PROMOTING EQUITY IN DIVISION OF HOUSEHOLD LABOR WITHIN DUAL-EMPLOYED MARRIAGES

In the current psychological literature, there are no empirical studies specifically designed to increase androgynous attitude and equitable behavior with couples concerning household labor. This study presents the first evaluation of interventions to promote the equal division of household labor. The study was conducted with 36 heterosexual, dating, Deep South, college couples. Couples were assigned primarily on a random basis to two training groups and one placebo control group. The study compares the effectiveness of two training groups: (1) a group combining reciprocity counseling and communication training, and (2) a group combining sex role awareness-raising techniques and communication training. Despite the finding of no significant differences among groups at the .05 level, two contributions are made by this study: (1) There are indications that sex role awareness-raising techniques are more effective than reciprocity counseling when both procedures are combined with communication training, and (2) This study introduces the first systematic behavioral measure designed for research into the division of household responsibilities.