Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 30, 2025
Development of a Virtual Reality Assessment of Everyday Living Skills
Published on: April 23, 2014
Is 'me-time' selfish?: Daily vitality crossover in dual-earner couples
Eunae Cho1,2, Tammy D Allen2, Laurenz L Meier3
1Department of Business Administration, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan.
This multisource daily diary study examined the recovery outcomes of working mothers' time spent for the self (i.e. me-time) and whether the benefits crossover to their husbands. Drawing on the recovery literature, we hypothesised that working mothers' me-time positively relates to their vitality. In line with the crossover theory, we expected a positive relationship between mothers' and their husbands' vitality, mediated via hostile marital interaction. Because working mothers commonly associate guilt with spending time for themselves, we further examined whether the benefits of me-time are qualified by mothers' guilt-proneness. Data were collected from 79 dyads of heterosexual dual-earner couples with children at bedtime for two work weeks. As expected, working mothers' me-time positively related to their own vitality, controlling for their time spent for others. Moreover, mothers' vitality positively related to their husbands' vitality, which was mediated by mothers' hostile marital interaction reported by husbands. Contrary to our expectation, the well-being benefits of me-time were similar across working mothers regardless of their guilt-proneness. Bridging two streams of research on recovery and crossover, this study represents an important contribution to the literature.
This multisource daily diary study examined the recovery outcomes of working mothers' time spent for the self (i.e. me-time) and whether the benefits crossover to their husbands. Drawing on the recovery literature, we hypothesised that working mothers' me-time positively relates to their vitality. In line with the crossover theory, we expected a positive relationship between mothers' and their husbands' vitality, mediated via hostile marital interaction. Because working mothers commonly associate guilt with spending time for themselves, we further examined whether the benefits of me-time are qualified by mothers' guilt-proneness. Data were collected from 79 dyads of heterosexual dual-earner couples with children at bedtime for two work weeks. As expected, working mothers' me-time positively related to their own vitality, controlling for their time spent for others. Moreover, mothers' vitality positively related to their husbands' vitality, which was mediated by mothers' hostile marital interaction reported by husbands. Contrary to our expectation, the well-being benefits of me-time were similar across working mothers regardless of their guilt-proneness. Bridging two streams of research on recovery and crossover, this study represents an important contribution to the literature.
Related Concept Videos
01:12Work of a Couple Moment
When the rigid body undergoes a differential displacement due to a couple, its motion can be divided into two parts: equal translation of the two points to their final...
01:26Couples Therapy
Core Principles and Techniques
Couples therapy often incorporates cognitive-behavioral principles to identify and modify negative...
01:30Moment of a Couple: Problem Solving
The moment of a couple is found by multiplying the magnitude of one of the forces by the perpendicular distance between the line of action of the two forces. This creates a twisting force, which can be used to rotate an object. The moment of a couple is used to solve problems...
01:29Couple
A typical example to understand this concept is tightening a bolt with a lug wrench. A...
01:28Equivalent Couples
Two couples are considered to be equivalent if they produce the same rotational effect on a rigid body. In other words, the two couples have the same magnitude and act in the same direction, causing the same angular displacement or acceleration in the body.
For instance, consider two couples lying in the plane of the page, with one having a pair of equal...
01:20Virtual Work
In static equilibrium, a body can experience an imaginary or virtual movement, such as displacement or rotation. The virtual work done by a force is equal to the dot product of force and virtual displacement in the direction of the force. When it comes to virtually rotating a...