Abstract
In this study, we compared the association of marital satisfaction with the division of household labor in China, Japan, and Korea. Results revealed that wives’ marital satisfaction was negatively associated with their burden of housework in the three Asian countries, as generally observed in Western countries. However, there were noticeable cross-country differences. Chinese couples were relatively in favor of an egalitarian division of household labor. Japanese couples were supportive of traditional specialization, with wives flexibly shifting their efforts between work outside the house and housework. Korean couples were under pressure from conflicts between the wife’s labor force participation and the traditional division of labor. These findings underscored the importance of the socio-institutional context in the study of marital satisfaction.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abe, Y. (2009). The effects of the 1.03 million yen ceiling in a dynamic labor supply model. Contemporary Economic Policy, 27, 147–163. doi:10.1111/j.1465-7287.2008.00115.x.
Adams, B. N. (2004). Families and family study in international perspective. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 1076–1088. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3600326.
Akabayashi, H. (2006). The labor supply of married women and spousal tax deductions in Japan: A structural estimation. Review of Economics of the Household, 4, 349–378. doi:10.1007/s11150-006-0012-5.
Amirkhanyan, A. A., & Wolf, D. A. (2006). Parent care and the stress process: Findings from panel data. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 61B, S248–S255. doi:10.1093/geronb/61.5.S248.
Becker, G. S. (1991). A treatise on the family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bookwala, J. (2009). The impact of parent care on marital quality and well-being in adult daughters and sons. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 64B, 339–347. doi:10.1093/geronb/gbp018.
Booth, A., & Johnson, D. R. (1994). Declining health and marital quality. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 56, 218–223. http://www.jstor.org/stable/352716.
Bradbury, T., Fincham, F. D., & Beach, S. R. H. (2000). Research on the nature and determinants of marital satisfaction: A decade in review. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62, 964–980. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2000.00964.x.
Brennan, R. T., Barnett, R. C., & Gareis, K. C. (2001). When she earns more than he does: A longitudinal study of dual earner couples. Journal of Marriage and Family, 63, 168–182. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00168.x.
Campione, W. (2008). Employed women’s well-being: The global and daily impact of work. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 29, 346–361. doi:10.1007/s10834-008-9107-x.
Carlson, D. S., Kacmar, K. M., Wayne, J. H., & Grzywacz, J. G. (2006). Measuring the positive side of the work-family interface: Development and validation of a work-family enrichment scale. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 68, 131–164. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2005.02.002.
Choi, H., & Marks, N. F. (2006). Transition to caregiving, marital disagreement, and psychological well-being. Journal of Family Issues, 27, 1701–1722. doi:10.1177/0192513X06291523.
Davis, S. N., & Greenstein, T. N. (2004). Cross-national variations in the division of household labor. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 1260–1271. doi:10.1111/j.0022-2445.2004.00091.x.
Feyrer, J., Sacerdote, B., & Stern, A. D. (2008). Will the stork return to Europe and Japan? Understanding fertility within developed nations. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 22, 3–22. doi:10.1257/jep.22.3.3.
Fincham, F. D., & Beach, S. R. H. (2010). Marriage in the new millennium: A decade in review. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 630–649. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00722.x.
Frisco, M. L., & Williams, K. (2003). Perceived housework equity, marital happiness, and divorce in dual-earner households. Journal of Family Issues, 24, 51–73. doi:10.1177/0192513X02238520.
Greenstein, T. N. (2009). National context, family satisfaction, and fairness in the division of household labor. Journal of Marriage and Family, 71, 1039–1051. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2009.00651.x.
Grzywacz, J. G., Carlson, D. S., Kacmar, K. M., & Wayne, J. H. (2008). A multi-level perspective on the synergies between work and family. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 80, 559–574. doi:10.1348/096317906X163081.
Heckman, J. (1979). Sample selection bias as a specification error. Econometrica, 47, 153–161. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1912352.
Iwai, N. (2009, August). Housework in Japan: In Comparison with Taiwan, Korea, and China based on the EASS 2006 data. Paper presented at the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
Joung, I. M. A., van de Mheen, H. D., Stronks, K., van Poppel, F. W. A., & Mackenbach, J. P. (1998). A longitudinal study of health selection in marital transitions. Social Science and Medicine, 46, 425–435. doi:10.1016/S0277-9536(97)00186-X.
Kamo, Y. (2000). “He said, she said”: Assessing discrepancies in husbands’ and wives’ reports on the division of household labor. Social Science Research, 29, 459–476. doi:10.1006/ssre.2000.0674.
Kikuzawa, S. (2006). Multiple roles and mental health in cross-cultural perspective: The elderly in the United States and Japan. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 47, 62–76. doi:10.1177/002214650604700105.
Lai, G. (1995). Work and family roles and psychological well-being in urban China. Journal of Health and Social Behaviors, 36, 11–37. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2137285.
Lee, K. S., & Ono, H. (2008). Specialization and happiness in marriage: A U.S.–Japan comparison. Social Science Research, 37, 1216–1234. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2008.02.005.
Lee, K. J., Um, C. C., & Kim, S. (2004). Multiple roles of married Korean women: Effect on depression. Sex Roles, 51, 469–478. doi:10.1023/B:SERS.0000049235.60839.ef.
Lee, Y.-S., & Waite, L. J. (2005). Husbands’ and wives’ time spent on housework: A comparison of measures. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 328–336. doi:10.1111/j.0022-2445.2005.00119.x.
Li, H., Zhang, J., Sin, L. T., & Zhao, Y. (2006). Relative earnings of husbands and wives in urban China. China Economic Review, 17, 412–431. doi:10.1016/j.chieco.2005.11.001.
Luoh, M., & Herzog, R. A. (2002). Individual consequences of volunteer and paid work in old age: Health and mortality. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 43, 490–509. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3090239.
Marks, S. (1977). Multiple roles and role strain: Some notes on human energy, time and commitment. American Sociological Review, 42, 921–936. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2094577.
Martin, L. G. (1990). Changing intergenerational family relations in East Asia. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 150, 102–114. doi:10.1177/0002716290510001008.
Morrow-Howell, N., Hinterlong, J., Rozario, P. A., & Tang, F. (2003). Effects of volunteering on the well-being of older adults. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 58B, S137–S145. doi:10.1093/geronb/58.3.S137.
Ono, H. (1998). Husbands’ and wives’ resources and marital dissolution. Journal of Marriage and Family, 60, 674–689. http://www.jstor.org/stable/353537.
Pederesen, D. E., & Minnotte, K. L. (2012). Dual earner husbands and wives: Marital satisfaction and the workplace culture of each spouse. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 29, 346–361. doi:10.1007/s10834-012-9294-3.
Pimentel, E. E. (2006). Gender ideology, household behavior, and backlash in urban China. Journal of Family Issues, 27, 341–365. doi:10.1177/0192513X05283507.
Rindfuss, R. R., Choe, M. K., Bumpass, L. L., & Tsuya, N. O. (2004). Social networks and family change in Japan. American Sociological Review, 69, 838–861. doi:10.1177/000312240406900605.
Rogers, S. J. (2004). Dollars, dependency, and divorce: Four perspectives on the role of wives’ income. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 59–74. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2004.00005.x.
Rogers, S. J., & DeBoer, D. D. (2001). Changes in wives’ income: Effects on marital happiness, psychological well-being, and the risk of divorce. Journal of Marriage and Family, 63, 458–472. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00458.x.
Ryamo, J. M., Kikuzawa, S., Liang, L., & Kobayashi, E. (2008). Family structure and well-being at older ages in Japan. Journal of Population Research, 25, 379–400. doi:10.1007/BF03033896.
Sayer, L. C., & Bianchi, S. M. (2000). Women’s economic independence and the probability of divorce. Journal of Family Issues, 21, 906–943. doi:10.1177/019251300021007005.
Schoen, R., Rogers, S. J., & Amato, P. R. (2006). Wives’ employment and spouses’ marital happiness. Journal of Family Issues, 27, 506–528. doi:10.1177/0192513X05283983.
The World Bank (2012). World development indicators. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN. Accessed 1 May 2012.
Tsuya, N. O., & Bumpass, L. L. (2004). Marriage, work, and family life in comparative perspective: Japan, South Korea, and the United States. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Tsuya, N. O., Bumpass, L. L., & Choe, M. K. (2000). Gender, employment, and housework in Japan, South Korea, and the United States. Review of Population and Social Policy, 9, 195–220.
Twenge, J. M., Campbell, W. K., & Craig, A. F. (2003). Parenthood and marital satisfaction: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Marriage and Family, 65, 574–583. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2003.00574.x.
Van Laningham, J., Johnson, D. R., & Amato, P. (2001). Marital happiness, marital duration, and the U-shaped curve: Evidence from a five-wave panel study. Social Forces, 79, 1313–1341. doi:10.1353/sof.2001.0055.
Wilcox, W. B., & Nock, S. L. (2006). What’s love got to do with it? Equality, equity, commitment and women’s marital quality. Social Forces, 84, 1321–1345. doi:10.1353/sof.2006.0076.
World Economic Forum (2011). The global gender gap report 2011. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GenderGap_Report_2011.pdf. Accessed 5 Feb 2012.
Yamaguchi, K. (2006). Marital satisfaction and work-life balance: A viewpoint indispensable to mitigating fertility decline. RIETI Discussion Paper Series, 06-J-054.
Zhang, Y., Hannum, E., & Wang, M. (2008). Gender-based employment and income differences in urban China: Considering the contributions of marriage and parenthood. Social Forces, 86, 1529–1560. doi:10.1353/sof.0.0035.
Acknowledgments
The data for this paper were downloaded from the East Asian Social Survey Data Archive (EASSDA) after obtaining the necessary permission. The East Asian Social Survey (EASS) is based on the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), the Japanese General Social Surveys (JGSS), the Korean General Social Survey (KGSS), and the Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS), and distributed by the EASSDA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Oshio, T., Nozaki, K. & Kobayashi, M. Division of Household Labor and Marital Satisfaction in China, Japan, and Korea. J Fam Econ Iss 34, 211–223 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-012-9321-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-012-9321-4