RECONCEPTUALIZING FAMILY WORK - THE EFFECT OF EMOTION WORK ON PERCEPTIONS OF MARITAL QUALITY

In an effort to better understand the relationship between the division of labor in the family and perceptions of marital quality, this study expands the concept of family work to include emotion work as well as housework and child care. Survey data from 205 married women are used to evaluate the relative effects of husbands' performance of housework and emotion work on women's perceived marital well-being and feelings of marital burnout. A subsample of married women with children is also examined, including a measure of husband's child-care tasks. Results indicate that husbands' performance of emotion work, as compared to the performance of both housework and child-care tasks, is found to have the strongest positive effect on wives' marital well-being. Findings also show that emotion work is negatively related to feelings of marital burnout. It is suggested that the provision of emotional support be conceptualized as a facet of family work and incorporated into measures of this concept.