Dual-earner Households Research Articles

Gender dynamics in dual-earner couples: Spousal occupational status and working hours

In the ever-evolving landscape of contemporary households, this study explores how a spouse’s job status impacts working hours in dual-earner households, emphasizing gender dynamics. Analyzing data from the 2011–2017 Chinese General Social Survey, it finds that higher occupational status for either spouse correlates with reduced work hours for both genders. Yet, gender-specific differences arise. Husbands with higher job status tend to engage less in household chores, increasing women’s burden. This research deepens the understanding of labor market fairness and household division, emphasizing the necessity for a thorough investigation into these dynamics for precise insight into employment dynamics within dual-income families.

Commuting in dual-earner households: international gender differences with time use surveys

AbstractPrior studies show men commute longer than women, often due to household responsibilities. However, research on commuting differences within couples is limited. This study examines gender gaps in commuting times and mode choices among dual-earner couples in Spain, Italy, South Korea, and the UK. Using Ordinary Least Squares regressions, we find that the presence of children significantly increases gender gaps in commuting times in Italy and the UK, supporting the household responsibility hypothesis. Conversely, no significant link between children and gender gaps is observed in Spain and Korea. Additionally, children’s presence affects commuting mode choices in Italy across all modes, and in Korea for public transit only, with Italian women showing the most changes in commuting mode when children are present.

Residential dissonance and changes in travel satisfaction: Evidence from Japanese dual-earner couples

This study examined the extent to which residential dissonance affected changes in travel satisfaction before and during the pandemic. We conducted a gender-specific analysis using data from 540 spouses in 270 households in Greater Nagoya, Japan. The results showed that for women, the negative dissonance of accessibility and neighborhood socialization may deteriorate commute satisfaction, while the negative dissonance of car alternatives may decrease non-commute satisfaction. For men, the positive dissonance of aesthetics decreased non-commute satisfaction. Moreover, men who decreased car use reported a decrease in commute satisfaction. Men who cycled less frequently experienced a decrease in non-commute satisfaction, while women who cycled more frequently reported an increase in non-commute satisfaction. The findings suggest the importance of gender in travel satisfaction and suggest that intervention strategies should be tailored to address the needs of specific population subgroups, such as working women in dual-earner households.

Relative Income, Gender Identity, and Happiness in Dual-Earner Households in Türkiye

Relative Income, Gender Identity, and Happiness in Dual-Earner Households in Türkiye

Preferences for Remote and Hybrid Work: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic created an opportunity for many American workers to work from home. Did the rapid and widespread adoption of remote work arrangements influence workers’ preferences? This study analyzes the early pandemic work experiences of 52 participants (20 men and 32 women) in dual-earner households with children through in-depth interviews conducted in 2021 and 2022 via Zoom. The study explores respondents’ desire for remote and hybrid work, considering job satisfaction as well as job characteristics, family structure, and household organization. Unless their jobs were poorly suited to remote work, most workers with pandemic-era remote work opportunities—and even some who had not worked remotely—wished to keep remote access in their post-pandemic work arrangements. Respondents reported enhanced job satisfaction and productivity from remote work, as a result of greater schedule control and flexibility. We found that some workers were willing to change jobs to maintain their preferred work arrangement, while others acquiesced to employers’ return-to-work policies. The study highlights the need to understand workers’ preferences in supporting flexible work arrangements and contributes to the understanding of remote work on family dynamics during the pandemic and afterwards.

Commute and built environment: What matters for subjective well-being in a household context?

Much of prior research has shown a growing interest in determinants of subjective well-being (SWB). However, relatively less research has explored the causal effects of commute and built environment (BE) on SWB, and there is little knowledge regarding how these connections differ between household members. The study examines both cross-sectional and longitudinal connections between commute, BE, and SWB, as well as the variations in these connections between couples, by analyzing longitudinal survey data of dual-earner households from Chinese cities. The results indicate that the increase in commute duration results in lower SWB. Shifting to active modes is shown to increase SWB. Nonetheless, shifting in the opposite direction shows no significant effect. All BE changes are correlated with the husbands' SWB changes, whereas only changes in neighborhood categories and neighborhood density appear to matter for wives. The findings indicate that planning strategies can complement transport policies aimed at enhancing SWB.

Do Men Care about Childcare? Women’s Relative Resources and Men’s Preferences for Work–Family Reconciliation Policies

Abstract Existing literature on the politics of work–family reconciliation policies focuses primarily on women and their policy preferences as the main driver of recent policy expansions. But what do we know about male preferences? This article explores this question in an innovative way by integrating insights from economic and sociological studies of division of labor and bargaining within the household. It investigates the link between women’s relative resources within the household and their male partners’ preferences for different types of reconciliation policies. Drawing on regression analysis of nineteen OECD countries using the International Social Survey Program data (Family and Changing Gender Roles IV), we find that: (1) men in dual-earner households, men in college-educated educational homogamy, and men in educational hypogamy (the woman is better educated) are more likely to support reconciliation policies; and (2) women’s earnings and education have different effects on men’s preferences.

In-work poverty in Western Europe. A longitudinal perspective

ABSTRACT This study investigates levels and determinants of in-work poverty (IWP) in Western Europe using EU-SILC longitudinal data 2004–2019. We compared IWP risk and their dynamics across fourteen countries by examining individual labor market positions, household total labor supplies, and employment patterns. We further explored the social class gradient in exposure to IWP, as well as drivers and patterns of longitudinal accumulation of poverty. Relying on a single (standard) earner is often not enough to keep families out of poverty, confirming the importance of dual-earner household arrangements, even if they entail non-standard employment conditions for one partner. This holds particularly true for countries with high levels of IWP and for less privileged social and occupational groups across all contexts. Analyzing IWP inertia, we examined the interplay between genuine state dependence (GSD) and unobserved heterogeneity in the accumulation of economic disadvantage over time. Previous experiences with IWP can lead to future IWP for some, yet this causal effect appears rather small. Our findings have clear implications for the social stratification of risk and policies designed to combat poverty accumulation.

KEY FACTORS INFLUENCING THE FAMILY-FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD THROUGH PLS-SEM MODEL ASSESSMENT. CASE STUDY: SS4, PETALING JAYA, SELANGOR, MALAYSIA

Urbanisation brought about by advances in human civilisation affects the daily life of the people. The rising trend in the percentage of dual-earner households had created many problems for families living in cities. This has resulted in challenges of work-life balance, caregiving demands in raising children and dependents as well as running a household, and physical and social environment issues in the urban neighbourhood. The cities should be designed to accommodate the needs of families in terms of public facilities and social capital within the neighbourhood and the nearby surrounding urban areas. Hence, this study aimed to assess the relationship between physical and social environment factors within the local community in the study area through 248 questionnaire survey distributed to the head of household as a target group of this study via systematic and stratified sampling. The modelling analysis revealed that, social environment factor is the main factor that most positively influences the level of family-friendly neighbourhood than the physical environment factor in terms of trusted, willing to help, feel connected, get along with one another, give support, close-knit neighbourhood and share same value among families and communities in the study area. Thus, the needs of urban families and communities towards social capital should be taken into consideration in the study area, specifically.

Exploring residential dissonance from a household perspective: A gendered examination of resident characteristics in a small Chinese city

The extent individuals can choose a residential location based on their travel needs and preferences is an important topic within the realm of research on land use-transport interactions. However, little attention has been paid to the characteristics of residents who experience a dissonance between their preferred and actual residence in terms of travel preferences (i.e., residential dissonance), and even less from a household perspective. Using household-level survey data collected in Ganyu, China, this study explores the characteristics of dissonant residents in terms of age, income, education level, number of children, commuting distances to the workplace, perceived accessibility, and car availability within both urban and suburban neighborhoods, and how these differ between women and men within dual-earner households. We found that in urban neighborhoods, women with only one child prefer to avoid using e-bikes, leading to a higher incidence of residential dissonance. Also, perceived accessibility was found to be significantly associated with residential dissonance for both women and men: residents do not subjectively think of themselves as dissonants based on their perceived accessibility, despite being objectively defined as dissonants. Moreover, couples tend to experience dissonance together, suggesting that the attitudes of one household member may be affected by their partner. Our findings emphasize the importance of considering gender differences from a household perspective, as well as recognizing the impact of perceived accessibility when studying the characteristics of dissonant residents.

The ambivalent trajectory of the German gender regime: Are female breadwinner families an indicator of a shift towards a public gender regime?

There seems to be some evidence that Germany is turning from being a ‘domestic’ to a ‘public’ gender regime. The extension of public childcare, increasing female labour market participation rates and the introduction of gender quotas, among other changes, point to this development. However, a detailed analysis reveals an ambivalent and even contradictory trajectory. This development can only be understood by applying an intersectional perspective and looking at families with different socioeconomic backgrounds, class, and gender. By focusing on family households in which women are the main earners, this paper illustrates changes and stability in different domains and contributes to the understanding of the German gender regime's trajectory. On the basis of a qualitative study conducted in West and East Germany, the article shows that many women who are the main breadwinners in their families are in this position not because of modernised gender relations and by their own choice, but ‘involuntarily’, because of their partners' weak labour market position and increasing pressure within the German welfare state to earn their own living and contribute to covering the needs of the household through gainful employment. Many female-breadwinner families do not live reversed, modernised gender roles, but face an above-average risk for poverty and have little room for manoeuvre. Political and economic factors, as well as norms (in the domains of polity, economy and civil society), help to explain these findings. We see mainly neoliberal, activation policies directed at households with low resources, whereas the institutional framework for households with higher incomes has remained relatively stable. The results of the study show that dual-earner households are not necessarily progressive and dual earning is a poor indicator of a gender regime change.

正社員・正職員共働き子育て世帯の居住状況と住替え動向

This paper focuses on full-time dual-earner households with kids under 15 years old (DEWKs) and studies their living situations and relocation trends based on the micro-data of the Population Census. Through the comparative analysis of DEWKs, dual-earner married couples (DINKs), and single-earner households with kids (SEWKs), the paper shows that the number of DEWKs increased rapidly in metropolitan areas. It also reveals that DEWKs tend to live in owned detached houses in convenient commuting areas around railway stations. These results imply that future housing policies need a policy-making process to consider these differences in residential trends.

Exploring the Relationships between Multilevel Built Environments and Commute Durations in Dual-Earner Households: Does Gender Matter?

The links between built environments (BE) and commute durations have been extensively studied. However, relatively few studies have considered the effects of BEs at different spatial levels within a unified framework, or identified the gendered relationships between BEs and commute durations. Using survey data from 3209 household couples in 97 Chinese cities, this study investigates the effects of neighborhood- and city-level BEs on commute durations and the potential differences in these effects between the male and female members of the same household couple. A multi-group generalized multilevel structural equation model is applied to reveal the gendered relationships between neighborhood- and city-level BEs and commute durations. The findings suggest that the BE variables at two levels have significant effects on the commute duration. The mediating roles that the traffic congestion, car ownership, and commuting modes play in linking these BEs and commute durations are confirmed. Both levels of the BE variables are more influential factors for males' commuting durations. These findings have policy implications for the design of gender-equal transportation systems.

Wat doet je moeder? De invloed van moeders beroepsstatus op de onderwijsuitkomsten van haar kinderen en hoe die zich verhoudt tot vaders invloed

What is your mother doing? The influence of mother’s occupational status on her children’s educational outcomes and how it is related to father’s influence In this article, we investigated the influence of mother’s occupational status on her child’s educational outcomes and to what extent this depends on father’s occupational status. Based on the Breen and Goldthorpe (1997) model, we expected that mother’s occupational status positively affects the educational outcomes of her child, although this influence may be weaker than father’s influence due to remains of traditional gender roles in the Netherlands. Second, we expected that daughters benefit more from mother’s occupational status than sons. Finally, we derived from the dominance model (Erikson, 1984) that the positive influence of mother’s occupational status becomes weaker when father’s occupational status is higher. The three hypotheses were tested with datasets from the LISS panel in 2012 on 1.176 Dutch participants who grew up in dual earner households. The results of multilevel regression analyses show that mother’s occupational status indeed has a moderately positive effect on her child’s education level. This effect does not differ between sons and daughters and is independent of fathers’ occupational status. Unexpectedly, father’s occupational status does not affect his child’s educational level when mother’s occupational status is taken into account. This suggests that in dual earner households mother’s occupational status is more relevant than father’s occupational status.

The Role of Maternal Grandmothers' Childcare Provision for Korean Working Adult Daughters.

Despite the Korean government's investment in childcare facilities for dual-earner households, maternal grandmothers are increasingly taking on the responsibility of caring for their grandchildren. This trend is examined in the current research. While many studies have been conducted on grandparents' experiences providing childcare for their grandchildren, significantly less research has been conducted on adult daughters' experiences with their mothers' childcare provision. This study utilized the concepts of intergenerational solidarity and a life-course approach to understand the experiences of 24 working adult daughters in Korea (ages 30-43) whose mothers provide childcare. Three major themes were identified following a grounded theory approach: gratitude vs. guilt, dependence vs. independence, and closeness vs. disagreement. The results indicated that adult daughters were found to have ambivalence toward their mothers, reflecting the lack of alternative options for childcare. The results from this study suggest that not only improving the quality of public childcare services, but also diversifying services to reflect the needs of dual-income families.

Parents' nonstandard work schedules and parents' perception of adolescent social and emotional wellbeing

Objective: We investigated the association between joint parents' work schedules and parent-reported adolescent mental health and test parental time for adolescents and parenting style as mediators. Background: Increasing evidence shows that parents' evening/night/irregular work schedules have a negative impact on children’s physical and mental health. Few studies examine adolescents and joint parental work schedules. Method: We analysed one wave of the Australian Raine Study data, focusing on adolescents who were followed up at ages 16-17 and lived in dual earner-households (N=607). Adolescent mental health was measured in the Child Behavioural Checklist (morbidity, internalising behaviour, externalising behaviour, anxiety/depression). Parental work schedules were defined as: both parents work standard daytime schedules (reference), both parents work evening/night/irregular shifts; fathers work evening/night/irregular shifts - mothers day schedules, mothers work evening/night/irregular shifts - fathers daytime schedules. We estimated a linear regression model with robust standard errors and log transformation of the dependent variables. Results: Compared to the reference group, when one or both parents worked evening/night/irregular schedules, there was a significant increase in parent-reported total morbidity, externalizing behaviour and anxiety/depression in adolescents. Fathers’ only evening/night/irregular schedules was associated with a significant increase in parent-reported total morbidity and externalizing behaviour. Inconsistent parenting partially mediated this association. Mothers’ only evening/night/irregular schedules was not significantly associated with parent-reported adolescent mental health. Conclusion: Our findings underscore the importance of fathers' work-family balance with implications for adolescent mental health.

The rise of low-skill service employment: The role of dual-earner households

This paper unveils an important but unexplored channel for the growth of low-skill service employment between 1960 and 2010: the spillover from dual-earner households. In particular, we analyze the cross-city association between variation in dual-earner households and employment growth in home production substitutes. To address concerns about endogeneity, we use the fact that married working women were extremely concentrated on administrative support occupations, while their birth places were heterogeneously distributed. Our results show that one more dual-earner couple creates 0.3 low-skill service jobs in local economies, and the effect mainly comes from the home production service sector.

Single Parents Competing in a Dual-Earner Society: Social Policy to Level the Playing Field

I examine the relative poverty risk among single-parent households in countries that have a large share of households with dual earners. Data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) Database are used to analyze eighteen OECD countries in the period 1984 to 2010. I find that single parents face higher relative income poverty risks in countries with a large share of dual-earner households and that this higher risk of poverty is related to higher standards of living in those countries: higher standards of living have raised poverty thresholds, and single-parent incomes are less likely to reach those higher poverty thresholds. I also find that this overall pattern varied across institutional contexts: a rise of dual-earner households puts single parents at a disadvantage only in countries that have relatively low public expenditures on childcare and relatively low income transfer policies.

Exploring commute mode choice in dual-earner households in a small Chinese city

Most research on the impact of the built environment (BE) on travel behavior and residential self-selection (RSS) has focused at the individual rather than the household level. Using data collected in the small Chinese city of Ganyu, the present research explored how BE factors at spouses’ residential and work locations influence their joint commute mode choice, and the extent to which RSS occurs. Based on the results of nested logit modeling, we found that spouses’ travel mode choice is less related to residential BE factors and instead significantly associated with workplace accessibility. Moreover, we also found less evidence of RSS, which is related to individuals’ residential preferences and travel environment in small cities. These findings suggest that the impact of BE on travel behavior and RSS is context specific, and that policies aimed at reducing traffic volume should differentiate between small and large Chinese cities.

Keep Calm and Work from Home: Strategies Used by Dual-Earner Households with School-Age Children

We examine how dual-earner couples with school-age children who worked from home during the COVID-19 lockdown adjusted to the changes it brought to their lives. To do so, we conducted a qualitative study of 28 dual-earner households who had at least one school-age child, resided in China, Iran, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, or the United States, and worked from home during the lockdown. In each household, we interviewed the parents (56 in total), and we asked at least one child to draw their work-from-home experience and narrate the drawing. Informed by resource-based work-home interface and family stress models, we outline the resources and demands generated by working at home as a family, as well as the strategies families employed to manage their collective work-from-home. Families adopted collaborative, attentive, and relational strategies to fit their demands and their resources, while using delegative and negligent strategies to manage their unmet demands. We extend the work-from-home scholarship to a collective level, and wed it with the family stress model to explain the dynamics of collective work-from-home. At a practical level, the strategies presented in our work can inform employers of dual-earner couples and families experiencing similar dynamics.