Division of household labor and the well-being of retirement-aged wives.

A model specifying that certain subjective beliefs and structural conditions affect the symbolic meaning wives give to their household labor divisions was tested on 144 retirement-age married women. Results indicate that perceptions of spousal support mediate the relationship between a couple's division of household labor and the wife's well-being. Wives perceive less spousal support when housework divisions are more unequal favoring husbands. Lack of spousal support in turn leads to wives' lower marital happiness and increased depression. This relationship is stronger for employed wives than homemakers, but is not diminished either by a wife's traditionalism or by her husband's employment.