Mohinani, Nimishaa. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 33-42). / Abstract also in Chinese. / Chapter Chapter 1: --- Introduction --- p.1 / work-family conflict --- p.1 / Social support and work-family conflict --- p.2 / Outcome variables --- p.4 / Child status --- p.7 / Cultural component --- p.7 / Chapter Chapter 2: --- Method --- p.13 / Participants --- p.13 / Measures --- p.13 / Data analysis --- p.15 / Chapter Chapter 3: --- Results --- p.17 / WFC and outcome variables --- p.17 / Moderating impact of culture --- p.17 / "Ethnicity, child status and levels social support" --- p.24 / Chapter Chapter 4: --- Discussion --- p.27 / References --- p.33 / Footnotes --- p.43

M.A. / One of the most significant trends of our time, manifesting world wide as well as in South Africa and affecting family life extensively, is the continuous rise in the rate of married women entering the labour market. The increasing interface between work and family life, within the work/ family spillover model, has led to the conventional belief that female employment, due to the stress within the work-situation, and marital dissolution are causally related. In more recent studies however, researchers are no longer concentrating only on the detrimental effects of the dual-earner family lifestyle, but are increasingly investigating intervening variables which alleviate stress in dual-earner families and which could actually contribute to higher experience of marital integration and quality. As a result of this perspective on family life of the working married woman, the question arose as to what the situation in this regard in South Africa may be. The aim with this research was to determine the nature of the mediating influence of intervening variables on the correlation between the woman's participation in the labour market and her experience of marital integration. Respondents from Johannesburg, East Rand, West Rand and Pretoria were selected by means of purposive and snowball sampling. A total of 300 respondents completed a questionnaire, which included items on biographical information and Likert type questions regarding the respondents' experiences of both family and work related aspects. In order to measure these aspects, eight scales were developed by means of factor analysis and item analysis, namely the respondent's experience of her husband's performance of domestic obligations; her husband's care-taking of the children; her husband's performance of emotion work; her commitment to growth in the marriage; her experience of marital integration; her involvement in her work; her experience of occupational stress; and occupational satisfaction. An analysis was made to determine the differences between groups that can be divided into more numerous discreet categories, by making use of multivariate and one-way analysis of variance and Scheffe's paired comparisons, as well as Hotelling T 2 and t-tests and Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficients. Three regression models were developed in order to determine the predictors of marital integration, involvement in work and occupational satisfaction. The following results regarding the family related scales were found: Respondents experience their husbands' performance of emotion work to a greater degree, than their husbands' performance of domestic obligations and care-taking of the children. In comparison with the other scales, the respondent's experience of her husband's performance of emotion work indicated the highest statistical significant correlation with her experience of marital integration. Therefore the husband's performance of emotion work may be considered as a very important variable in predicting the working wife's experience of marital integration. In the case of the correlation between the family related and the work related scales, it was found that, unlike the respondent's experience of occupational stress, both the respondent's commitment to work and her experience of occupational satisfaction indicated a statistical significant correlation with her experience of marital integration. By means of path analysis, it was possible to determine that in both the models for path analysis in the case of marital integration (endogenous variable) and involvement in work (exogenous variable), -and in—the case—of marital—integration (endogenous variable) and occupational satisfaction (exogenous variable),, in the event of controlling for the family related variables, the partial correlations between marital integration and involvement in work, as well as between marital integration and occupational satisfaction, declined. Therefore it may be said that the family related variables, namely the respondent's commitment to growth in the marriage; her experience of her husband's performance of emotion work; her experience of her husband's care-taking of the children; and her experience of her husband's performance of domestic obligations, may lead to an enhancement of the working married woman's experience of marital integration. Knowledge of these intervening variables may not only help the dual-earner family in coping with the strenuous dilemmas, but may actually contribute to a better marital and familial relationship.

The purpose of this study was to identify differences in attitudes of vocational teacher education majors based on age, sex, marital status, earner status, educational level, vocational program area, mother's work history, and familial attitudes. Data for the study were obtained from 1,182 vocational teacher education majors. The more contemporary attitudes were held by those who were female, aged 26 - 35, currently members of dual-income families, graduate students, identified as homemaking education majors, from families whose mothers had worked outside the home when they were growing up, and who were not brought up to believe that a woman's place is in the home.While females had more contemporary attitudes than males, both could be described as having moderate attitudes toward the dual-income financial support of the family. Both females and males felt that women should contribute financially to the support of the family, that it is just as important for a woman to be able to earn a living as it is for a man, and that women should expect to be permanent members of the labor force.

The purpose of this research is to identify combinations of variables that most affect well-being among employed women. A hypothesized model of the stress and coping process examines the influence of situational demands on mediators, and mediators on well-being. Job and family strain, as well as coping resources such as spousal support, social support, and coping strategies were proposed to mediate between situational demands, represented by husband’s chore time, number of children, job flexibility, job hours, career stage, and job status and the outcome variable, well-being. Data from a national sample of 277 married, employed women representing dual-employed families were subjected to path analytic analyses using LISREL 7. Findings generally supported the proposed model. Results suggest that both role strain and coping resources mediated the stressor effects of situational demands on well-being. / Ph. D.

Summaries in English and Afrikaans / Text in Afrikaans / Key terms in English and Afrikaans / Verskeie tekortkomings is in die bestaande konseptuele model en kwantitatiewe navorsingsliteratuur oor skofwerk geidentifiseer. Ontevredenheid met die oorvereenvoudigde oorsaak-gevolg-verklarings vir getroude vroue se skofwerkervaring het in die studie gelei tot die ontwikkeling van 'n ekologiese model van vroueskofwerk. Hierdie nuwe konseptuele model weerspieel 'n altematiewe benadering waar erkenning gegee word aan die bestaan van meervoudige realiteite wat mense in konsensus deur taal konstrueer. Die oogmerk met die ekologiese model is om, met inagneming van vroueskofwerkers se wyer konteks, patrone te ondersoek van hoe die verskillende beskrywings van getroude vroue se ervaring van skofwerk bymekaar pas. Daarmee kan 'n meer sistemiese begrip verkry word wat die kompleksiteit van menslike interaksie respekteer. Die ekologiese model van vroueskofwerk is ontwikkel as 'n hulpmiddel vir die waamemer om ryk, beskrywende ekologiese verhale te kan konstrueer van hoe getroude vroue se belewing van skofwerk tot sistemiese ontwrigting of behoud kan lei. / Several shortcomings have been identified in the existing conceptual model and quantitative research literature regarding shiftwork. Dissatisfaction with the oversimplified cause-effect-explanations for married women's shiftwork experience has led to the development of an ecological model of women shiftwork in this study. This new conceptual model reflects an alternative approach where recognition is given to the existence of multiple realities which are consensually created by people through language. The aim with the ecological model, by taking into account the broader context of women shiftworkers, is to search for patterns of how the different descriptions of women's experience of shiftwork fit together. This offers a more systemic view that respects the complexity of human interaction. The ecological model for women shiftwork is developed as an aid to the observer to construct rich, descriptive ecological stories about how married women's experience of shiftwork can lead to systemic disruption or conservation. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Summaries in English and Afrikaans / Text in Afrikaans / Key terms in English and Afrikaans / Verskeie tekortkomings is in die bestaande konseptuele model en kwantitatiewe navorsingsliteratuur oor skofwerk geidentifiseer. Ontevredenheid met die oorvereenvoudigde oorsaak-gevolg-verklarings vir getroude vroue se skofwerkervaring het in die studie gelei tot die ontwikkeling van 'n ekologiese model van vroueskofwerk. Hierdie nuwe konseptuele model weerspieel 'n altematiewe benadering waar erkenning gegee word aan die bestaan van meervoudige realiteite wat mense in konsensus deur taal konstrueer. Die oogmerk met die ekologiese model is om, met inagneming van vroueskofwerkers se wyer konteks, patrone te ondersoek van hoe die verskillende beskrywings van getroude vroue se ervaring van skofwerk bymekaar pas. Daarmee kan 'n meer sistemiese begrip verkry word wat die kompleksiteit van menslike interaksie respekteer. Die ekologiese model van vroueskofwerk is ontwikkel as 'n hulpmiddel vir die waamemer om ryk, beskrywende ekologiese verhale te kan konstrueer van hoe getroude vroue se belewing van skofwerk tot sistemiese ontwrigting of behoud kan lei. / Several shortcomings have been identified in the existing conceptual model and quantitative research literature regarding shiftwork. Dissatisfaction with the oversimplified cause-effect-explanations for married women's shiftwork experience has led to the development of an ecological model of women shiftwork in this study. This new conceptual model reflects an alternative approach where recognition is given to the existence of multiple realities which are consensually created by people through language. The aim with the ecological model, by taking into account the broader context of women shiftworkers, is to search for patterns of how the different descriptions of women's experience of shiftwork fit together. This offers a more systemic view that respects the complexity of human interaction. The ecological model for women shiftwork is developed as an aid to the observer to construct rich, descriptive ecological stories about how married women's experience of shiftwork can lead to systemic disruption or conservation. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)

In this thesis we study the interdependency of individual decisions on work and family, particularly the dynamic interaction of the marriage market and the labor market. My basic idea is that marital status affects individual labor supply decisions, and in turn, labor market condition influences marriage formation and dissolution. While these interactions are evident, the overwhelming majority of research on labor or family economics usually simplifies the individual decision-making by assuming that one of two markets outcomes is given while studying the other one. In the empirical study, endogeneity issues are troublesome, especially under the dynamic setting. My work takes a different approach. I directly model the individual decision-making, which describes how marriage market and labor market interact with each other; and matching with survey data we empirically recover the underlying economic environments that characterize the structure of the marriage market and the labor market. I further examine to what extent my model explains the observed facts. Very few studies have been conducted to explore work and family issues in this direction partly due to its complexity. The structural models, besides the conventional regression, improve our perceptions on how individuals form decisions on work and family, which have far-reaching implications on policy designs and welfare evaluations. In my thesis, I explore all these issues in three steps. In chapter 1, I explain a stylized fact that there exists a positive correlation between rising wage inequality and declining marriage rates. A two-sided matching model is developed to exploit a theoretical channel through which wage inequality affects marriage rates. My model features a steady state equilibrium in which the whole marriage market is divided into groups and only people in the same group will marry each other. Using the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) data from 1970 to 2000, my estimates indicate that a structural change occurs in the U.S. marriage market. The higher matching efficiency and declining elasticity of men suggest that the nowadays marriage market provides more chance to meet and better gender equity, though higher arrival rates also raise the outside options of getting married. Additionally, I find that wage inequality accounts for over 38% of the decline in marriage rate, which is underestimated in Gould (2003). Chapter 2 examines household dynamic labor supply after introducing bargaining between husbands and wives, which has not been thoroughly studied previously in literature. Here bargaining between husbands and wives determines the amount of husbands' earnings that are transferred to wives for their private consumption. A household search model that incorporates the intrahousehold bargaining is developed and estimated using panel data from the year 2001 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). My results show that the portion of household income shared by husbands for private consumption is responsive to their employment status, suggesting the existence of the bargaining between the U.S. couples. My findings also imply that the labor supply of women will increase with higher women wage and lower money transfer from husbands to wives, showing that the income effect dominates for wives. Moreover, the wage frontier of husbands is positively correlated with wives' wages and negatively correlated with husbands' earnings transferred to wives, highlighting that husbands are subject to both the income effect and intra-household bargaining, and their decisions depend on which effect dominates. In the third and the last chapter, I study household unemployment duration. Previously, most studies have addressed the topic of job search at the individual level. This chapter studies job search patterns of married couples and in particular compares couple's unemployment duration given their spousal earnings. A household search model is introduced, which includes the bargaining between husbands and wives. I use the year 2001 panel data Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to estimate the structural model of family decisions. Our findings reveal that there exists a gender asymmetry in job search of the U.S. household: The more husbands earn, the longer wives search for a job; but the more wives earn, the sooner husbands find a job. / text

Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)

Text in English / The transition from traditional to non-traditional marital roles was brought about by changes in the political, social and economic spheres. Within this transition, a new family arrangement has emerged in which traditional marital roles of breadwinning husband and care-giving, nurturer-wife are replaced by a breadwinning wife and a care-giving, nurturer-husband, the so-called stay-at-home husband. Various factors contributed and necessitated this change in marital roles, such as, but not limited to, the feminist movement, the economic recession, changes in legislation, retrenchments and so forth. However, making this transition is not easy. These couples, fulfilling non-traditional marital roles, are faced with stigmatisation and negative attitudes that make them want to conceal their marital roles from family, friends, the community and society as a whole. This state of affairs results in a situation where these couples stay in the closet and as consequence the topic is ill-researched and ripe for further investigation. Using a qualitative, phenomenological approach, this study explored and described the challenges, experiences and coping resources of couples fulfilling non-traditional marital roles in order to propose practice guidelines to support these couples from a social work perspective. A total of ten couples participated in the study. Independently, the working wives and stay-at-home husbands provided separate accounts of realities related to fulfilling the non-traditional marital roles within their respective marital relationships. Themes that emerged from the in-depth description of their experiences reflected the benefits accrued, the challenges experienced, their needs and coping resources. From the information provided suggestions were derived for social workers to assist couples in a similar working wife and stay-at-home husband marriage set-up to deal with situations encountered. In consulting extant literature, research on this phenomenon appeared to be totally neglected both internationally and nationally. Hence this study sought to address this lacuna by specifically investigating the situation in South Africa. It also appeared that existing research tended to focus on either the stay-at-home mother or the dual career family. Research on the experiences of stay-at-home husbands was thus severely lacking as were ways in which such couples in these roles could be supported. Therefore, making use of the ecological and role theory perspectives, attention is given to exposing their experiences, challenges and coping resources with a view to developing practice guidelines for helping social work practitioners to adequately support these couples practising non-traditional marital roles. / Social Work / Ph. D. (Social Work)