roles continue to affect careers across the life course. One way this
occurs is in the daily interactions at home that influence the worker’s
behavior. Family-to-work conflict and distress in family relationships
can affect job performance and tenure (Glass & Estes, 1997; Perry-
Jenkins, Repetti, & Crouter, 2000). Women’s work patterns, in par-
ticular, are tied to changes in their family roles (Brewster & Rindfuss,
2000). Mothers who return to work on a part-time basis after child-
bearing lose pay and seniority, and often benefits and job security as
well (Cocran et al., 1984). For women pursuing careers, time spent
out of the labor force negatively influences occupational advance-
ment (Brewster & Rindfuss, 2000; Rindfuss, Cooksey, & Sutterlin,
1999; Rosenfeld, 1992). Moreover, even when labor force experi-
ence, hours spent at work, and other relevant factors are controlled,
women who have children suffer a wage penalty compared to non-
mothers (Waldfogel, 1997; Taniguchi, 1999; Budig & England,
2001). This penalty is larger for white women than African Amer-
ican women, for women with lower levels of education, and for
women who bear children relatively early. In addition to caretaking
responsibilities for children, many workers care for their aging parents
or other older family members, and this also shapes their performance
and satisfaction with work (Singleton, 1998). Performance of house-
work limits wages, more so for women than men, because the type of
household tasks women typically perform are those that have nega-
tive effects on wages (Noonan, 2001).
Another way family roles affect careers is through a spouse’s pref-
erences and opportunities. Individuals’ work and family trajectories
are linked to those of their spouses, and individual career develop-
ment can be tied to the career development of one’s spouse. For
example, career advancement often involves relocation, and for
men and women in dual-earner couples, this can affect the spouse’s
career opportunities as well. Because husbands have more frequently
been the higher earner in the family, women’s work lives more often
have been shaped by their husbands’ work lives than vice versa.
Wives in dual-earner couples are less willing to relocate for a better
job when it detrimentally affects their husbands’ work, but wives’
A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 63