Employment Characteristics of Both Spouses and Depression in Two-Job Families

Abstract

Objective and subjective characteristics of employment of both spouses were examined in relation to depression in two-job families. Data were analyzed from personal interviews with 135 husbands and 135 wives in two-job families. Objective characteristics included work time, income, and occupational level. Subjective characteristics were job satisfaction, work orientation, and comparative evaluations of financial, work, and family situations. There was support for theories suggesting that social comparisons resulting in unfavorable assessments of outcomes would be related to psychological distress and that subjective characteristics were more important than objective characteristics in fostering depression. Except for the influence of wives' perceptions of finances on husbands' well-being, the characteristics of each spouse had little direct effect on the distress of the other.