Abstract
Relatively few studies have focused on the effects of working late and rotating shifts on marital dynamics. This study addressed the limitations of prior studies by sampling from a sector of the economy (i.e., grocery and drug store workers) where shift work and rotating schedules were common, and by controlling for numerous accompanying disruptive effects of shift work on marital quality. Results show that working late shifts reduces marital quality among men, whereas among women, job-family spillover explained away marital quality effects of working rotating schedules. These results suggest that more than men, women remain largely responsible for family life irrespective of work schedules, yet further research on how family lives are affected by work schedules is needed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Although 98 % of married respondents had complete information on all analytic measures, four respondents each failed to report how long they had been married and their hourly wage. We investigated the impact of missing data on the results by substituting mean values on marital duration and wage for missing values, and created a binary measure to control for mean replacement. The substantive results shown in Table 2 did not change, and the binary measure controlling for mean substitution had no effect on marital quality.
Other measures of working conditions were also considered for inclusion in the analytic model, including job title, job satisfaction, and tenure. First, nearly 50% of the sample self-reported their job title as cashier and just over a quarter were supervisors. Most of the remaining workers were stock clerks, and a few worked in various departments within the store (e.g., floral, deli, seafood). We tried several alternative binary measures to capture differences across job titles, but the most parsimonious approach was to distinguish supervisors from other workers (as shown in Tables 1 and 2). Second, in this unionized sample of workers, wages and job assignments vary with seniority, which may in turn affect satisfaction. To account for the possibility that seniority and job satisfaction may correlate with schedule type and influence marital interactions at home, we entered controls for years worked for the employer and an ordinal measure of job satisfaction (“All in all, how satisfied are you with your job?” Responses ranged on a four-point scale between very satisfied and very dissatisfied.). Neither of these measures significantly predicted marital quality or affected the substantive results shown in Table 2, and were omitted from the analytic model.
References
Barnett, R. C., Gareiss, K. C., & Brennan, R. T. (2008). Wives’ shift work schedules and husbands’ and wives’ well-being in dual-earner couples with children: Within-couple analysis. Journal of Family Issues, 29, 396–422. doi:10.1177/0192513X07305346.
Bradbury, T., Finchem, F., & Beach, S. (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.
Bulanda, J. R. (2011). Gender, marital power, and marital quality in later life. Journal of Women and Aging, 23, 3–22. doi:10(1080/08952841),2011,540481.
Carsuso, C. C., Hitchcock, E. M., Dick, R. B., Russo, J. M., & Schmit, J. M. (2004). Overtime and extended work shifts: Recent findings on illnesses, injuries, and health behaviors. Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
Cherlin, A. J. (2004). The deinstitutionalization of American marriage. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 848–861. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3600162.
Davis, K. D., Goodman, W. B., Pirretti, A. E., & Almeida, D. M. (2008). Nonstandard work schedules, perceived family well-being, and daily stressors. Journal of Marriage and Family, 70, 99–1003. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00541.x.
DeMaris, A. (2000). Till discord do us part: the role of physical and verbal conflict in union disruption. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62, 683–692. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/stable/1566789.
Deutsch, F. (1999). Halving it all: How equally shared parenting works. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
England, P. (2010). The gender revolution: Uneven and stalled. Gender and Society, 24, 146–166. doi:10.1177/0891243210361475.
Fenwick, R., & Tausig, M. (2001). Scheduling stress: Family and health outcomes of shift work and schedule control. American Behavioral Scientist, 44, 1179–1198. doi:10.1177/00027640121956719.
Gornick, J. C., & Meyers, M. K. (2003). Families that work: Policies for reconciling parenthood and employment. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Greenstein, T. N. (1995). Gender ideology, marital disruption, and the employment of married women. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 31–42. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/stable/353814.
Grosswald, B. (2003). Shift work and negative work-to-family spillover. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 30, 31–56.
Grosswald, B. (2004). The effects of shift work on family satisfaction. Families in Society, 85, 413–423.
Hamilton, N. A., Nelson, C. A., Stevens, N., & Kitzman, H. (2007). Sleep and psychological well-being. Social Indicators Research, 82, 147–163. doi:10.1007/s11205-006-9030-1.
Hertz, R., & Charlton, J. (1989). Making family under a shift work schedule: Air force security guards and their wives. Social Problems, 36, 491–507.
Hochschild, A. R. (1997). The time bind: When work becomes home and home becomes work. New York: Metropolitan.
Iskra-Golec, I., Folkard, S., Marek, T., & Noworol, C. (1996). Health, well-being and burnout of ICU nurses on 12- and 8-h shifts. Work & Stress, 3, 251–256. doi:10.1080/02678379608256804.
Jacobs, J. A., & Gerson, K. (2004). The time divide: Work, family, and gender inequality. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press.
Kalleberg, A. L. (2009). Precarious work, insecure workers: Employment relations in transition. American Sociological Review 74:1–22. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/stable/27736045.
Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., Fisher, L. D., Ogrocki, P., Stout, J. C., Speicher, C. E., & Glaser, R. (1987). Marital quality, marital disruption, and immune function. Psychosomatic Medicine, 49, 13–34.
Maume, D. J. (2008). Gender differences in providing urgent child care among dual-earner parents. Social Forces, 87, 273–297. doi:10.1177/0891243210386949.
Maume, D. J. (2011). A reconsideration of the temporal increase in men’s time with children. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 32, 411–423. doi:10.1007/s10834-010-9227-y.
Maume, D. J., Sebastian, R. A., & Bardo, A. R. (2009). Gender differences in sleep disruption among retail food workers. American Sociological Review, 74, 989–1007. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/stable/27801504.
McMenamin, T. M. (2007). A time to work: Recent trends in shift work and flexible schedules. Monthly Labor Review, 130, 3–15. http://search.proquest.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/docview/235645198?accountid=2909.
Mills, M., & Tăht, K. (2010). Nonstandard work schedules and partnership quality: Quantitative and qualitative findings. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 860–875. http://search.proquest.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/docview/744221216?accountid=2909.
Minnotte, K. L., Minnotte, M. C., Pedersen, D. E., Mannon, S. E., & Kiger, G. (2010). His and her perspectives: Gender ideology, work-to-family conflict, and marital satisfaction. Sex Roles, 63, 425–438. doi:10.1007/s11199-010-9818-y.
Mott, P. L., Mann, F. C., McLoughlin, Q., & Warwick, D. P. (1965). Shift work: The social, psychological and physical consequences. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Neckelmann, D., Mykletun, A., & Dahl, A. A. (2007). Chronic insomnia as a risk factor for developing anxiety and depression. Sleep, 30, 873–880.
Oppenheimer, V. K. (1994). Women’s rising employment and the future of families in industrial societies. Population and Development Review, 20, 293–342.
Pedersen, D. E., & Minnotte, K. L. (2011). Dual earner husbands and wives: Marital satisfaction and the workplace culture of each spouse. Journal of Family and Economic Issues,. doi:10.1007/s10834-012-9294.
Perrucci, R., MacDermid, S., King, E., Tang, C., Brimeyer, T., Ramadoss, K., et al. (2007). The significance of shift work: Current status and future directions. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 28, 600–617. doi:10.1007/s10834-007-9078-3.
Perry-Jenkins, M., Goldberg, A. E., Pierce, C. P., & Sayer, A. G. (2007). Shift work, role overload, and the transition to parenthood. Journal of Marriage & Family, 69, 123–138. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2006.00349.x.
Presser, H. B. (2000). Nonstandard work schedules and marital instability. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 93–110 http://www.jstor.org.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/stable/1566690.
Presser, H. B. (2003). Working in a 24/7 economy: Challenges for American families. New York: Russell Sage.
Risman, B. (1998). Gender vertigo. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Rogers, S. J., & Amato, P. R. (1997). Is marital quality declining? the evidence from two generations. Social Forces, 75, 1089–1100.
Shows, C., & Gerstel, N. (2009). Fathering, class, and gender: A comparison of physicians and emergency medical technicians. Gender and Society, 23, 161–187. doi:10.1177/0891243209333872.
Staines, G. L., & Pleck, J. H. (1983). The impact of work schedules on the family. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research.
Strazdins, L., Clements, M. S., Korda, R., Broom, D. H., & D’Souza, R. (2006). Unsociable work? nonstandard work schedules, family relationships, and children’s well-being. Journal of Marriage and Family, 68, 394–410. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2006.00260.x.
Tausig, M., & Fenwick, R. (2001). Unbinding time: Alternate work schedules and work-life balance. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 22, 101–119. http://search.proquest.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/docview/197979087?accountid=2909.
Townsend, N. W. (2002). The package deal: Marriage, work, and fatherhood in Men’s Lives. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Umberson, D. J., Williams, K., Powers, D. A., Chen, M. D., & Campbell, A. M. (2005). As good as it gets? a life course perspective on marital quality. Social Forces, 84, 493–511.
White, L., & Keith, B. (1990). The effect of shift work on the quality and stability of marital relations. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 453–62. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/stable/353039.
Wickrama, K. A. S., Lorenz, F. O., Conger, R. D., & Elder, G. H. (1997). Marital quality and physical illness: A latent growth curve analysis. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 59, 143–55. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/stable/353668.
Wight, V. R., Raley, S. B., & Bianchi, S. M. (2008). Time for children, one’s spouse, and oneself among parents who work nonstandard hours. Social Forces, 87, 243–72. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/stable/20430856.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by grants to the first author from the National Science Foundation (SES-0615706) and the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center at the University of Cincinnati. We thank Rashawn Ray for his comments on an earlier version of this paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Maume, D.J., Sebastian, R.A. Gender, Nonstandard Work Schedules, and Marital Quality. J Fam Econ Iss 33, 477–490 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-012-9308-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-012-9308-1