A TAXONOMY OF BEHAVIORAL STRATEGIES FOR COPING WITH WORK-HOME ROLE-CONFLICT

The purpose of this study was to catalogue specific behavioral strateg ies used by dual-career couples to solve work-home role conflicts in e ach of seven broad areas: domestic chores, maintaining social relation s, role cycling, job relocations, sex-role socialization, social press ure, and direct competition between spouses. Twenty-four men and women from dual-career families were interviewed using the critical inciden t method. Results show that six of the seven dimensions could be suppo rted empirically with behaviorally defined solutions; the exception be ing sex-role socialization. Differences between the results of this st udy and those of previous studies which have investigated coping behav iors are discussed, and suggestions are offered as to how the findings may be of help to practitioners.