How Couples from Different Backgrounds Manage Work and Family Responsibilities

• The study identifies six distinct work-family arrangements among Black, Hispanic, and white couples.
• Hispanic family structures were significantly more traditional than White and Black families, both of which were more likely to be dual earners.
• But White and Black families diverged in their childcare: White families were more likely to occupy the extremes of little or lots of childcare, while Black families were more likely to practice moderate and egalitarian childcare methods.

Introduction

Have you ever wondered how different racial and ethnic groups balance the demands of work and family life?

Surprisingly little research exists on how different racial and ethnic groups manage paid and unpaid work in partnerships, argue Léa Pessin of ENSAE Paris and Elena Maria Pojman of Penn State University. Their pioneering study, recently published in the Journal of Marriage and the Family, sheds light on the untold stories of how Black, Hispanic, and White couples manage their work and home responsibilities.

Read on to learn more about their research into the racial and ethnic differences of couples’ division of labor, and how we can promote more equitable relations in work and family responsibilities.

Background

There isn’t much research on how different racial and ethnic groups manage paid and unpaid work in partnerships. However, existing studies show significant differences in cultural expectations and job opportunities among these groups:

• For example, beliefs about balancing paid work, motherhood, and family support vary widely, as do access to jobs and family benefits.
• There are also some early indications that Hispanic couples tend to have a more unequal division of housework compared to Black and white couples.

Despite this, there’s still a lot we don’t know about how couples from different racial and ethnic backgrounds manage their paid work, housework, and care work.

Pessin and Pojman aim to fill these gaps in several ways:

• Unlike previous research that often looks at individual time use or focuses on one type of work, this study looks at how couples share their responsibilities.
• It uses Moen’s concepts of “family adaptive strategies” and “work-hour strategies” to create a way to categorize how couples divide their time.
• This study also includes adult care work, which is especially important for Black and Hispanic families who often provide more practical support compared to white families.
• The study includes a diverse and representative sample of Hispanic families, recognizing that their preferences and barriers to employment differ significantly from those of Black and white families.
• Finally, to analyze these differences, the study uses multi-group latent class analysis (LCA), a method that incorporates insights from racial stratification literature.

The work-family literature suggests that the gender division of labor should be seen as a process where both partners make joint decisions about balancing their work and home responsibilities. However, few studies in the U.S. look at how partners manage both paid and unpaid labor together. Most research focuses on individual time use in specific areas, like paid work, housework, childcare, and adult care.

Smaller qualitative studies and those with specific groups (like dual-earner couples or stay-at-home fathers) provide a more complete view of how couples share responsibilities. These studies show that couples’ approaches to dividing labor can generally be categorized into three types: specialization, mutual support, and independence.

• Specialization means one partner focuses more on paid employment while the other does more housework and care work. Traditionally, this has meant a male breadwinner and a female homemaker, but today, there are variations like men working long hours while also helping with childcare, or stay-at-home dads with full-time working partners.
• Mutual support means both partners share responsibilities equally in both paid work and household labor. This egalitarian approach is often seen in dual-earner couples who divide housework and care work equally.
• Independence happens when partners’ contributions to work and home life don’t complement or support each other. This can result in situations where both partners work full-time, but only one (usually the woman) does most of the household duties, a situation described as the “second shift.”

By examining these different approaches, the study aims to provide a clearer picture of how racial and ethnic identities influence couples’ decisions about dividing labor. This will help us better understand gender and racial inequalities in the U.S.

Methods

The research focuses on three main questions:

1. What are the typical work–family arrangements of paid work, housework, and care work among Black, Hispanic, and white couples?
2. How do these arrangements and their prevalence differ by race and ethnicity?
3. How do these arrangements vary across different stages of couples’ lives?

In constructing their hypotheses, Pessin and Pojman consider the historical legacy of slavery, exclusion, and ongoing racism and xenophobia, as well as the cultural norms and structural barriers affecting gender roles and labor market participation.

1. Black Couples: Expected to have more egalitarian work-family arrangements, with both partners working and sharing household and childcare responsibilities.
2. Hispanic Couples: Predicted to display either traditional gender roles with men as primary earners and women handling domestic tasks, or dual-earner models with shared responsibilities.
3. White Couples: Anticipated to have specialized roles with men working long hours and women either part-time or full-time, influenced by intensive mothering norms and ideal worker expectations.
4. Life Course Variation: Work-family arrangements are expected to vary significantly with the presence of young children, with pronounced racial-ethnic differences during early parenthood.

The authors utilize data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), focusing on waves from 2017 and 2019. The PSID, a longitudinal survey that began in 1968, provides a nationally representative sample of U.S. families. For our study, we concentrate on different-sex couples aged 25-64, of the same race-ethnicity, resulting in 6,309 couple-years (3,702 distinct couples).

The final sample includes:

• 1,622 non-Hispanic Black couples
• 801 Hispanic couples
• 3,886 non-Hispanic white couples

Pessin and Pojman assessed four dimensions of work-family responsibilities based on time-use data:

1. Paid Work: Categorized as none, part-time (1-34 hours), full-time (35-49 hours), or overwork (50+ hours).
2. Housework: Hours spent per week in categories of 0-4, 5-9, 10-19, or 20+ hours.
3. Childcare: Time spent per week, categorized as none, 1-10, 11-19, or 20+ hours.
4. Adult Care: Time spent per week, categorized similarly to childcare.

In addition, they controlled for each of the following variables:

• Age of Youngest Child: No children, 0-5, 6-12, 13-18, or 19+ years.
• Her Age: Categorized into 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, or 55-64 years.
• Age Difference: Whether partners are within 2 years of each other, she is older, or he is older.
• Combined Education: Neither, only she, only he, or both have a 4-year college degree.
• Marital Status: Married or cohabiting.
• Number of Children: Total number of residential children.
• Region of Residence: Northeast, North Central, South, or West.
• Multigenerational Household: Presence of parents in the household.
• Survey Year: 2017 or 2019.

Results

The study tested different models and found that a 6-class model best explained work-family arrangements among Black, Hispanic, and white couples. This model showed that while the types of work-family arrangements were the same across these groups, the number of couples in each arrangement varied by race and ethnicity.

These six types are:

1. Childcare-Intensive Breadwinner-Homemakers: In this arrangement, the female partner does most of the housework and childcare, while the male partner focuses on paid work. Hispanic couples were more likely to be in this category.
2. Childcare-Free Female-Homemakers: Similar to the first group but without childcare duties. These couples are usually older with either grown-up children or no children at home. Hispanic couples were also more common in this group.
3. Egalitarian Caretakers: Both partners share childcare and adult care equally, though the female partner works more outside the home. This arrangement was more common among Black couples.
4. Childcare-Free Dual-Earners: Both partners work full-time or more but do little care work. White couples were more likely to be in this category.
5. Childcare-Moderate Dual-Earners: Both partners work full-time and provide moderate childcare. They also do slightly more adult care compared to the childcare-free dual-earners. This group had a mix of all racial-ethnic backgrounds similar to the overall sample.
6. Childcare-Intensive Dual-Earners: Both partners work full-time and spend a lot of time on childcare, with the female partner also doing a lot of housework. This arrangement was more common among white couples.

Here is a summary of how race and ethnicity influenced which work-family arrangement couples fell into:

• Black Couples: More likely to be in egalitarian caretaker or childcare-moderate dual-earner arrangements, showing a strong commitment to the labor market for women and a more equal split of childcare.
• Hispanic Couples: More often in traditional roles like childcare-intensive breadwinner-homemakers and childcare-free female-homemakers, indicating a strong gender division of labor.
• White Couples: More likely to be in childcare-intensive dual-earner and childcare-free dual-earner arrangements, indicating a mix of mutual support and independence.

Finally, the age and presence of children significantly affected work-family arrangements:

• Young Children (0-5 and 6-12 years): Black couples often became egalitarian caretakers, Hispanic couples leaned towards childcare-intensive breadwinner-homemakers, and white couples favored childcare-intensive dual-earners.
• Teenage Children (13-18 years): Hispanic couples were more likely to be childcare-free female-homemakers, while Black couples often became childcare-moderate dual-earners.
• No Children or Adult Children: Hispanic couples were more likely to be childcare-free female-homemakers and less likely to be childcare-free dual-earners compared to white couples.

In short, Hispanic family structures were significantly more traditional than White and Black families, both of which were more likely to be dual earners. But White and Black families diverged in their childcare: White families were more likely to occupy the extremes of little or lots of childcare, while Black families were more likely to practice moderate and egalitarian childcare methods.

What Can You Do?

Addressing the disparities in how different racial and ethnic groups manage paid and unpaid work requires collective effort and targeted actions. Here are several practical steps you can take to help tackle these issues and promote more equitable work-family arrangements:

1. Educate Yourself and Others: Read and share research on racial and ethnic disparities in work-family balance. Knowledge is the first step toward change.
2. Advocate for Policy Changes: Support policies that provide better family benefits, such as paid parental leave, affordable childcare, and flexible work arrangements. These policies can help alleviate the burden of unpaid labor, especially for marginalized groups.
3. Promote Workplace Equality: Encourage your workplace to adopt equitable practices. This includes fair hiring processes, equitable pay, and support for work-life balance initiatives.
4. Support Community Programs: Engage with and support community organizations that provide resources and support for families, particularly those from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds.
5. Challenge Gender Norms: Actively challenge traditional gender roles within your community and family. Encourage a more balanced division of labor at home and in relationships.
6. Mentorship and Sponsorship: Mentor individuals from underrepresented groups in your professional network. Provide guidance and support to help them navigate career challenges and achieve work-life balance.
7. Participate in Research: If you are in a position to do so, participate in or support research that seeks to understand and address racial and ethnic disparities in work-family arrangements.
8. Raise Awareness: Use your social media platforms and community forums to raise awareness about the challenges faced by different racial and ethnic groups in balancing paid and unpaid work.
9. Support Diverse Representation: Advocate for and support diverse representation in leadership positions. Diverse leaders are more likely to implement policies that address the needs of various racial and ethnic groups.
10. Create Support Networks: Establish or join support networks that provide emotional and practical assistance to individuals juggling paid work and unpaid labor. These networks can offer a space for sharing experiences and solutions.

By taking these actions, you can contribute to creating a more equitable society where all families, regardless of racial or ethnic background, have the opportunity to thrive. Your efforts can help build a future where work-family balance is achievable for everyone, fostering healthier and more supportive communities.

Do you relate to any of the work-family arrangements highlighted in our study? Tell us your story and connect with others in the comments below.

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