Maternal employment and development of the father-infant relationship in the first year.

This study investigated links between maternal employment and fathers' parenting quality when their infants were 4 and 12 months old. Sixty-three fathers were videotaped interacting with their infants and completed questionnaires regarding their involvement in caregiving, parenting stress, and marital quality, and mothers reported on children's temperament. Fathers whose wives either did not work outside the home or worked part time were more sensitive and responsive to their children when they were more involved in caregiving; men whose wives worked full time exhibited more negative affect and behavior when they participated more in child care. Men whose wives were not employed also were more positive in their interactions when they were happier with their marriage, whereas men whose wives worked either part time or full time exhibited a negative relation between parenting behavior and marital quality. Maternal work circumstances were not related to fathers' parenting stress; rather, marital quality and child temperament predicted parenting stress at 4 and 12 months for all fathers.     

Gender differences in conflict resolution styles of managers: At work and at home

Because women and men managers occupy different roles at work and at home, role theory suggests that they would use different conflict resolution behaviors in each role. This study tested this theory empirically using the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode instrument to measure the five conflict resolution styles of 201 managers (99 males and 102 females) in both situational roles. Sex differences were examined along with hierarchical rank. Both genders tended to handle conflict more competitively at work than at home, and used the accommodating style more frequently at home than at work. At home, low-level women managers were more willing to collaborate and less willing to avoid conflict than at work; men managers overall were less likely to compromise at home than at work.     

Gender Differences in the Importance of Work and Family Roles: Implications for Work–Family Conflict

In this study we explored between- and within-gender differences in the importance of life roles and their implications for work–family conflict. In earlier research (Cinamon & Rich, 2002) we found 3 profiles of workers who differ in attributions of importance to work and family roles: persons who assigned high importance to both the work role and the family role (“Dual” profile); participants who ascribed high importance to the work role and low importance to the family role (“Work” profile); and participants who attributed high importance to the family role and low importance to the work role (“Family” profile). We used these profiles to clarify the relationship between gender and work–family conflict. Participants were 126 married men and 87 married women who were employed in computer or law firms. Significant between- and within-gender differences were found in the distribution of participants to profiles. Men were equally distributed throughout the profiles, whereas women were underrepresented in the Work category. More women than men fit the Family profile, and more men than women fit the Work profile. No gender differences were found for the Dual profile. Women reported higher parenting and work values than men did. Between-gender differences in work–family conflict were apparent, as were within-gender differences across profiles. Results demonstrate the value of examining both between- and within-gender variation in studies of gender and work–family conflict.     

A gendered approach to workforce participation patterns over the life course for an Australian baby boom cohort

Population ageing and its future implications for governments and individuals have been central to much policy debate and research targeted to retain older people in the workforce. This study identified workforce participation patterns across the adult life course for women and men entering later life, and explored the influences of various early and adult life socio-demographic circumstances. Data were collected from 1261 men and women aged 60 to 64 years in the Life History and Health (LHH) Survey (a sub-study of the Sax Institute's 45 and Up Study, Australia) in 2010–11. LHH provides detailed information on personal histories of paid work, socio-economic resources from childhood (number of books and father's occupation) and adult life factors such as educational attainment, marital histories, childcare and informal caring. Latent class analysis (LCA) was undertaken to identify patterns of workforce participation for participants across their adult life. Significant gender differences were confirmed. Further analysis (LCA with covariates) showed that women who reported having books during childhood, and those who had post-school qualification, were more likely to have mostly been in paid work and less likely to have not been in paid work; while ever partnered women had significantly higher odds of increasing part time work over time. Men who had reported ever having had informal caring activities were likely to have had decreasing participation in paid work over time, and were highly likely to be not in paid work after 55 years. Ever partnered status was protective for being in paid work for men. These findings indicate the need for gender-specific policies and strategies to enable continued workforce participation throughout adult life and into later working years, particularly for people who had fewer social or economic opportunities earlier in life.     

How job demands affect partners' experience of exhaustion: integrating work-family conflict and crossover theory

This study among 168 couples of dual-earner parents uses insights from previous work-family conflict and crossover research to propose an integrative model delineating how job demands experienced by men and women carry over to the home domain. The authors hypothesized that for both men and women, job demands foster their own work-family conflict (WFC), which in turn contributes to their partners' home demands, family-work conflict (FWC), and exhaustion. In addition, they hypothesized that social undermining mediates the relationship between individuals' WFC and their partners' home demands. The results of structural equation modeling analyses provided strong support for the proposed model. The hypothesis that gender would moderate the model relationships was rejected. These findings integrate previous findings on work-family conflict and crossover theories and suggest fluid boundaries between the work and home domains.     

Work and Family: Satisfaction,Stress, and Spousal Support

Married veterinarians (N = 242) provided information regarding work satisfaction, work‐related stress, marital‐family stress, and spousal support for career. Female veterinarians reported significantly greater effect of marital/family stress on career and less perceived spousal support for career than did their male counterparts. Areas of greatest work dissatisfaction for both genders were income and time required at work. No differences emerged between men and women on various measures of work satisfaction. In addition, no difference was found between the genders in the effect of work‐related stress on career.     

Physical fitness, body image, and locus of control in college freshman men and women

This study examined the relations among physical fitness, body image, and locus of control. The Hall-Physical Fitness Test Profile, the Winstead and Cash Body Self-relations Questionnaire (BSRQ) and the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale were administered to 243 freshmen. Women were significantly more positive about their physical appearance than men. Men were more positive about their physical fitness than women. Men were more physically fit than women. Men and women scoring in the internal direction viewed the physical fitness domain of their body image positively. Unlike men, internally oriented women had more positive perceptions of the health aspect of their body image. Physically fit men and women had positive attitudes toward the physical fitness component of their body image. Physically fit men differed from physically fit women in that men were more internal and held more positive attitudes toward the physical health dimension of their body images.     

Work, Family, and Religious Involvement for Men and Women

Do family formation and social establishment affect religious involvement in the same way for men and women, given increasing individualism and rapid changes in work and family roles? Using a random sample of adults from upstate New York (N = 1,006), our research builds on previous work in this area by using multiple measures of religious involvement, using multiple measures of individualism and beliefs about work and family roles, placing men and women in their work context, and looking at the relationships separately by gender. Men’s religious involvement is associated with marriage, children, and full‐time employment, signaling social establishment and maturity. Women’s involvement is higher when there are school‐aged children in the home, but it is also more intertwined with the salience of religion and with an assessment that religious institutions are a good fit with their values and lifestyles, including egalitarian views of gender. For men and women, views of religious authority and the role of religious institutions in the socialization of children are associated differently with religious involvement at different life stages. We call for further research to understand the gendered nature of religious involvement and the role of beliefs about work, family, and religion in explaining why individuals choose to be involved in religious institutions.     

A Review of “Child Anxiety Disorders: A Family-Based Treatment Manual for Practitioners”

This study investigated the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrated by women and the attachment style of each partner in 20 couples in which the male partner was in therapy for abusive men. Results confirmed the presence of a relationship between IPV and attachment style. Men with an avoidant attachment reported higher physical abuse victimization and higher use of negotiation during conflict, as revealed by their partner. Women with an anxious attachment reported having inflected more injuries and were less likely to use negotiation during conflict, as revealed by their partner. Findings highlight the relational basis of IPV.     

“Sandwiched generation” couples: A cross-cultural,cross-gender comparison

Maintaining a job while managing family responsibilities has become a major issue for much of today's workforce. Working couples who care both for dependent children and aging parents constitute a fast growing and understudied group called “the sandwiched generation.” Because of their multiple roles, these workers tend to be highly stressed and likely to have burnouts. The article presents the results of an exploratory study that compared 40 Israeli “sandwiched generation” couples living on a kibbutz, 80 Israeli couples living in small towns and 75 American men and women. The methodology involved a self-report questionnaire that included measures of social support, work–family conflict (WFC) and burnout. The findings revealed both cross-cultural and cross-gender differences: Americans reported higher WFC than Israelis whereas Israelis reported higher family–work conflict (FWC) than Americans. In addition, men received more support from their spouse than women with both work and family problems, Israelis received more help from their spouse with both home and work problems than Americans, and Israeli kibbutz members received more help from their spouse with both home and work problems than Israeli city dwellers. Support from the spouse for both work and home problems was found to be negatively correlated with burnout. These findings, as tentative as they are, demonstrate the theoretical and practical importance of studying “sandwiched generation” couples.     

Aspirations,Attainments, and Satisfaction: Life Cycle Differences Between American Women and Men

Aspirations, along with attainments, play an important role in shaping well-being. Early in adult life women are more likely than men to fulfill their material goods and family life aspirations; their satisfaction in these domains is correspondingly higher; and so too is their overall happiness. Material goods aspirations refer here to desires for a number of big-ticket consumer goods, such as a home, car, travel abroad and vacation home. In later life these gender differences turn around. Men come closer than women to fulfilling their material goods and family life aspirations, are more satisfied with their financial situation and family life, and are the happier of the two genders. An important factor underlying the turnaround in fulfillment of aspirations for material goods and family life is probably the shift over the course of the life cycle in the relative proportion of women and men in marital and non-marital unions.     

Morning Passages from Home to Work Among Managers in Israel: Intergender Differences

This paper presents a study on morning passages from home to work. The sample consisted of 226 Israeli parents working in managerial positions (136 men and 90 women). Eighty percent of the participants were Israeli-born, and the rest immigrated to Israel at a young age. In the study, I examined gender differences in emphasis on domestic and work activities at 3 main transitional stages in the morning: home transitions (30 min before leaving for work), on the way to work, and at work (the first 30 min after arrival at work). The findings indicate that in the home-transition women focused more on domestic tasks than on work tasks, whereas men showed the opposite tendency. On the way to work, women tended to intensify their involvement in work activities, but remained strongly concerned with domestic activities. Men, however, focused primarily on work tasks during this transition. In the work transition, both men and women were more concerned with work tasks than domestic tasks. Therefore, even though men and women focused on different tasks in the initial transition, by the time they arrived at the workplace, they were immersed to the same extent in work activities. Furthermore, the participants' age, children's ages, and years of marriage correlated negatively with emphasis on domestic tasks during the home transition regardless of gender.     

Masculine Gender-Role Stress, Anger, and Male Intimate Abusiveness: Implications for Men's Relationships

Many men who are strongly committed to the traditional male role experience masculine gender-role stress (MGRS) when faced with situations they perceive as posing a threat to their masculine identity. Men who experience high levels of MGRS often turn to substance abuse as a means of managing insecurities regarding male role expectations, which may increase their risk of engaging in verbally and physically abusive behavior. In the present investigation, we examined the association between MGRS, anger, and intimately abusive behavior among substance-abusing men. Our sample consisted of 57% White and 43% African American male substance abusers. Approximately 72% of participants reported earning less than $20,000; about 19% earned between $20,000 and $39,999; 4% earned between $40,000 and $59,999; 5% earned between $60,000 and $79,999, and less than 1% reported earning over $80,000. It was hypothesized that, compared with low-MGRS substance-abusing men, high-MGRS substance-abusing men would report higher levels of anger and would be more likely to report engaging in verbally and physically abusive behavior directed at their female partners. In general, support was found for these hypotheses. Our results indicate that high-MGRS substance-abusing men experience higher levels of anger and that they were more likely to have engaged in abusive behavior in the context of their intimate relationships with female partners.     

Effects of Sex,Culture, and Support Type on Perceptions of Spousal Social Support: An Assessment of the “Support Gap” Hypothesis in Early Marriage

Several writers have suggested that a “support gap” characterizes modern marriages, with women receiving less support from their spouses than men receive from theirs. Although this support gap hypothesis (SGH) is used increasingly to explain marital interaction and satisfaction, there have been few rigorous evaluations of this hypothesis. In particular, existing research on the support gap has not systematically considered (a) different types of social support; (b) differences in provided vs. received support; (c) differences in reported levels of support desire, experience, and satisfaction; or (d) differences in distinct cultural groups with respect to social support in marriage. The present study provided a multidimensional assessment of desired and experienced spousal social support. Participants were recently married men and women (100 Americans and 102 Chinese) who completed questionnaires providing assessments of desired and experienced levels of spousal support for each of 5 support types. Men and women did not differ systematically with respect to the levels of support they experienced from their spouses; however, women reported desiring significantly higher levels of support from their spouses than did men for all 5 types of support. Evaluation of support satisfaction indicated that both American and Chinese women experience gaps with respect to emotional and esteem support; Chinese women additionally experience a gap in network support. These results specify the nature of marital support gaps much more precisely than previous work and suggest several issues to be addressed in future work.     

Commitment to Work, Care Giving and Seniority: The Case of Nursing

The current study examined whether differences in commitment to paid employment or different levels of private sphere responsibility between women and men could explain the gender segmentation of the paid work force. A survey of a composite sample (N?=?380) of Australian nurses showed that there were no significant differences between women and men in terms of commitment to paid employment although commitment was a predictor of seniority. Primary care-giving status also predicted seniority and women were more likely than men to have care-giving responsibility for dependents. Multiple logistic regression showed that, independent of gender, primary responsibility for care-giving to dependents, rather than commitment to paid employment, explained more of the differing chances for women and men of being in senior positions.     

The personal costs of citizenship behavior: the relationship between individual initiative and role overload, job stress, and work-family conflict

By and large, prior research has focused on the positive aspects of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). D. W. Organ and K. Ryan (1995), though, suggest that individuals who engage in high levels of OCB may become overloaded. This research explores the relationship between a specific type of OCB--namely, individual initiative--and role overload, job stress, and work-family conflict. Results from a sample of 98 couples indicate that higher levels of individual initiative (as assessed by the spouse or significant other) are associated with higher levels of employee role overload, job stress, and work-family conflict. The findings also suggest that the relationship between individual initiative and work-family conflict is moderated by gender, such that the relationship is stronger among women than among men. Some implications of this work and directions for future research are discussed as well.     

Sex differences in relationships among anger, depression, and coping strategies of Japanese students

This study investigated sex differences in the relationships among an ger, depression, and coping strategies. Undergraduate students, 77 men and 130 women, 3 not identified by sex, voluntarily participated. Participants made ratings on a self-report about anger, depression, coping strategies, and mental health. Analyses showed that women who reported themselves as angry tended to cope with stress by optimistic and active strategies, while women who reported themselves as depressed tended to cope with stress by withdrawn and passive strategies. Men who reported being depressed tended to select emotion-focused cognitive coping, while men who reported being angry selected no specific coping. Adoption of engaged emotion focused coping strategies were related to mental health only for women.     

What is acceptable for women may not be for men: The effect of family conflicts with work on job‐performance ratings

We conducted a laboratory study examining the effect of a family conflict with work on performance appraisal ratings given to men and women. Overall, the experience of a family conflict was associated with lower performance ratings, and ratee sex moderated this relationship. Men who experienced a family conflict received lower overall performance ratings and lower reward recommendations than men who did not, whereas ratings of women were unaffected by the experience of a family conflict. The sex bias was not evident when performance was evaluated on the more specific dimension of planning. Neither rater gender nor work‐family role attitudes moderated the sex bias. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.