the globe including in dual-career families in Singapore. Analysing family interactions and interviews, this study examines how grandparent's language ideologies contribute to shaping the language ideology, management, and practices of the family, even to the extent of overwriting and becoming the dominant voice in the family's FLP. Our findings show that the grandparents seem to be driving the shift towards English. In addition, the negotiation of FLP within the Singaporean context provides insight into how ideologies and the choice of languages can be deeply intertwined with harmony within the family unit and respect for one's elders.

Power Relations of Husbands and Wives Experiencing Domestic Violence in Dual-Career Families in Indonesia

Indonesia has experienced incidents of domestic violence involving partners working in professional fields. The domestic violence has become a critical problem in both developed and developing countries. The number of cases of violence against women (VAW) has been increasing every year. Data from Indonesian National Commission on Violence Against Women year 2020 show that there are 431,471 cases. Earlier studies indicated that high academic and professional status achieved by women can reduce VAW. However, cases of domestic violence reveal that such initiatives are not enough and do not exclude academically and professionally empowered women from being victims of domestic violence. The studies indicate that power relations between husband and wife play a crucial role in determining the incidence of domestic violence in a family. This study aims to reveal power relations in dual-career families experiencing domestic violence in Indonesia. The study deploys the qualitative research method and applies the Connell theory on gender and power. This research was conducted in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, and it involved 44 key informants and 34 supporting informants from the general public. The results reveal three categories of power relations between husbands and wives, who faced domestic violence in dual-career families: male-dominated families, female-dominated families and alternating families (i.e., families where the dominant roles of men as husbands and women as wives can change). This study concludes that the ownership of intellectual and economic resources in themselves does not contain the power relations between husband and wife play a critical role in determining the incidence of domestic violence. cases of domestic violence. Based on power relations between husband and wife, alternating family, driven by women’s resistance, is capable of changing the structure of the family. In alternating families, the power of husband and wife are alternated. There are reversed roles between them. Furthermore, it tends to build a new structure where there is no hierarchical family position between women and men. In addition, the structural change will create an equal and ideal family.

Investigating the Lived Experiences of Working Couples about Marital Conflicts: A Phenomenological Study

Aim: The purpose of this study was to extract the lived experiences of working couples from marital conflicts. Methods: This study was conducted with a qualitative approach using interpretive phenomenology. In this study, researchers interviewed 12 working couples with marital conflicts using purposeful sampling. Interviews were analyzed using interpretive phenomenology. Findings: Analyzing the data from the interviews led to the identification of the 14 main themes: financial conflict, inappropriate interactions in social media, lack of participation in house chores, ineffective communication, inability in reciprocal empathy and expression, lack of time management, conflict of roles and responsibilities, cognition vulnerability, adherence to gender stereotypes, inability to manage tasks at job and work environment, work-family conflict, power struggles, ultra-personal destructive factors and belief and ethical problems, 55 primary and 12 secondary themes in the lived experiences of working couples from marital conflicts. Conclusion: A dual-career family is a place where couples are more likely to enter into marital conflicts if they do not realize fairness in various areas of family and work. The results of the present study showed that the families of career couples may be a high-risk group in terms of conflict, and this factor indicates the need for a negotiating role in the relationship between this type of couple. This highlights the need for special couple therapy for these couples. The results of the present study also showed that ineffective communication, cognitive vulnerability, work-family interaction, financial conflict and lack of participation in home affairs, were the most common causes of marital conflict; so it is recommended that preventive and educational programs for couples include the abovementioned factors.

Corporate Transfers for Dual-Career Couples: From Gendered Tenkin to Gender-Equal Negotiations?

Abstract This qualitative-research-based article discusses corporate transfers of dual-career couples in large Japanese firms. In Japan’s internal labour market, inter-regional transfers, or tenkin, are de rigueur in many companies for purposes of training and promotion of long-term employees. Their implementation is often taken for granted because of the gendered assumption that only men are subject to tenkin. Women, who take responsibility in domestic roles, are not able to accept tenkin. Rather, they are either exempted from tenkin regardless of their wishes or forced to remain in secondary positions that require no tenkin. This gendered division of labour in tenkin has hampered women’s promotion in Japanese workplaces and hindered dual-career couples from achieving dual careers through tenkin. Using Acker’s (1990) theory of gendered organisations and Nemoto’s (2016) study of gendered practices in Japanese firms, this article elucidates the processes by which these cultural, gendered corporate transfers (a) reproduce gendered organisations, (b) are changing from dictates to negotiations in some companies where female workers are given more opportunities alongside intensification of the firms’ global competition, but (c) nevertheless continue to be in tension with dual-career families in contemporary Japan. To make a dual-career-couple model mainstream, the labour market structure that views corporate transfers as an absolute necessity needs radical change.

Resistance of women victims of domestic violence in dual-career family: a case from Indonesian society

ABSTRACT Domestic violence is a social problem in Indonesia, with the number of cases increasing. There have not been many sociological studies discussing women's resistance to domestic violence. This study analyses women's resistance against violence in Indonesian households with two professional spouses. It employed qualitative methods, interviewing 61 informants. The findings show that in dual-career families, women's responses to violence are sometimes active. Recurring violence fosters resistance. The study finds several triggers for resistance and various resistance strategies. The study concludes that female resistance alters husband–wife relations, reducing the oppression of wives. Thus female resistance is a strategy to fight gender inequality.

Exploring the Nexus Between Work-to-Family Conflict, Material Rewards Parenting and Adolescent Materialism: Evidence from Chinese Dual-Career Families

As a social issue of widespread concern, work-to-family conflict has been found to adversely affect employees’ work and family lives. The current research linked employees’ work-to-family conflict to disruptions in parenting (the use of material rewards) and in turn to adolescents’ materialism. In Study 1, two-wave data from 207 Chinese dual-career families that included an adolescent in junior high school (ages 11 to 14) showed that both men’s and women’s work-to-family conflict was positively correlated with material rewards parenting, and this positive relationship was stronger when parenting daughters than sons. Study 2 replicated the results of Study 1 in a sample of 284 Chinese dual-career families that included an adolescent of the same age group. Furthermore, Study 2 showed that employees’ work-to-family conflict was indirectly related to their adolescent offspring’s materialism through increased material rewards parenting, and this mediating effect was stronger for daughters. The results are discussed in terms of the spillover and crossover processes that affect employees and their families in the context of work-to-family conflict.

Covid-19 created a gender gap in perceived work productivity and job satisfaction: implications for dual-career parents working from home

PurposeThis paper aims to examine gender gaps in work-related outcomes in the context of Covid-19. The authors hypothesized that the Covid-19 pandemic would create a gender gap in perceived work productivity and job satisfaction. This is because when couples are working from home the whole day and when schools are closed, women are expected to devote more time to housework and childcare.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a sample of employed women and men from dual-career families who were working from home since Covid-19 lockdowns started. In total, 286 US-resident full-time employees participated in this study. Participants were asked to report their work productivity and job satisfaction before and since Covid-19 lockdowns.FindingsIt is found that before the Covid-19 pandemic, there were no gender differences in self-rated work productivity and job satisfaction. However, during the lockdown, women reported lower work productivity and job satisfaction than men.Research limitations/implicationsParticipants retrospectively reported their work productivity and job satisfaction before Covid-19. However, there are unlikely to be systematic gender differences in retrospective reports of these measures. Further, the authors only sampled opposite-sex dual career parents. Future research needs to examine the effects of lockdowns on women and men in other types of households.Practical implicationsGiven the nature of the Covid-19 pandemic, many regions might experience multiple periods of lockdown, and many workplaces have already adopted or are likely to adopt long-term work-from-home policies. The findings indicate that these long-term changes in the workplace might have long-term negative effects on women’s perceived productivity and job-satisfaction in dual-career families.Social implicationsThe findings suggest that society needs provide additional support to women working from home and taking care of children or other dependents, particularly during lockdowns or during times when schools and daycare centers are closed.Originality/valueThe current research is one of the first to claim that despite the greater amount of time that women spend in housework and childcare than men, during normal times, they are as productive and as satisfied with their job as men. However, the Covid-19 pandemic increased women’s housework and childcare beyond a threshold, thereby creating a gender gap in work productivity and job satisfaction.

Roles of Selected Psycho-Demographic Factors on Quality of Sex Life and Marital Satisfaction among Dual-career Couples

The study investigated the predictive roles of career self-efficacy, work-life balance and selected demographic factors on the quality of sex life and marital satisfaction among dual-career couples in Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, and assessed if there are significant differences between men and women. The study used a cross-sectional research design and 1056 dual-career men and women ( age = 43.98, σ = 9.48, ♀ = 37.0%) participated in the study. A self-administered paper and pencil questionnaire was used to collect data from samples that were conveniently drawn from the study area. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Results showed significant differences in structural weights, structural covariances, and structural residuals in the model outputs for both men and women careerists. The study concluded that career self-efficacy and work-life balance differentially predict the quality of sex life and marital satisfaction for both men and women in a dual-career family, and that age and job tenure are not significant predictors of quality of sex life and marital satisfaction among dual-career couples.

Testing the theory of resilience and relational load in dual career families: relationship maintenance as stress management

ABSTRACTThis study examined whether relationship maintenance buffers the stress of balancing work and family. Sixty-two dual-earning couples and their adolescents completed surveys at the beginning and end of the week, recorded their stress throughout the week, and collected saliva on two consecutive days in the middle of the week. When mothers and fathers received more maintenance from each other and adolescents received more maintenance from their parents over the past month (T1), it was associated with a greater rise in cortisol awakening response. Greater maintenance received over the past month was also associated with lower interleukin-6 in adolescents and lower perceived stress during the week for fathers and adolescents. Finally, less maintenance the past month predicted greater conflict during the week for mothers, which predicted less satisfaction balancing work and family. Less maintenance over the past month and conflict during the week also predicted loneliness for both parents.

A study on women, employment and family balance in Sri Lanka

There was a great cordial interrelationship between women role and family in past traditional society. But Women contribution to the economy of the family is a major component in today. Women are not marginalized to the domestic works because of the access of higher education in Sri lanker. Main objective of this study is to understand how women balance family and employment in sociological aspect. As the specific objectives of this study were to understand educational and economic achievement gained by women, to understand all responsibilities of women towards family, to recognition negative results balancing both fields, to understand alternatives and fair management to avoid role conflict of the women of these two fields and understanding satisfaction or non satisfaction by doing a job by women also been considered from this study in a sociological point of view. This study used purposive sampling method and selected only 60 women from several institutions related to dual career families for the sample. Both primary and secondary data were used by this study. This study found majority of women were with low stress when they manage the family. The study identified there was a positive-contribution of the employed mother to their children‘s education. Good relationship of both-wife and husband to the domestic works and making social relations was a significant of this study. According to this study it found that majority of women were satisfied with both employment and domestic works not only doing single domestic task. There is a good and proper savings maintained by women. Economical issue was the main cause for family troubles of the dual career family and mostly women taken assists from husband, children and parents to manage their day today works.

Development of Children’s Religiousity in Dual Career Family

This study aimed to describe the development of children's religious life from a family of dual career families, namely families where both father and mother both work outside the home and undergo certain professions. How is the parenting style and pattern of education applied by parents to keep the child's awareness and religious attitudes in good condition, and what factors are the supporters and inhibitors of the development of a child's religious spirit in the dual career family ?. Child restrictions referred to in this study are children in the range of primary school age, namely between the ages of 7-11 years. Based on data collected from 6 families of working mothers' fathers who are respondents, the results of the study show that families generally realize that parents are still the first and foremost place for child growth and development, so that the main function of the family is not to be educated, caring, socializing children so that children can carry out their functions in society properly, remains a top priority. Parenting that is applied in the family is generally appropriate, namely democratic parenting and education patterns as a place to socialize the ideal second child, namely the school environment that has an orientation on spiritual development in addition to academic orientation. While the supporting and inhibiting factors of the process of developing mindfulness in children are generally influenced by the internal and external factors of children, the school environment, the community and most importantly parents.

Exploring Career Development Experiences Among Working Spouses in Dual-Career Family Situations

This paper discusses the career development experiences among working spouses in dual-career family (DCF) situation. The purpose of this research was to understand the experiences and contributing factors that made spouses chose to be in dual-career family situation, as well as their perceptions on the benefits and challenges of DCF on their career development. This research was conducted using an exploratory qualitative method. Findings indicate that being in a dual-career relationship impacts how working spouses made decisions regarding their family responsibilities and career priorities within the family unit. The experiences described by the participants reflect the salience of their family and work roles in parallel to one another, thus creating unique career development pathways. The findings also revealed the inseparable worlds of work and family experienced by DCF couples, including the challenges faced and how they coped with it in order to advance in their career development.

Keluarga Tradisional dan Modern (Dual Career), Tipologi dan Permasalahannya

This study aimed at understanding the kinds of issues occur in families which apply traditional pattern and modern pattern or known as dual-career family (both husband and wife are employed). This descriptive qualitative study had eight (8) families as the respondents. Four families were considered as traditional families, while the other four applied modern pattern or known as dual-career families. The data were obtained from interviews and observations which were then triangulated to validate the data. The current study revealed the following issues as the results found in traditional family: First, husbands expected wives to have a job which were followed with the use of harsh words towards their wives. The second issue, husbands were negligent towards child care and education as they considered children as wives’ responsibility. Third, extramarital affair caused by unsatisfied spouses and lack of affection from their respective partners. As for the issues emerged in a modern or dual-career family are stated as follows: First, the dual-role of a wife which later sparked family conflicts. Second, a very limited family time, and the third was the lack of affection from their respective spouses.

Comparison of the Parenting styles, Quality of life, and Family Functioning between Dual Career and Single Career Families in Yazd City

Introduction: Women are interested in social roles along with their maternal role. According to mothers' role in parenting style, family functioning, and quality of life, we compared the parenting style, quality of life, and family function between dual career and single career families in Yazd City. Methods: This casual-comparative study was conducted over 304 dual career and single carrier families in three regions of Yazd selected using available sampling method. The study tools included parenting style questionnaire, quality of life questionnaire, and family function questionnaire. Data were analyzed using independent t-test. Results: The results indicated that quality of life and its dimensions caused no significant difference in dual career and single career families. In the field of family functioning, the only difference was in roles’ dimension, which was significantly different between dual career and single career families. This difference was in favor of dual career families. Regarding the parenting style, the only significant difference was related to the authoritative style this difference was in favor of single career families. Conclusion: According to the results, no significant difference was observed between the dual career and single career families in the style of parenting, family functioning, and quality of life.