1. CHAPTER 12
Work and Family Life

2. Chapter 12: Work and Family Life Chapter Outline
Money and Relationships
Work and Marriage: Effects on Spouses
Work and Family: Effects on Children
Balancing Work and Family Life
Balancing Work and Leisure Time
The Future of Work and Family Life

3. Chapter 12: Work and Family Life Introduction
One survey noticed a link between homicides in the family and economic deprivation.
Impoverished families, including those riddled with unemployment, were contexts for homicide.
Discussion:
How do economic forces affect the family structure?

4. Money and Relationships
Effects of the Recession
Tax increases
Government services decreases
Retirement age increases
Incomes decrease
Uncertainty
Big institutions no longer take care of their workers

5. Work and Family Life Attendance/ Announcements
Lecture
Poverty and Marriage
Working wives – Discussion
Closing

6. Money and Relationships
Effects of Poverty on Marriages and Families
Poorer physical and mental health
Lower personal and marital satisfaction
Lower life expectancy
Relationship conflict
Stress leading to substance abuse, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, divorce, and questionable parenting practices
Teenage pregnancy

7. Money and Relationships
Financial Behaviors of Undergraduates and Young Adults
51.7% of undergrads reported not using a budget
52.2% of undergrads save money
Undergrads and young adults who budget and save reported more discussion of finances with parents and friends and observed more parents’ and friends’ financial behaviors
*BUDGET*
Life after college

8. Work and Marriage: Effects on Spouses
About 60% of wives work today, nearly double the percentage in 1960.
Generally speaking, the more money a partner makes, the more power that person has in the relationship.
Although two-thirds of all husbands in dual-income families make more money than their wives, women are more likely to make the decisions in more areas.
Higher education increases a woman’s power in the relationship.
*DISCUSSION*

9. Working Wives
70% of all U.S. wives with children are in the labor force.
Mothers are most likely to enter the work force when their children are teenagers.
Only 13% of families are “traditional” in the sense of a breadwinning husband and a stay-at-home wife.
Mommy track: stopping paid employment to spend time with young children.

10. Wives Who “Opt Out”
Opting Out: women leaving their careers and returning home to take care of their children
Reasons for opting out:
Husband is unavailable or unable to “shoulder significant portions of caregiving and family responsibilities.”
Employers encourage and support women parental leave but do not help “much in the way of making it possible for them to return or stay once they had babies.” – regs changing though

11. Office Romance
In one survey, 60% of respondents said they had been involved in an office romance
Another survey found 40% of respondents had an office romance
About 32% of the office romances ended in marriage
*ANYONE?*

12. Dual-Career Marriages
HIS/her career
HER/his career
HIS/HER career marriage
THEIR career marriage

13. Effects of the Wife’s Employment on Wife
Role overload
Second shift
Role conflict
Role strain

14. Effects of the Wife’s Employment on Husband
Benefits to husbands
Relieved of the sole responsibility for the family’s financial support
Freedom to quit jobs, change jobs, or go to school
Potential to form a closer bond with their children
Happier partner

15. Effects of Wife’s Employment on the Marriage
Woman’s employment does not affect a happy marriage but can affect an unhappy one
Highest marital satisfaction and equitable division of housework
Having control over the hours one works is related to positive family functioning

16. Work and Family: Effects on Children
Quality time
Day care considerations
More than half of U.S. children are in center-based child-care programs
Quality of day care

17. Effects of the Wife’s Employment on the Children
Children do not appear to suffer cognitively or emotionally as long as positive, consistent child care alternatives are in place
Self-Care/Latchkey Children

18. Balancing Work and Family Life
Superperson Strategy
Cognitive Restructuring
Delegation of Responsibility and Limiting Commitments
Time Management
Role Compartmentalization

19. Balancing Work and Leisure Time
“Technology is such that a person may never detach from work and stay connected to the office even on vacation.”
How does the above statement reflect the changing nature of leisure in America?

20. Leisure
Use of time to engage in freely chosen activities perceived as enjoyable and satisfying
Changing nature of leisure and work for millennials (those born between 1980 and 1995)

21. Leisure Benefits of Leisure Time
Relieve work-related stress and pressure
Facilitate social interaction and family togetherness
Foster self-expression, personal growth, and skill development
Enhance overall social, physical, and emotional well-being

22. Leisure Problems with Leisure Time Excessive drinking
Relationship problems related to television watching, travel, time, and video games
Vacation stress

23. What If?

24. Discussion Questions – Due Tuesday, April 1 by class time
Does society (i.e. media and culture) promote violence? How so? If not, why not?
Discuss the differences in physical abuse, mental/emotional abuse and spiritual abuse. How common are these forms of abuse in our country? Worldwide?
Discuss cultural, community, family, and individual risk factors associated with abuse. Is domestic violence a social problem in this country?

25. Quick Quiz What is role overload?
not having time or energy to meet the demands of role responsibility
being on the second shift
getting too much into one's role as parent
taking on both gender roles of parent
Ans: A

26. Quick Quiz
What is most likely the primary concern of an employed parent?
pleasing their employer
juggling demands of work and family
making enough money
finding time for the spouse
Ans: B

27. Quick Quiz
The housework and child care that employed women do when they return home from their jobs is called:
the fourth shift
the third shift
the second shift
the first shift
Ans: C

28. Quick Quiz
Which of the following can be a disadvantage of leisure time?
Relieve work-related stress.
Foster self-expression.
Enhance social well-being.
Excessive drinking.
Ans: D

29. Quick Quiz
When the careers of both the wife and husband are given equal status in the relationship, the couple has a commuter marriage, which is also called:
HIS/HER career
HIS/her career
HER/his career
THEIR career
Ans: A