Lennon M C, Wasserman G A, Allen R
School of Public Health, Division of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032.
Women Health. 1991;17(2):1-23. doi: 10.1300/J013v17n02_01.
Although some investigators show that division of child care between spouses is related to the psychological well-being of wives, little attention has been given to the relevance of specific dimensions of child care or to nonemployed as well as employed wives. In this study we differentiate basic child care tasks, i.e., those that are essential for the family's physical well-being from other, more supplemental, or auxiliary tasks. We hypothesize that husbands' failure to perform auxiliary child care will be distressing for wives, regardless of employment status because it contributes to perceptions of marital inequity. On the other hand, husbands' lack of participation in the more time-consuming, basic, tasks will be most distressing for employed wives because it results in an increased overall work load. We also hypothesize that when employed mothers are responsible for arranging child care, and when such care entails financial strains, they are more likely to experience psychological distress. To evaluate these hypotheses we use data drawn from a mail survey of a sample of mothers of infants. Using multiple regression analysis, we find that husbands' involvement in child care and housework, especially in the time-consuming tasks, is relatively low and that the most consistent predictor of husbands' involvement is wives' relative income. In terms of the impact of husbands' involvement on wives' well-being, lower levels of husbands' participation in auxiliary, but not basic, child care are associated with increases in reported symptoms, regardless of wives' employment status. When child care is relatively more costly, employed wives report increased symptoms of depression. We discuss these results in terms of the role played by expectations of husbands and wives about parental responsibility for child care.
尽管一些研究人员表明，配偶之间的育儿分工与妻子的心理健康有关，但很少有人关注育儿具体方面的相关性，也很少有人关注未就业以及已就业的妻子。在本研究中，我们区分了基本育儿任务，即那些对家庭物质幸福至关重要的任务，与其他更具补充性或辅助性的任务。我们假设，丈夫不承担辅助性育儿任务会让妻子感到苦恼，无论其就业状况如何，因为这会导致对婚姻不平等的认知。另一方面，丈夫不参与耗时更长的基本任务，对已就业的妻子来说最为苦恼，因为这会导致整体工作量增加。我们还假设，当已就业的母亲负责安排育儿事宜，且这种安排带来经济压力时，她们更有可能经历心理困扰。为了评估这些假设，我们使用了对一组婴儿母亲进行邮件调查所得的数据。通过多元回归分析，我们发现丈夫参与育儿和家务，尤其是参与耗时任务的程度相对较低，而且丈夫参与程度最一致的预测因素是妻子的相对收入。就丈夫的参与对妻子幸福的影响而言，无论妻子的就业状况如何，丈夫参与辅助性而非基本育儿任务的程度较低都与报告的症状增加有关。当育儿成本相对较高时，已就业的妻子报告的抑郁症状会增加。我们从丈夫和妻子对育儿责任的期望所起的作用方面讨论了这些结果。
