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

In an effort to better understand the relationship between the divisio n of labor in the family and perceptions of marital quality, this stud y expands the concept of family work to include emotion work as well a s housework and child care. Survey data from 205 married women are use d to evaluate the relative effects of husbands' performance of housewo rk and emotion work on women's perceived marital well-being and feelin gs of marital burnout. A subsample of married women with children is a lso examined, including a measure of husband's child-care tasks. Resul ts indicate that husbands' performance of emotion work, as compared to the performance of both housework and child-care tasks, is found to h ave the strongest positive effect on wives' marital well-being. Findin gs also show that emotion work is negatively related to feelings of ma rital burnout. It is suggested that the provision of emotional support be conceptualized as a facet of family work and incorporated into mea sures of this concept.