Cohabitation and Housework: The Effects of Marital Intentions

Abstract

This study asks how cohabiters’ housework patterns vary by their marital intentions. I draw on interactionist theories that view housework as an activity that produces gender and family to hypothesize that cohabiters who are more invested in their relationships will spend more time on housework. Analyzing the 1987–1988 National Survey of Families and Households (N = 348), I find that, controlling for sociodemographic and household differences, men who are least committed to their relationships spend the least time on housework, whereas women's housework time is not affected by marital intentions.