Dual-Earner Couples

Dual-earner couples can be defined as those in which both partners are employed for pay while simultaneously maintaining a family life together. A significant subset of dual-earner couples are designated as dual career, defined as those in which both heads of households pursue high status occupations characterized by lifelong commitment and an opportunity structure that allows the expectation of advancement. The purpose of this entry is to give an overview of research on dual-earner couples, highlighting findings on both the strengths and challenges of this relationship type.

Research in this area began in the 1960s in England. Dual-career couples were viewed as a radical alternative to what was then perceived to be the most efficient and optimal division of family labor in which men were the primary financial providers and women the primary caretakers. This point of view largely ignored the fact that, prior to the Industrial Revolution, men and women had a long history of working collaboratively to maintain families. Indeed, it was not until the end of the 18th century and later that waged work was increasingly viewed as improper for women. This changed somewhat during World War II when women held factory and industrial jobs, but after the war, middle-class women were again encouraged to return home.

By the 1970s, influenced by economic and political factors, including the need for women's labor and the advent of feminism, increasing numbers of White middle-class women began to enter the paid workforce. Guided by the doctrine of separate spheres, few questioned that women would simply add the responsibilities of paid employment to those of the home, and most expected that paid employment would be experienced by women as harsher and more stressful than full-time homemaking. This gave rise to concerns of role overload (having to do too much) and role conflict, both work to family and family to work, so that fulfilling the demands of one role [Page 470](paid employment) would interfere with or preclude the ability to fulfill the demands of other roles (parenting and homemaking).

Contrary to expectation, however, studies found no negative effects of paid employment per se on women or on their children. In fact, there were often benefits. Despite increased demands on their time, research consistently showed that parents in dual-earner relationships spent no less time with their children than parents in relationships in which the mother was home full time, and their children scored just as well on measures of emotional and social development. Furthermore, children in dual-earner families often showed more egalitarian and less gender stereotypic attitudes as well as increased academic achievement, especially for girls. For women, across both race and class, the role of paid worker seemed to be a source of independent identity, increased self-esteem, pur-posefulness, enhanced social contacts, and inherent interest.

Findings also showed, however, that the extent of the benefits was influenced by a number of individual, occupational, and relational factors. On the individual level, women who had access to high-quality childcare and women who perceived paid employment as desirable were less depressed and less anxious than women without childcare and women who were employed but preferred to be home full time, respectively. On the relational level, women whose husbands supported their employment both behaviorally, by sharing the responsibilities of home and children, and attitudi-nally, by respecting the importance of their wives' work, were found to be less depressed than women whose husbands were unsupportive. On the occupational level, positions characterized by greater control, autonomy, challenge, and flexibility were associated with more positive outcomes than positions characterized by less control.

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