Gender role preference and family food chores

To learn how couples stratified by gender role preference (GRP) manage food chores.

One-time, individual semistructured qualitative interview with each partner in a couple representing 1 of 3 GRP pairings.

Volunteers were recruited using advertising and snowball sampling and met the criteria of (1) both parents living at home, (2) wife no older than 40, and (3) at least one child under age 6 and, if present, all others under age 18. Both partners in volunteer couples completed a 31-item GRP scale, and the scores of each partner were categorized as traditional (lowest 25% of possible scores), transitional (middle 50%), or egalitarian (top 25%). No traditional couples volunteered. A purposeful sample of 10 transitional and 10 egalitarian wives representing 20 couples were interviewed.

Each partner was asked to describe their current food chore responsibility, their opinion of the balance of responsibility, and how this role assignment had changed since first married. ANALYSIS METHODS USED: Thematic content analysis, constant comparison, and consensus produced the final thematic analysis.

Couples in which both partners were transitional assigned food chore responsibility primarily to accommodate the breadwinner's role. Couples in which both partners were egalitarian used three different strategies to handle food chores.

Educators should consider the differences found when designing interventions for recently married couples and parents of young children.