Determinants of Household Division of Labor

Using data from a large sample of married couples (N = 3,649), this study examines factors that are correlated with the amount of a husband's participation in domestic work. It was hypothesized that both spouses' earnings, work status, sex-role orientations, their power relationship, and the interaction between power and sex-role orientations were related to the husband's relative share in domestic work. The hypothesized relationships were found statistically significant in these data. The pattern of household division of labor apparently is affected not only by both spouses' monetary contributions, but also by their time availabilities, power relations, and ideologies.

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