Abstract
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.