THE WIFES EMPLOYMENT STATUS INFLUENCES TH E PARTNERS SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING - A TIME SAMPLING STUDY

34 married couples, varying in age, education, occupation and employme nt status of the wife, recorded their momentary mood, subjective expla nations of their mood, and characteristics of the situation (locality, activities, and persons present) at randomly selected points in time during consecutive 28 days. The wives of dual-earner couples had remar kably lower mood scores than the housewives, very likely because of th e higher work-load give with their dual responsibilities at the work p lace and in the family. Their husbands' mood scores, too, were lower a nd did not improve in the evenings, whereas the mood scores of husband s, whose wives were not employed, did improve with the end of work in the evening. There was a stronger emotional interdependence between hu sband and wife in the dual-earner couples. The data suggest that husba nds of employed women could improve their wives' as well as their own well-being by sharing the household duties more equitably.