Layout 1

Families andWork: The JugglingAct

parentswereatbalancingworkandfamily,
nearly75%felttheirmothersweresuccessful
and70%felttheirfathersweresuccessfulin
managingworkandfamilylife.Theparents
incontrastweremuchlesspositivethan
theirchildrenwithonly34%statingtheyfelt
successfuland60%feelingsomewhat
successfulinbalancingworkandfamily.
Whilethisisasomewhatdifferent
pictureof thechildrenindual-income
families,thesefamiliesarenotwithout
otherchallenges.Inarecentstudy
(Haddock&Rattenborg,2003),couples
wereoverwhelminglypositiveaboutthe
benefits,butalsorealisticaboutsomeof the
difficulties,whichcanbegroupedintothree
mainthemes:1)external,fromnon-family
orientedemployment;2)internal,from
conflictedfeelingsaboutworkingoutside
thehomeand;3)sacrificesintheirworkfor
thewell-beingof thefamily.Successful
couplesmakeeveryefforttosetboundaries
onworkandmanyidentifiedalackof
supportfromtheirplaceof employmentas
achallengetodual-employment.While
parentsexpressedperiodicfeelingsof guilt
regardingtheirdual-workerstatus,theydid
notstrugglewiththeoverwhelmingfeelings
of guiltpreviousresearchershadreported.
Thelastchallengecouplesreportedwasthe
needtomakesacrificestobalanceallthe
workandfamilyactivities.Thesesacrifices
sometimeinvolvedone’scareerand
sometimescoupleandindividualtime.
In other research,Bianchi,Robinson,
and Milkie (2006) found that married

mothers felt they lacked time for

themselves rather than time with their

children,while fathers expressed more

time shortages with their children.Not

surprising,of all the working parents,

single mothers expressed the most strain

trying to balance work and family.

A related issue is the difficulty in

managing time.Stress levels can rise when

parents must try to juggle their schedules

to accommodate the schedules of active

children.Sickness or an emergency means

one parent must leave work.Stress can

spill over into the marital relationship.

Often,a third party (grandparent or other

extended family member) must fill in

these gaps.

Advantages of the Dual-Income Family

Dual-income families face a number of

challenges but there are also advantages.

The obvious advantage is the increase in

disposable family income.Haddock and

Rattenborg (2003) and others (Haddock,

Zimmerman,& Lyness,2003) found that

couples reported greater flexibility for

both men and women when both spouses

worked outside the home.The extra

income provided security in the event one

partner could not work.In addition,

couples felt freer to take risks with their

careers.In other words,a spouse was freer

to take a lower-paying job with increased

job satisfaction,or they could choose to

start their own business.