Effects of Union Type on Division of Household Labor

TLDR

This study compares the division of household labor and its determinants between married and cohabiting couples using data from 17,636 respondents in 28 nations. Multilevel modeling was employed to analyze the reported division of household labor. The study finds that cohabiting men perform more household work and cohabiting women perform less than married couples, with time availability and relative resources affecting both groups similarly, but gender ideology having a stronger influence on cohabiting couples, and it discusses implications for future research.

Abstract

Using data from 17,636 respondents in 28 nations, this research uses multilevel modeling to compare the reported division of household labor and factors affecting it for currently married and currently cohabiting couples. Cohabiting men report performing more household labor than do married men, and cohabiting women report performing less household labor than do married women. The findings provide support for the time-availability, relative-resources, and gender-ideology perspectives. The effects of time availability and relative resources on the division of household labor are substantially the same for both union types, but gender ideology is more influential on the division of labor reported by cohabiting than by married respondents. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.