Housecleaning Attitudes and Intimate Relationships

Although the importance of the relation between the division of housework responsibilities and marital happiness/satisfaction has been frequently documented, research has infrequently focused on how attitudes toward housecleaning may mediate housework-related issues and marital interactions. Employe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of couple & relationship therapy 2008-05, Vol.7 (2), p.136-149
Main Authors: Ogletree, Shirley Matile, Worthen, James B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Housecleaning
Housework
Relationship satisfaction
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Summary:Although the importance of the relation between the division of housework responsibilities and marital happiness/satisfaction has been frequently documented, research has infrequently focused on how attitudes toward housecleaning may mediate housework-related issues and marital interactions. Employees (368 women, 90 men) of two universities, one in Texas and one in Louisiana, participated in an online survey that included the Attitudes toward Housecleaning Scale (ATHC) as well as measures of marital quality and feelings about housework. The liking of housecleaning subscale was positively related to relationship satisfaction and, as might be expected, negatively related to feelings of conflict, guilt, resentment, and unfairness associated with housecleaning. The level of cleanliness subscale was also inversely related to negative feelings regarding housecleaning. Although women had higher levels of cleanliness, men indicated a greater liking for housecleaning tasks. These results support the utility of the ATHC in couples counseling, facilitating awareness of preferences and opinions regarding issues related to housecleaning.
ISSN:1533-2691
1533-2683
DOI:10.1080/15332690802106984