A Case for Banishing "Dual-Career Marriages" from the Research Literature

Abstract

The authors argue that the concepts career and dual-career marriage are loosely defined in the literature and that this hinders the comparability offindings and accumulation of scientific knowledge. A review of recent articles on dual-career marriages supports this assertion. The absence of clear differentiation between sociological and psychological levels of analysis is an important element in the confusion. Researchers have often assumed that high job commitment (an attitudinal variable) correlates with high status occupations (a structural variable). This article presents empirical evidence for a lack of relationship between these variables from a sample of 450 husbands and 344 wives. The authors propose a glossary of terms to clarify dual-career marriage research.