Division of household labor and long-term career success

Abstract

As increasing numbers of women have entered the workforce in the past four decades, research has highlighted the importance of understanding the changing roles of homemaker and employee, particularly the balance between household and paid labor. The purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal relationship between spousal performance of household labor and objective and subjective career success in dual-career marriages. This study extends prior research by using longitudinal data and methods, as well as including spousal, rather than personal, performance of household labor. Archival data from the National Survey of Families and Households was used to test a moderated-mediation model that demonstrates the relationship of spousal performance of household labor to career success through time at work and perceived spousal support, as moderated by gender over the span of 11 years. Perceived spousal support was positively related to subjective career success, and all other direct and indirect hypothesized relationships were not significant. Potential implications and limitations are discussed.