Earner Status, Marital Satisfaction, and Division of Childcare among Mexican American and Caucasian Couples

This study explores marital satisfaction, division of child tasks, and satisfaction with the division of childcare outcomes among low-income Caucasian and Mexican American (MA) couples with young children. Participants were 521 California couples, nearly three-fourths MA. Using a series of regressio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSmith College studies in social work Vol. 90; no. 3; pp. 156 - 180
Main Authors Capistrant, Beatrix, Pruett, M. Kline, Rivera, S., Gilette, P., Cowan, C. P., Cowan, P. A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Norhampton Routledge 02.07.2020
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Birth place
Child care
Children
Clinical research
Couples
Demography
dual earners
Ethnicity
Family roles
family work
Fathers
Gender differences
Hispanic Americans
Low income groups
Marital satisfaction
Marriage
Mexican American
Mexican Americans
Mothers
nativity
Occupational roles
Parents & parenting
Single mothers
Socioeconomic factors
Socioeconomic status
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Summary:This study explores marital satisfaction, division of child tasks, and satisfaction with the division of childcare outcomes among low-income Caucasian and Mexican American (MA) couples with young children. Participants were 521 California couples, nearly three-fourths MA. Using a series of regression models to examine how ethnicity/nativity status, earner status (dual or single) and gender were related to each outcome variable; results showed that fathers generally, single-earner couples generally, dual-earner MA fathers, and MA mothers in couples with Mexican nativity were happier in their relationships. Fathers in dual-earner relationships were more involved in childcare tasks than their single-earner counterparts among Caucasians, but gender, ethnicity, and nativity differences were related to parental dissatisfactions with how childcare tasks were divided. Multivariate regression models adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic status factors changed results very little, except earner status and marital satisfaction were no longer associated. Discussion focuses on couple dynamics of sharing work and parenting roles, MA values, and implications for clinical work and future research.
ISSN:0037-7317
1553-0426
DOI:10.1080/00377317.2020.1715750