Division of Household Labor: Task Differentiation and Role Dissatisfaction

 In this study, couples who recently had their first child reported how they typically

share the tasks and responsibilities of running their household. This area, couples'

division of labor, was assessed through Cowan and Cowan's (Cowan et al., 1978) "Who

Does What?" questionnaire. The developers of this instrument conceptualized parents'

household labor as occurring across three different spheres: household and family tasks,

family decisions, and child-related tasks. In the present study, the family decisions sphere

was not included for assessment; Cowan and Cowan (1988) found family decision

making patterns did not change across the transition to parenthood, making the variable

less relevant to this study. In each of the spheres described above, the "Who Does

What?" assesses three aspects of parents' division of labor: (a) husbands' and wives'

overall involvement, (b) the degree to which partners share tasks as compared to the

degree to which role differentiation occurs, and (c) their level of role satisfaction with

their division of labor. In this study, task differentiation and role dissatisfaction were

examined, while overall level of involvement was not included in the analysis. As noted

in the review of relevant literature, a balanced division of labor seems more strongly tied

to positive outcomes than the overall involvement of partners in family labor (Blair &

Hardesty, 1994).

Marital Disaffection

 In this investigation, marital strain was assessed by participants' reports of the

absence or presence of marital disaffection and was measured through the Marital

Disaffection Scale (MDS, Kersten, 1990). The MDS is designed to measure partners'

feelings toward each other, including the presence or absence of affection, attachment,

and intimacy (Kersten, 1990). The author of the MDS noted disaffection is a gradual