Work and Family Life

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CHAPTER 12 Work and Family Life
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Chapter 12 Work and Family LifeChapter Outline

• Money and Relationships
• Work and Marriage Effects on Spouses
• Work and Family Effects on Children
• Balancing Work and Family Life
• Balancing Work and Leisure Time
• The Future of Work and Family Life

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Chapter 12 Work and Family LifeIntroduction

• One survey noticed a link between homicides in
  the family and economic deprivation.
• Impoverished families, including those riddled
  with unemployment, were contexts for homicide.
• Discussion
• How do economic forces affect the family
  structure?

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Money and Relationships

• Effects of the Recession
• Tax increases
• Government services decreases
• Retirement age increases
• Incomes decrease
• Uncertainty
• Big institutions no longer take care of their
  workers

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Money and Relationships

• Effects of Poverty on Marriages and Families
• Poorer physical and mental health
• Lower personal and marital satisfaction
• Lower life expectancy
• Relationship conflict
• Stress leading to substance abuse, domestic
  violence, child abuse and neglect, divorce, and
  questionable parenting practices
• Teenage pregnancy

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Money and Relationships

• Financial Behaviors of Undergraduates and Young
  Adults
• 51.7 of undergrads reported not using a budget
• 52.2 of undergrads save money
• Undergrads and young adults who budget and save
  reported more discussion of finances with parents
  and friends and observed more parents and
  friends financial behaviors
• Characteristics of undergrads who budget and
  save white, pair-bonded, and older

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Work and Marriage Effects on Spouses

• About 60 of wives work today, nearly double the
  percentage in 1960.
• Generally speaking, the more money a partner
  makes, the more power that person has in the
  relationship.
• Although two-thirds of all husbands in
  dual-income families make more money than their
  wives, women are more likely to make the
  decisions in more areas.
• Higher education increases a womans power in the
  relationship.

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Working Wives

• 70 of all U.S. wives with children are in the
  labor force.
• Mothers are most likely to enter the work force
  when their children are teenagers.
• Only 13 of families are traditional in the
  sense of a breadwinning husband and a
  stay-at-home wife.
• Mommy track stopping paid employment to spend
  time with young children.

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Wives Who Opt Out

• Opting Out women leaving their careers and
  returning home to take care of their children
• Reasons for opting out
• Husband is unavailable or unable to shoulder
  significant portions of caregiving and family
  responsibilities.
• Employers encourage and support women parental
  leave but do not help much in the way of making
  it possible for them to return or stay once they
  had babies.

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Office Romance

• In one survey, 60 of respondents said they had
  been involved in an office romance
• Another survey found 40 of respondents had an
  office romance
• About 32 of the office romances ended in marriage

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Dual-Career Marriages

• HIS/her career
• HER/his career
• HIS/HER career marriage
• THEIR career marriage

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Effects of the Wifes Employment

• Role overload
• Second shift
• Role strain
• Benefits to husbands
• Relieved of the sole responsibility for the
  familys financial support
• Freedom to quit jobs, change jobs, or go to
  school
• Potential to form a closer bond with their
  children

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Effects of Wifes Employment on the Marriage

• Womans employment does not affect a happy
  marriage but can affect an unhappy one
• Highest marital satisfaction and equitable
  division of housework
• Having control over the hours one works is
  related to positive family functioning

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Work and Family Effects on Children

• Quality time
• Day care considerations
• More than half of U.S. children are in
  center-based child-care programs
• Quality of day care

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Effects of the Wifes Employment on the Children

• Children do not appear to suffer cognitively or
  emotionally as long as positive, consistent child
  care alternatives are in place
• Self-Care/Latchkey Children

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Balancing Work and Family Life

• Superperson Strategy
• Cognitive Restructuring
• Delegation of Responsibility and Limiting
  Commitments
• Time Management
• Role Compartmentalization

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Balancing Work and Leisure Time

• Technology is such that a person may never
  detach from work and stay connected to the office
  even on vacation.
• How does the above statement reflect the
  changing nature of leisure in America?

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Leisure

• Use of time to engage in freely chosen activities
  perceived as enjoyable and satisfying
• Changing nature of leisure and work for
  millennials (those born between 1980 and 1995)

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Leisure

• Benefits of Leisure Time
• Relieve work-related stress and pressure
• Facilitate social interaction and family
  togetherness
• Foster self-expression, personal growth, and
  skill development
• Enhance overall social, physical, and emotional
  well-being

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Leisure

• Problems with Leisure Time
• Excessive drinking
• Relationship problems related to television
  watching, travel, time, and video games
• Vacation stress

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What If?
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Quick Quiz

• What is role overload?
• not having time or energy to meet the demands of
  role responsibility
• being on the second shift
• getting too much into one's role as parent
• taking on both gender roles of parent

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Quick Quiz

• What is most likely the primary concern of an
  employed parent?
• pleasing their employer
• juggling demands of work and family
• making enough money
• finding time for the spouse

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Quick Quiz

• The housework and child care that employed women
  do when they return home from their jobs is
  called
• the fourth shift
• the third shift
• the second shift
• the first shift

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Quick Quiz

• Which of the following can be a disadvantage of
  leisure time?
• Relieve work-related stress.
• Foster self-expression.
• Enhance social well-being.
• Excessive drinking.

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Quick Quiz

• When the careers of both the wife and husband are
  given equal status in the relationship, the
  couple has a commuter marriage, which is also
  called
• HIS/HER career
• HIS/her career
• HER/his career
• THEIR career