Dividing Work, Sharing Work, and In-Between: Marriage Patterns and Depression

TLDR

Marriages in the United States are shifting from a complementary model, where the husband works and the wife manages the household, to a parallel model with both spouses working, but this transition is incomplete and can create stressful disjunctions in marital roles. The study tests whether a wife's employment affects her and her husband's depression depending on their preferences for her work and the husband's participation in housework. Using data from a 1978 national survey of 680 couples, the authors examined depression levels in relation to wives’ employment status and household labor division. They found that depression is lowest in parallel marriages, highest in transitional marriages, and that wives are less depressed when husbands help with housework while husbands are not more depressed by doing so.

Abstract

Marriages in the United States are shifting from the complementary type, in which the husband is employed and the wife cares for the household and children, to the parallel type, in which both spouses are employed and both are responsible for the housework. This change, however, is far from complete. Disjunctions in the institution of marriage may be stressful and emotionally disturbing. We hypothesize that the effect of a wife's employment on her depression and her husband's depends on their preferences for her employment and on whether the husband helps with the housework. Using data from a national sample of 680 couples interviewed in 1978, we find that both spouses are less depressed when the wife's employment status is consistent with their preferences. Also, wives are less depressed if their husbands help with the housework, and husbands are not more depressed as a result of helping. These factors lead to the highest depression in transitional marriages. The lowest depression is in parallel marriages.