Maternal Employment and Marital Interaction: Some Contingent Conditions

The present paper tests the relationship of maternal employment to marital success by introducing a number of contingent conditions and test variables. These include socioeconomic status, number and age of children, length of employment, attitude of husband and wife toward her employment, and original or remarriage. JN AN EARLIER paper an examination was made of the general relationship between employment status of mothers and marital permanence, satisfaction and happiness.' It is the purpose of the present paper to refine this relationship by introducing a number of test variables and contingent conditions into the analysis. Does the gross relationship hold equally in upper and lower socioeconomic strata, in large and small families, in original and remarriages, and under other specified conditions? The sample and instruments have been described elsewhere.2 Suffice to say here that the women were mothers of children in grades one and ten and, except for stepmothers, had been married a minimum of six years, with one or more children of school age. The employed and nonemployed mothers were matched by family size, presence of preschool children in the family, occupation of the husband and education level of the wife. All were Caucasian and all resided in urban areas. All families had both husband and wife present in the home. The earlier paper centered conceptually on role conflict. As economic provider, the mother frequently was required to be away from home at a time when her role as supervisor of her children, or as cook or housekeeper required her to be in the home. Although there is some evidence that the latter roles have been modified by her role as provider,3 some of the tasks she formerly performed have gone undone or have been met on an improvised basis. It has been assumed that change and confusion in role playing are characterized by conflict. It was hypothesized therefore that the marriages of employed mothers would consequently be more likely to be characterized by conflict. There might, however, be some effects of employment that would be favorable to the marital relationship, since it provides added income, security, and variety in the work experience of the mother. The results of the earlier analysis showed more marital conflict, more frequent thoughts of separation and lower (though not statistically significant) evaluation of marital happiness. On a nine-item marital adjustment scale, a slight but statistically significant association was found between employment status and marital success, which favors the nonemployed mothers (Table 1). This scale includes items dealing with conflict, satisfaction, happiness and temporary separations and thoughts of divorce. The items were found to constitute a quasi scale which was subsequently refined by image analysis.4 TEST VARIABLES: SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS As stated above, the purpose of the analysis presently reported is to determine whether any of several logically related variables or conditions modifies the low negative association found earlier between employment and marital success. * A paper read at the twenty-fourth annual meeting of the Southern Sociological Society, Miami Beach, Florida, April 1961 and consisting of a partial report from a larger research project, Social and Socio-Psychological Correlates of the Employment of Mothers. 1 Ivan Nye, "Employment Status of Mothers and Marital Conflict, Permanence, and Happiness," Social Problems, VI (Winter 1959), 260-7. 2 Ibid. 3 Lois Wladis Hoffman, "Effects of Employment of Mothers on Parental Power Relations and the Division of Household Tasks," Marriage and Family Living, XXII (February 1960), 27-36; James E. Conyers, "An Exploratory Study of Employers' Attitudes Toward Working Mothers," Sociology and Social Research, 45 (January 1961), pp. 145-56. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.213 on Sat, 02 Jul 2016 04:57:17 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms