Desperate Housewives and Happy Working Mothers

Are Parent-Couples with Equal Income More Satisfied throughout Parenthood? A Dyadic Longitudinal Study

Bibliographic Data

ID2374481
AuthorsLaura Langner (0000-0003-2665-4654, University of Oxford, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume36
Issue1
Pages80-100
Publication date2022-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWork Employment and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0950-0170 • E-ISSN: 1469-8722
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0950017020971548
OpenAlexW3117435081
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited41

Are parent-couples with equal income more satisfied as their children grow up, than those who prioritize the father's career (specialize)? For the first time, 384 German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study couples were categorized into life-course coupled earnings types, by tracing how earnings were divided within couples between the ages of 1 to 15 of their youngest child. Multivariate, multilevel analysis showed that, unlike mothers pursuing an (eventually) equal earnings division, mothers in an (eventually) specialized arrangement experienced a strong decline in life satisfaction. Hence, particularly high-status mothers (having invested heavily into their career) were eventually up to two life satisfaction points less satisfied if they prioritized their partner's earnings, than those who shared earnings equally with their partner. Paternal life satisfaction was not significantly different between patterns of earnings (in)equality. For most couples, earnings equality led to a win-win situation: mothers' life satisfaction was higher than for specialized mothers without negatively affecting paternal satisfaction

Demographic economics · Developmental psychology · Earnings · Economics · German · Life course approach · Life satisfaction · Sociology · Demography · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Psychology · Social Psychology · Work-Family Balance Challenges

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