Time, Money, or Gender? Predictors of the Division of Household Labour Across Life Stages

Drawing on a life course perspective and data gathered during three developmental periods—the transition to adulthood (age 25; n  = 168), young adulthood (age 32; n  = 337), and midlife (age 43; n  = 309), we explored patterns of division of household labour among Canadian men and women. We also inv...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sex roles 2018-06, Vol.78 (11-12), p.731-743
Main Authors: Horne, Rebecca M., Johnson, Matthew D., Galambos, Nancy L., Krahn, Harvey J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Age
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Children
Gender
Gender relations
Gender Studies
Housework
Income
Labor
Life transitions
Marital Status
Medicine/Public Health
Original Article
Predictions
Psychology
Sociology
Working hours
Working women
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Drawing on a life course perspective and data gathered during three developmental periods—the transition to adulthood (age 25; n  = 168), young adulthood (age 32; n  = 337), and midlife (age 43; n  = 309), we explored patterns of division of household labour among Canadian men and women. We also investigated associations among housework responsibility and variables representing time availability (i.e., work hours), relative resource (i.e., earning a greater share of income in a relationship), and gender constructionist perspectives (i.e., marital status and raising children) at three life course stages. Results indicated women performed more housework than men at all ages. Regression analyses revealed housework responsibility was most reliably predicted by relative income and gender at age 25; work hours and raising children at age 32; and work hours, relative income, and gender at age 43. Gender moderated the influence of raising children at age 32. Overall, the relative resource perspective was supported during the transition to adulthood and in midlife, the time availability perspective was supported in young adulthood and in midlife, and certain elements of the gender constructionist perspective were supported at all life stages. The present study contributes to the division of household labour literature by disentangling the predictive power of time, resource, and gender perspectives on housework at distinct life stages.
ISSN:0360-0025
1573-2762
DOI:10.1007/s11199-017-0832-1