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Adaptive Strategies, Gender Ideology, and Work‐Family Balance Among Dutch Dual Earners
Author(s) -
WierdaBoer Hilde H.,
Gerris Jan R.M.,
Vermulst Ad A.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00542.x
Subject(s) - ideology , harm , adaptive strategies , dual (grammatical number) , balance (ability) , work–life balance , social psychology , work (physics) , psychology , political science , art , mechanical engineering , literature , archaeology , neuroscience , politics , law , engineering , history
Using questionnaire data on 149 Dutch dual‐earner couples with young children participating in the European Famwork study, we examine how adaptive strategies and gender ideology relate to parents’ perceived success in balancing work and family. Path analysis indicates that some adaptive strategies may harm individuals’ work‐family balance, particularly when they are made in the domain where the time budget is limited. In the need to succeed in multiple roles, however, endorsement of traits traditionally linked with the opposite gender, that is masculine traits for women and feminine traits for men, seems beneficial. We speculate that two underlying mechanisms — social pressure and time constraints — jointly operate in determining perceived success in balancing work and family.