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Becoming a Female‐Breadwinner Household in Australia: Changes in Relationship Satisfaction
Author(s) -
Blom Niels,
Hewitt Belinda
Publication year - 2020
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/jomf.12653
Subject(s) - typology , unemployment , demographic economics , psychology , socioeconomics , geography , sociology , economics , economic growth , archaeology
Objective This study longitudinally investigated the associations between becoming a female‐breadwinner household and changes in relationship satisfaction for men and women. Background Female‐breadwinner households pose a fundamental challenge to gender norms, particularly in countries such as Australia with a strong male breadwinner culture. Despite an increase in their prevalence, the implications for relationship satisfaction is understudied. Hypotheses were formulated based on specialization, relative resource, role collaboration, and doing gender theories. Method A total of 17 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia household panel survey (76,866 observations, 11,986 people) and fixed effects models were used to study the associations between changes in breadwinner arrangements and relationship satisfaction. Building on previous research our breadwinner typology combined employment and income differences between partners, differentiating single earners from dual earners. Results Both men and women became less satisfied when they transitioned to dual‐earner households where women out‐earned their partners. Becoming a female‐breadwinner household due to male unemployment or illness decreased relationship satisfaction for women. Respondents were most satisfied when they were in male‐breadwinner, female‐homemaker households. For women, but not men, gender role attitudes influenced some of these associations. Conclusion The results extend our understanding of the consequences of the increasing prevalence of female‐breadwinner households and suggest that they may be contributing to lower relationship quality and stability.

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