Gender ideology: impact on dual-career couples' role strain, marital satisfaction, and life satisfaction
Year: 2006
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: With dual-career couples comprising the most common\nfamily type, it is important for mental health\nprofessionals, employers, and policy makers to understand\nthe unique challenges of this population (Haddock et al.,\n2001; Saginak & Saginak, 2005.) Numerous researchers have\nstudied the consequences of family and work role strain for\ndual-career couples. However, when dual-career couples are\nable to share responsibilities and negotiate degendered\nroles they experience the benefits of dual-career couples.\nThe literature clearly supports the importance of\negalitarian roles for marital satisfaction and life\nsatisfaction of dual-career couples.\nWhile researchers have studied social role strain,\ngender role strain, marital satisfaction, and life\nsatisfaction and discussed the importance of degendered roles and responsibilities for dual-career couples, no\nstudies have examined gender ideology. Saginak and Saginak\n(2005) called for researchers to investigate how gender\nideologies and the gender socialization process perpetuate\nthe challenges faced by dual-career couples in balancing\nwork and family.\nThis study investigated the associations between\ngender ideology and gender role strain, job-family role\nstrain, marital satisfaction, and life satisfaction among\n70 individual members of dual-career couples. A\nmultivariate analysis of variance was utilized to\ninvestigate the relationship between gender ideology and\nthe criterion measures. Gender ideology was partially\nassociated with gender role strain with the androgynous\ngender ideology group scoring significantly lower on gender\nrole strain than the masculine or undifferentiated gender\nideology groups but not significantly lower than the\nfeminine gender ideology group. Gender ideology was not\nassociated with job-family role strain or marital\nsatisfaction. In addition, gender ideology was also\npartially associated with life satisfaction with the androgynous gender ideology group scoring significantly\nhigher on quality of life than the masculine or\nundifferentiated gender ideology groups but not\nsignificantly higher than the feminine gender ideology\ngroup.\nThus, the current study indicates there are partial\nassociations between gender ideology and gender role strain\nand life satisfaction for dual-career couples. Mental\nhealth professionals, employers, and policy makers working\nwith dual-career couples should assess the socially\nconstructed gender norms and expectations internalized by\nindividuals into a gender ideology as the possible source\nof challenges experienced by the dual-career couple.
Author: Jennifer King
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Gender equality
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2770463442