Violated Expectations

 Violated expectations were assessed through four questions written for this

investigation concerning couples' sharing of domestic labor. Two questions asked the

participants to note how equally or unequally they share parenting tasks or housework;

response choices included "I do much more than my partner," "I do somewhat more than

my partner," "We share things equally," "My partner does somewhat more than I do,"

and "My partner does much more than I do." Two additional questions asked participants

to note how they had expected they would be sharing these responsibilities now (when

considering the expectations they had approximately a month before their baby's birth);

response choices mirrored those of the previous questions, with the words "I expected"

preceding each of the response options.

 Responses for each question were coded from 1 to 5 and were dependent on the

gender of the participant: lower scores for each question indicated the wife does more

than her husband, or was expected (by herself or her husband) to do more than him;

higher scores for each question indicated the husband does more than his wife or was

expected to do more than her. Responses to the two questions concerning the

participants' expectations were summed and then subtracted from the total of the two

questions concerning how participants believe they share responsibilities now. The

discrepancy between the reality of the couples' division of labor and their expectations

comprised the "violated expectations" score. Individual scores could range from -8

(indicating the wife is doing much more than was expected prior to the baby's birth) to 8

(indicating the husband is doing much more than was expected). A score of 0 indicates

the absence of violated expectations for the individual. Responses to the violated

expectations assessment were converted to couple scores by averaging spouses'