Patterns of housework performance in the United States before, during, and after the Great Recession

Housework is a key area of research across many academic fields as it represents the intersection of micro- and macro-level gender dynamics. Despite many shifts in both women's and men's economic activities, and men's changing gender beliefs, women remain largely responsible for the management and performance of domestic labor. Given the relationship between paid employment and household work, this research describes patterns of women's and men's housework before, during, and after the Great Recession. Using American Time Use Survey data, I perform latent profile analysis to document the distributions of housework tasks and time for women and men across these three time periods. While women perform the majority of housework across the time frame, women and men converge in their time during the Recession. Further, men's time becomes more varied and more similar to women's Post-Recession. The findings in this research brief highlight the connections between macro-level change and micro-level behavior.

Association between housework and the risk of dementia among older Chinese adults: a prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES

Physical activity (PA) is known to improve physical functioning and mental health and to reduce the incidence of dementia. However, studies of the effects of non-recreational PA on the incidence of dementia, especially in East Asian populations, remain limited. In this study, we evaluate the association of doing housework with the risk of dementia among participants in the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS).

METHODS

The analysis was conducted with data from 7,237 CLHLS participants age over 65 obtained in 2008/2009, 2011/2012, 2014, and 2018. The frequency of housework performance was classified into four groups. A Cox proportional-hazards model was used to examine the association of the baseline housework frequency with the incidence of dementia, with adjustment for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and lifestyle and health conditions.

RESULTS

The adjusted multivariate model showed that the incidence of dementia was lower among participants who did housework almost every day than among those who rarely or never did housework (hazard ratio = 0.49; 95% confidence interval, 0.39-0.61). The subgroup and sensitivity analyses yielded similar results.

CONCLUSION

A high frequency of housework performance was associated with a reduced incidence of dementia among older Chinese adults, especially those who did not exercise regularly. The encouragement of engagement in housework would be a cost-effective measure promoting healthy aging in the Chinese population.

Parents' work arrangements and gendered time use during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective

This study uses time diaries to examine how parents' work arrangements shaped their time use at home and work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background

The pandemic transformed home and work life for parents, disrupting employment and childcare. The shift to work from home offered more flexibility to manage increased care burdens, but the lack of separation between work and family also likely contributed to more challenging work environments, especially among mothers.

Method

This study relies on the 2017-2020 American Time Use Survey and matching to estimate changes in time use among parents working from home and on site in the pandemic relative to comparable parents prior to the pandemic.

Results

Data showed no overall increases in primary childcare time among working parents. Parents working from home during the pandemic, however, spent more time in the presence of children and supervising children, much in combination with paid work. Mothers working from home increased their supervisory parenting while working for pay more than fathers, and they more often changed their paid work schedules. The study's main findings were robust to gendered unemployment and labor force exits.

Conclusion

Parents, especially mothers, working from home responded to childcare demands through multitasking and schedule changes with potential negative effects on work quality and stress. Parents working on site during the pandemic experienced smaller changes in time use.

Implications

The pandemic has generated new inequalities between those with and without the flexibility to work from home, and exacerbated gender inequalities among those working from home.

[Childcare and housework performed by fathers with infants and related factors]

Objective　The aim of this study was to identify the status regarding childcare and housework performed by fathers with infants (one and two years old, first child), as well as related factors.Method　An online survey of fathers with infants across Japan was administered in October 2020. The survey items encompassed basic attributes, work conditions, and child-rearing information, as well as items from the Quality of Marriage Index (QMI), Work-Family Conflict Scale (WFCS), and a Japanese version of the K6 screening tool. The frequency of performing childcare and housework was divided into two groups, frequent and infrequent, and furthers into four groups based on the combination of frequent and infrequent childcare and housework. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed with the frequent/infrequent childcare group, the frequent/infrequent housework group, and the four groups by childcare and housework each as dependent variables.Results　Responses were obtained from subjects in 44 prefectures, with 406 responses used for analysis. Frequently performed items for childcare and housework were hugging, playing together, and taking out trash. Infrequent performed items were making hospital visits, ensuring children's regular medical examinations and vaccinations, preparing meals, and sleeping.　The results of the multiple logistic regression analyses demonstrated that the groups citing the frequent performance of childcare tasks were correlated with participation in parenting/father-directed classes, the use of parental leave, wives engaged in formal employment, work requiring less than 10 hours of overtime per month, the highest level of education (junior high school, high school, junior college, vocational school, or technical school: non-university graduate), low WFCS scores, and high QMI scores. The groups citing the frequent performance of housework were associated with not living with grandparents, shift work, participation in parenting/father-directed classes, household yearly income of 6 million yen or more, highest level of education (non-university graduate), wife engaged in formal employment, wife's health condition (normal, poor, very poor), and high QMI scores. The subjects were divided into four groups: frequent childcare-frequent housework (38.4%), frequent childcare-infrequent housework (14.0%), infrequent childcare-frequent housework (19.5%), and infrequent childcare-infrequent housework (28.1%). Among the four groups, the highest correlation was observed for participation in parenting/father-directed classes, overtime hours, wife's work status, and QMI scores.Conclusion　To promote participation in parenting, fathers should be encouraged to care for children more frequently and help with housework. As such, introducing support methods in classes for fathers is a necessary step toward this objective.

Self-Care Ability of Patients With Severe Mental Disorders: Based on Community Patients Investigation in Beijing, China

Background

Severe Mental Disorders have become a topic of increasing interest in research due to their serious consequences for the quality of life and functioning. In the pages that follow, it will be argued that the self-care ability and its influencing factors among patients with severe mental disorders in Beijing, according to the questionnaire survey in 2019.

Methods

Proportionate stratified sampling was used to select representative patients as samples. The demographic characteristics of were obtained from the Management Information System for Severe Mental Disorders and the questionnaires. The self-care ability was measured by self-made scales. Descriptive statistics, t-test, and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the data.

Results

We surveyed 662 people and found that the deficiency of self-care ability is common in patients with severe mental disorders. Self-care ability was positively correlated with educated levels and guardian takes care of alone, and negatively correlated with age, course of disease and physical disease (P < 0.05). From a dimensional perspective, the daily basic activity was positively correlated with educated levels and negatively correlated with physical disease (P < 0.05); the housework ability was positively correlated with gender, educated levels and medication adherence, and negatively correlated with source of income and physical disease (P < 0.05); the social function was positively correlated with educated levels, guardian takes care of alone and medication adherence, and negatively correlated with age, source of income, course of disease and physical disease (P < 0.05).

Conclusion

The self-care ability of patients with severe mental disorders is affected by many factors, including patient characteristics and social factors. Therefore, targeted interventions are needed to help patients restore their self-care ability, which requires the joint efforts of the government and the whole society.

Physical Activity and Depression in Adolescents: Evidence from China Family Panel Studies

Depression in adolescents is a major public health disorder. The relationship between physical activity and risk of depression in adolescents was examined using three waves of data from the China Family Panel Studies in 2020. The risk of depression was significantly higher among adolescents who reported lower frequency and shorter duration of physical exercise than those who reported physical exercise more frequently and for a longer duration. The risk of depression was significantly higher among adolescents who reported intense physical exercise than those who reported little or no intense physical exercise. The amount of time spent on housework by adolescents is inversely associated with depression. These results provide somewhat stronger evidence for an activity−depression link than previous studies and suggest a differential role for different types of physical activity, such as exercise and housework. The overall model predicting depression in adolescents (LR chi-squared = 95.974, p < 0.001, Nagelkerke R-square = 0.183) was statistically significant. To effectively control depression in adolescents, the government, schools and parents need to act together to guide adolescents towards participation in appropriate physical activities. The appropriate level of physical activity is for adolescents to experience breathing, rapid heartbeat, and slight perspiration.

Gender differences in housework and childcare among Japanese workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objectives

Although gender stereotypes regarding paid work and unpaid work are changing, most wives are responsible for taking care of the family and home in Japan. It is unclear how time spent on housework and childcare has changed between working men and women during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Japan. The purpose of this study is to investigate how working men and women’s responsibilities for housework and childcare changed during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Japan depending on work hours, job type, the number of employees in the workplace, and frequency of telecommuting.

Methods

A cross‐sectional analysis (N = 14,454) was conducted using data from an Internet monitoring study (CORoNa Work Project), which was conducted in December 2020. A multilevel logistic model with nested prefectures of residence was conducted to estimate the odds ratio (OR) for change in time devoted to housework and childcare among men and women adjusting for age, household income, presence of spouse who work, work hours, job type, the number of employees in the workplace, frequency of telecommuting, and the incidence rate of COVID‐19 by prefecture.

Results

More women tended to perceive that their time of housework and/or childcare had been changed (increased housework: OR 1.92, 95% CI [1.71–2.16], P < .001; decreased workhours: 1.66 (1.25–2.19), P < .001: increased childcare: OR 1.58, 95% CI [1.29–1.92], P < .001; decreased childcare: 1.11 (0.62–2.00), P = .719).

Conclusions

The time spent by women on housework and childcare changed significantly compared to men during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Japan.

Three-Stage Transitional Theory: Egalitarian Gender Attitudes and Housework Share in 24 Countries

How does the association between gender attitudes and housework share vary across countries and time? We examine the second demographic transition as it unmasks in the association between gender attitudes and housework participation. Using data of the 2002 and 2012 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) for 24 countries, we find that the association between gender attitudes and housework share became stronger over time in most countries, signifying that the Second Demographic Transition was in place. The results also show that the association varied across the 24 countries, reaching an equilibrium in many but at different stages. Our findings suggest that equilibria in the domestic division of labour take various forms and paces in the ISSP countries.

Family Life in Lockdown

The lockdown imposed following the COVID-19 pandemic of spring 2020 dramatically changed the daily lives and routines of millions of people worldwide. We analyze how such changes contributed to patterns of activity within the household using a novel survey of Italian, British, and American families in lockdown. A high percentage report disruptions in the patterns of family life, manifesting in new work patterns, chore allocations, and household tensions. Though men have taken an increased share of childcare and grocery shopping duties, reallocations are not nearly as stark as disruptions to work patterns might suggest, and families having to reallocate duties report greater tensions. Our results highlight tightened constraints budging up against stable and gendered patterns of intra-household cooperation norms. While the long-run consequences of the COVID-19 lockdown on family life cannot be assessed at this stage, we point toward the likely opportunities and challenges.

Gender differences in associating musculoskeletal complaints, housework, electronic device usage and physical exercise for administrative workers

Objectives. This study assessed musculoskeletal complaints (MSCs) in administrative workers, associating MSCs with non-paid housework, home use of electronic devices and physical exercise, while keeping a distinctive gender approach. This may promote the development of more effective preventive measures, by meeting the specific strengths and weaknesses of each gender. Methods. Ninety-six administrative workers (58 women and 38 men) who used computers more than 50% of their working time participated in a cross-sectional study. A questionnaire concerning individual socio-demographic data, habits and lifestyle, and including the Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire (NMQ), was deployed. Gender-based odds ratios for MSCs in body areas over the previous 12 months and correlation coefficients between habits and lifestyle variables and NMQ variables were computed. Results. Women did not incur a higher risk of MSCs than men. Analysis of the association did not yield meaningful associations for either gender. Results suggest giving future consideration to development of gender-specific preventive measures. Conclusion. Computerized work performed concomitantly with physical exposures outside the workplace showed mixed associations with MSCs, according to gender and depending on the kind of exposure. Results are indicative of the need for development of gender-specific preventive measures.

Factors Associated with Time Spent Performing Housework/Childcare by Fathers of Children Aged Under 12 Years: A Cross-Sectional Study in Japan

Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the factors associated with time spent performing housework/childcare by fathers of children under 12 years of age (preschool and elementary school children) in Japan.

Methods: An online survey of employees and employers was conducted in 2017. Of the 7,796 total responses to the survey, those of 621 fathers of children aged 0–12 years were analyzed. Participants were divided into two groups: fathers of children aged 0–6 years, and fathers of children aged 7–12 years. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed on the items for which there was a significant intergroup difference, setting time spent performing housework as the dependent variable and the survey items as the independent variables.

Results: For fathers of children aged 0–6 years, working 40 hours or less per week and commuting for one hour or less were associated with more time spent performing housework/childcare. For fathers of children aged 7–12 years, working less than 40 hours a week, working from home more than once a week, and having spouses with full-time jobs were associated with more time spent performing housework/childcare.

Conclusion: This study revealed the factors associated with the time spent by fathers of children under 12 in performing housework/childcare. As several of these factors cannot be altered by the fathers’ efforts alone, companies and society in general must endeavor to improve work styles to better suit the habits and preferences of fathers. This will promote work–life balance and create better family relationships.

Gender Equality and Public Policy during COVID-19

The outbreak of COVID-19 has affected men and women worldwide. The gender dimension of COVID-19 has attracted the attention of researchers and policymakers: while women seem to be less severely hit by the virus and are more compliant with the restricting rules imposed to reduce the spread of the contagion, they risk to suffer more the economic consequences of the pandemic, because they are more vulnerable on the labor market and because they are carrying on most of the burden of housework and childcare which increased substantially during the lockdown. Public policies are required to address the emergency and to deal with its gender implications. Anecdotal evidence suggests that women leaders have performed better than men in dealing with the emergency. This paper explores the evidence on the gender dimension of the pandemic under a new perspective proposed by Profeta (2020), focused on the double relationship between gender equality and public policy: on one side, I show which policies can support gender equality in times of COVID-19 and, on the other side, I explore whether women leadership can promote successful measures. While the evidence provided is only suggestive, future studies should assess causal relationships. (JEL codes: J16 and J18).

Estimating domestic assistance requirements in medico-legal practice: Australian occupational therapy perspective

AIM

Occupational therapists are experts in determining domestic assistance levels. It is a complex multi-dimensional process resulting in different opinion regarding care hours.

METHOD

Therapists providing medicolegal reports on domestic care for the courts within Australia were surveyed.

RESULTS

58 occupational therapists responded with most aged between 41 to 50 years of age. There was a strong correlation between years of clinical and medicolegal experience (r = 0.730, n = 58, p = 0.000) as well as between years and numbers of medicolegal assessments conducted in 2017 (r = 0.264, n = 58, p = 0.420). Assessment based on occupational analysis interview combined observation of the claimant performing tasks in their home, medical information, and contextual factors such as family expectations. Translation of data to hours of care was based on therapist's clinical experience of medical diagnosis (x² 6.89, p = 0.009) and claimant's statements of performance combined with therapist's clinical experience (x² = 5.58, p = 0.18). Therapists providing defendant only reports often use their own time to perform housework as a guide. Triangulation data combined confirmation of the person's statements through observation of performance, the environment in which they lived, and the occupational therapists own clinical reasoning skill.

CONCLUSION

Documenting all the factors influencing the occupational therapist's decision is the key to understanding clinical reasoning.Implication for rehabilitationWhen estimating domestic care occupational therapists should:•Provide written documentation that clearly explains the assessment methods used, the results and conclusion made regarding domestic care.•Triangulate data including claimant's statements of performance, confirmation by observation on tasks, medical report information in the context of the claimant's environmental and contextual factors.•Be aware their own years of experience do not equate to level of expertise.

The Differential Impact of COVID-19 on the Work Conditions of Women and Men Academics during the Lockdown

That the COVID‐19 pandemic has affected the work conditions of large segments of society is in no doubt. A growing body of journalistic accounts raised the possibility that the lockdown caused by the pandemic has affected women and men in different ways, due mostly to the traditionally gendered division of labour in society. We attempt to test this oft‐cited argument by conducting an original survey with nearly 200 academics. Specifically, we explore the extent to which the effect of the lockdown on childcare, housework and home‐office environment varies across women and men. Our results show that a number of factors are associated with the effect of the lockdown on the work conditions of academics at home, including gender, having children, perceived threat from COVID‐19 and satisfaction with the work environment. We also show that having children disproportionately affects women in terms of the amount of housework during the lockdown.

Chinese and South Korean Families' Conceptualizations of a Fair Household Labor Distribution

OBJECTIVE

The present study set out to investigate how Chinese and South Korean families conceptualize fairness and a fair division of household labor.

BACKGROUND

Previous cross-cultural research has found that a good portion of women and men find the gendered division of household labor fair. In response, scholars have attempted to discover what factors lead to a greater likelihood of reporting a gendered division fair. However, the majority of the scholarship on fairness perceptions has been limited to survey methods, in which fairness is not defined, and the individual's reasons for their fairness perception is not investigated.

METHOD

This study employed thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with the members of 12 Chinese (N=39) and 12 Korean (N=40) families.

RESULTS

No participation in household labor was considered across families to be unfair. On the other hand, the majority of participants justified an unequal division to be fair based on gendered applications of differences in time-availability and levels of tiredness, in which the amount of housework that each member should do was left unspecified.

CONCLUSION

Many adult participants believed that fairness should not apply to the family context. Instead, most participants argued that household labor should be divided based on emotional satisfaction, maintained through mechanisms of understanding and agreement.

IMPLICATIONS

Future studies on fairness perceptions should clearly define what they mean by "fairness," and the gendering of gender-neutral appearing justifications such as time-availability should be further investigated.

Do gender differences in housework performance and informal adult caregiving explain the gender gap in depressive symptoms of older adults?

We assess whether gender differences in domestic time-use, including informal adult caregiving and housework, explain the gender gap in depression among older adults. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we model depressive symptoms as a function of informal adult caregiving and housework. The analytic sample includes 539 men and 782 women. Findings suggest informal adult caregiving is associated with increased depressive symptoms for women (p < .05) and men (p < .05). Time spent on housework is associated with decreased depressive symptoms for women and female caregivers (p < .01). Women may experience elevated depressive symptoms relative to men despite their domestic time-use.

A pilot study: Exploring the musculoskeletal risk exposure associated with drying laundry using the public housing pipe-socket system amongst women in Singapore

BACKGROUND

The biomechanics of homemakers has been minimally studied. The way laundry-drying is performed in Singapore public-housing, using the pipe-socket-system (PSS), could expose the homemakers to musculoskeletal disorder risk.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to quantify the musculoskeletal risk exposure (MRE) associated with laundry-drying amongst female homemakers using the PSS in Singapore public-housing.

METHODS

Using snowball sampling approach, five female homemakers familiar with the described laundry-drying method were recruited. The postures of the participants were analysed from video-recorded data and scored using the Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA).

RESULTS

This pilot study revealed very strong evidence (p = 0.001) that the participants were exposed to medium risk (REBA score 4.3) when performing this housework task.

CONCLUSIONS

Extreme awkward postures and repetitive motions were observed from the participants during the analysis. High REBA scores were frequently associated with the awkward postures adopted due to constraints of physical work space.

Unemployment and the Division of Housework in Europe

Unemployment, especially in insecure times, has devastating effects on families, but it is not clear what happens to domestic work. On the one hand, unemployment frees up time for more housework by both men and women. On the other hand, once unemployed, women may take on more additional housework than men do, either because they capitalize on their time to act out traditional gender roles or because unemployment compounds women's general disadvantage in household bargaining. Multi-level analyses based on the European Social Survey show that both men and women perform more housework when unemployed. However, the extra domestic work for unemployed women is greater than for unemployed men. They also spend more time on housework when their husband is unemployed. Compared to their employed counterparts, unemployed women, but not men, perform even more housework in a country where the unemployment rate is higher.

Stagnation only on the surface? The implications of skill and family responsibilities for the gender wage gap in Sweden, 1974-2010

The wage differential between women and men persists in advanced economies despite the inflow of women into qualified occupations in recent years. Using five waves of the Swedish Level-of-Living Survey (LNU), this paper explores the gender wage gap in Sweden during the 1974-2010 period overall and by skill level. The empirical analyses showed that the general gender wage gap has been nearly unchanged for the past 30 years. However, the gender difference in wage in less qualified occupations fell considerably, whereas the gender pay gap remained stable for men and women in qualified occupations. The larger significance of family responsibilities for wages in qualified occupations is one likely explanation for this result.

What Are Men Doing While Women Perform Extra Unpaid Labor? Leisure and Specialization at the Transition to Parenthood

Marriage has significantly changed since Becker proposed his specialization model yet some scholars maintain that specialization characterizes modern couples. Specialization occurs when one partner, traditionally the man, concentrates on market work while the other partner, traditionally the woman, focuses on nonmarket work such as housework or childcare. Using innovative time diary data from primarily highly-educated, White, dual-earner U.S. couples, we examine how couples manage their time in market and household work and leisure across a momentous, gendered life course turning point-the transition to parenthood. We find little evidence of specialization, but stronger evidence of nonspecialization where both partners concurrently engaged in market work or leisure. Yet gender still mattered. Men enjoyed more leisure time, particularly on nonworkdays, whereas their partners performed more nonmarket work. Our study is the first known to uncover exactly what men were doing while women performed additional minutes of housework and childcare. On nonworkdays, fathers engaged in leisure 47% and 35% of the time during which mothers performed childcare and routine housework, respectively. Mothers engaged in leisure only about 16% to 19% of the time that fathers performed childcare and routine housework. In sum, although our study challenges economic theories of specialization by showing that nonspecialization is the norm for new parents' time among highly-educated, dual-earner couples, persistent gender inequalities continue to characterize family work and leisure time.

Erognomic education on housework for women with upper limb repetitive strain injury (RSI): a conceptual representation of therapists' clinical reasoning

BACKGROUND

Ergonomic education in housework that aims to facilitate behavior change is important for women with upper limb repetitive strain injury. Therapists usually conduct such programs based on implicit reasoning. Making this reasoning explicit is important in contributing to the profession's knowledge.

AIM

To construct a conceptual representation of how occupational therapists make clinical decisions for such program.

METHOD

Based on a constructivist-grounded theory methodology, data were collected through in-depth interviewing with 14 occupational therapists from a major hospital in Singapore. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed. Data was analyzed with line by line, focused and axial coding with constant data comparison throughout data collection.

RESULTS

Therapists made clinical decisions based on their perceptions of their clients' behavior change in three stages: (i) listen; (ii) try; and (iii) persevere, bearing significant similarities to the transtheoretical theory of change. The study also showed that therapists may not have considered the full range of meanings that their clients attach to housework when interacting with them, a gap that needs to be addressed.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study indicates the importance of therapists' understanding of the meanings that their clients attach to housework. Further research needs to address how to achieve this in a time-pressured clinical environment. Implications for Rehabilitation This study used qualitative research to demonstrate the process of translating therapists' tacit knowledge into an explicit form. It elucidates the following major implications for practice when therapists conduct ergonomic education to facilitate behavior change in housework for female homemakers with upper limb RSI:The conceptual framework of clinical reasoning constructed from the results can be used to increase therapists' awareness of how they make clinical decisions during an intervention. This framework can also be used for training new therapists. It is important for therapists to actively listen to their clients. Active listening will enable the therapists to understand and consider the personal meanings that these women attach to housework in order to facilitate a behavior change. Client-therapist interactions to facilitate clients' willingness to change should become a major focus in such a program. Similar research should be conducted in other clinical areas to develop explicit clinical reasoning frameworks to facilitate learning of novice therapists and reflection of experienced therapists to address any gap in their clinical reasoning.

Somebody has to DUST! Gender, health, and housework in older couples

This study examines the link between health and housework among older couples. For those out of the paid labor force, many of the standard arguments about relative resources and time availability no longer hold. Women spend more time on domestic tasks than men at any age; however, it is unclear how health shapes the household division of labor based on gender among older adults. This study examines the relative effect of three dimensions of health. Women's poor health increases the chance of an equal division of labor, but the gender nature of household tasks may limit women's ability to cut back.

Relationships between Depression and Stress Factors in Housework and Paid Work among Japanese Women

Objective/Background

The prevalence of depression in women is two times as much as that in men. However, the rehabilitation programme for return to work for patients with depression in Japan mainly focuses on male individuals. Japanese working women usually have the central role in housework in addition to paid work. Therefore, we hypothesized that Japanese working women with depression need a support programme for housework as well as paid work. The purpose of this study was to investigate the stress factors relevant to the existence of depression, in both paid work and housework, among working women.

Methods

This study recruited 35 women with depression and 35 women without depression. We carried out a cross-sectional investigation with two questionnaires having the same structure: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Generic Job Stress Questionnaire (for paid work) and the NIOSH Generic Housekeeping Labor Stress Questionnaire (for housework). We extracted the stress factors contributing to the existence of depression using logistic regression.

Results

Three stress factors were found--two in housework, and one in paid work. In housework, variance in workload and underutilization of abilities were associated with the presence of depression. In paid work, interpersonal conflict was an associated factor.

Conclusion

Rehabilitation programmes involving variance in workload and under self-evaluation in housework, and interpersonal conflict in paid work must be adequately addressed to support working women with depression.

Adolescents' Daily Assistance to the Family in Response to Maternal Need

Although children's provision of family assistance is a common routine, little is understood about the day-to-day variability that may exist in children's assistance behaviors. Guided by a family systems framework, the current study examined whether Mexican American adolescents' provision of family assistance was contingent on daily maternal need. Adolescents (N = 354, 49% males, M_age = 14.96 years) and their mothers (M_age = 41.55 years) each completed reports on 14 consecutive days. The results indicated that adolescents generally responded to maternal need, being more likely to help their families on days when their mothers worked or felt fatigued. This daily contingency was modified by family and adolescent characteristics, with adolescents thought to generally engage in low levels of assistance (i.e., youngest males and those in families with little economic strain) increasing their help when their mothers were fatigued. In contrast, daily maternal work did not appear to stimulate greater assistance among families with low levels of economic strain.

Explaining Racial/Ethnic Variation in Partnered Women's and Men's Housework: Does One Size Fit All?

Using a national sample of 12,424 partnered women and 10,721 partnered men from the 2003-2006 American Time Use Survey, this article examines racial/ethnic variation in women's and men's housework time and its covariates. The ratio of women's to men's housework hours is greatest for Hispanics and Asians and smallest for Whites and Blacks. White and Hispanic women's housework hours are associated with household composition and employment suggesting that the time availability perspective is a good predictor for these women, but may have less explanatory power for other race/ ethnic groups of women. Relative resources also have explanatory power for White women's housework time but are weak predictors for women of Other race/ethnicities. Time availability and relative resource measures show some association with White men's housework time but are generally poor predictors among other race/ethnic groups of men, suggesting that traditional models of housework allocation do not "fit" all groups equally.

Household responsibilities, income, and ambulatory blood pressure among working men and women

OBJECTIVE

To test the hypothesis that a greater perceived responsibility for household tasks and a greater number of hours spent doing these tasks would be associated with elevated ambulatory systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). The connection between job characteristics and cardiovascular outcomes has been widely studied. However, less is known about links between household work characteristics and cardiovascular health.

METHODS

A total of 113 employed unmedicated hypertensive men and women underwent 1 day of ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) monitoring. Participants provided information on 1) the number of hours spent doing; and 2) their degree of responsibility for seven household tasks (child care; pet care; caring for ill/elderly; household chores; house/car repair; yard work; finances). Associations between task hours and responsibility ratings in relation to SBP and DBP were estimated, using generalized estimating equations, with covariates age, race, gender, body mass index, location, and posture. Interactions with gender and socioeconomic position were assessed.

RESULTS

A greater perceived responsibility for household tasks, but not the hours spent doing these tasks, was associated with higher ambulatory SBP (b (95% confidence interval [CI]), 0.93 (0.29-1.56), p = .004) and DBP (b (95% CI), 0.30 (0.10-0.51), p = .003). Significant interactions with income indicated that associations between household responsibilities and ABP were most pronounced among low income participants (SBP: b (95% CI), 1.40 (0.58-2.21), p < .001; DBP: b (95% CI), 0.48 (0.18-0.78), p < .01). The task associated most strongly with BP was household chores. No interactions with gender were observed.

CONCLUSIONS

Greater perceived responsibility for household tasks was associated with elevated ABP, particularly for lower income participants. Household obligations may have important implications for cardiovascular health, meriting further empirical attention.

"Raising Him … to Pull His Own Weight": Boys' Household Work in Single- Mother Households

In this study, the authors examine boys' household work in low- and moderate-income single-mother families. Through describing the work that boys do, why they do this work, and the meaning that they and their mothers give to this work, they add to the understanding of housework as an arena for gender role reproduction or interruption. Their data reveal that adolescent boys did a significant amount of work and took pride in their competence. Mothers grounded their expectations of boys' household contributions in life experience. They both needed their sons' day-to-day contributions and wanted their sons to grow into men who were competent around the house and good partners. In demanding household work from their sons, these single mothers themselves work to undermine the traditional gendered division of such labor.

INFLUENCES OF GENDER IDEOLOGY AND HOUSEWORK ALLOCATION ON WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT OVER THE LIFE COURSE

The study investigates the influences of women's attitudes about gender and couples' housework allocation patterns on women's employment status and work hours across the life course. The influence of these factors on the employment characteristics of continuously married women is investigated at four time points: 1977, 1980, 1985, and 1993. Data come from the Intergenerational Panel Study of Parents and Children and the analysis sample includes 556 continuously married women. Findings from structural equation, fixed effects, and tobit models offer consistent evidence of long-term positive influences of women's egalitarian gender ideology and men's participation in routine housework on women's labor force participation. The results provide support for hypotheses based on the notion of lagged adaptation.

Influences of Women's Employment on the Gendered Division of Household Labor Over the Life Course: Evidence From a 31-Year Panel Study

Drawing on data from a panel study of White women spanning 31 years, the analyses examine the influence of women's employment on the gendered division of household labor. Multiple dimensions of women's employment are investigated, including accumulated employment histories, current employment status, current employment hours, and relative income. Results from fixed effect and change score models suggest that the husbands of women who accumulate more employment experience over the course of marriage perform a relatively larger amount of routine housework than the husbands of women with shorter employment histories. Women's employment status at a given point in time also increases men's relative participation in routine housework, and the influence of women's employment status operates in part by increasing women's support for egalitarian roles between spouses. Finally, women's hours of employment and relative income are stronger predictors of housework allocation than is their current employment status.