Being Together, Working Apart: Dual-Career Families and the Work-Life Balance

Despite the fact that most parents are employed, how work affects the lives and well-being of parents and their children remains relatively unexplored. A recent study of 500 dual-career families in 8 communities across the US provides a holistic view of the complexities of work and family life experienced by parents and their children. Drawing on the study, this book explores how dual-earner families cope with the stresses and demands of balancing work and family life, whether the time parents spend working is negatively affecting their children, how mothers feel managing both work and household responsibilities, and what role fathers are taking in family life. In answering these questions the authors argue for a new balance between work and family life. The book with its rich data, findings, and commentary from an interdisciplinary group of scholars provides a valuable resource for academics, policy makers, and working parents.

Table of Contents:
Preface Ralph Gomory; Part I. Studying Working Families: An Experiential Approach: 1. Why study working families? Barbara Schneider and Linda J. Waite; 2. The design of the 500 family study Lisa Hoogstra; Commentary Joel M. Hektner and Jiri Zuzanek; Part II. Experiences at Work and at Home: Section overview Jennifer Hanis-Martin; 3. Spending time at work and at home: what workers do, how they feel about it, and how these emotions affect family life Holly R. Sexton; Commentary Jerry A. Jacobs and Patricia M. Raskin; 4. Women's intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for working Sylvia Martinez; Commentary Phyllis Moen; 5. Momentary emotion and cortisol levels in the everyday lives of working parents Emma K. Adam; Commentary Douglas A. Granger and Elizabeth A. Shirtcliff; 6. Emotional transmission between parents and adolescents: the importance of work characteristics and relationship quality Jennifer L. Matjasko and Amy F. Feldman; Commentary Reed Larson; Part III. Marriage and Family: Section overview Alisa C. Lewin; 7. The Everyday Emotional Experiences of Husbands and Wives Chi-Young Koh; Commentary Elaine Wethington and Norval D. Glenn; 8. Couples Making It Happen: Marital Satisfaction and What Works for Highly Satisfied Couples Mark R. Nielsen; Commentary William J. Doherty and Scott M. Stanley; Part IV. Making It Work At Home: Section overview Shira Offer; 9. Measuring the Gender Gap in Household Labor: Accurately Estimating Wives' and Husbands' Contributions Yun-Suk Lee; Commentary Glenna Spitze; 10. A Strategy for Working Families: High-Level Commodification of Household Services Carolyn P. Stuenkel; Commentary Tom Fricke; 11. Television Use and Communication within Families with Adolescents Nicholas P. Dempsey; Commentary Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Robert Kubey; 12. Religiosity, Emotional Well-Being, and Family Processes in Working Families Jennifer A. Schmidt; Commentary Don S. Browning; Part V. Parenting and Adolescent Development: Section overview Phillip L. Hammack; 13. Adolescents' Assessments of Parental Role Management in Dual-Earner Families Elaine Marchena; Commentary Rena L. Repetti, Tali Klima, and Tamar Kremer-Sadlik; 14. Imagining Family Roles: Parental Influences on the Expectations of Adolescents in Dual-Career Families Matthew N. Weinshenker; Commentary Mick Cunningham and Jennifer Glass; 15. Transmitting Educational Values: Parent Occupation and Adolescent Development Kimberly S. Maier; Commentary Jeylan T. Mortimer; 16. Following in their Parents' Footsteps: How Characteristics of Parental Work Predict Adolescents' Interest in Parents' Jobs Ariel Kalil, Judith A. Levine and Kathleen M. Ziol-Guest; Commentary Nancy L. Galambos; Part VI. Lessons to be Learned: 17. Achieving Work-Life Balance: Strategies for Dual-Earner Families Kathleen E. Christensen; Technical Appendices: Appendix A. Obtaining accurate measures of time use from the ESM Jae-Gea Jeong; Commentary Suzanne M. Bianchi and Kazuo Yamaguchi; Appendix B. Estimating and imputing incomes for middle class families Yona Rubinstein and Casey B. Mulligan; Commentary Lars Lefgren and Ross M. Stolzenberg.

About the Author :
Barbara Schneider is Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago, Principal Investigator for the new Data Research and Development Center at NORC and the University of Chicago, and Co-Director of the Alfred P. Sloan Center on Parents, Children and Work. She is also Senior Social Scientist at NORC and the University of Chicago and Research Associate at the Ogburn-Stouffer Study of Population and Social Organization. Linda J. Waite is Lucy Flower Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Chicago and Co-Director of the Alfred P. Sloan Center on Parents, Children and Work. She is also Senior Social Scientist at NORC and the University of Chicago.

Review :
"With its rich diversity of data, findings, and commentary from an interdisciplinary group of scholars, the book provides a valuable resource for academics, policy makers, and working parents." Family Therapy