Data from a national household survey conducted in 1976 are used to investigate systematically the relationship between wives' employment and a number of husbands' perceptions and attitudes across several dimensions of their psychological functioning. In earlier studies, wives' employment has been found to be related to husbands' greater psychological distress and marital dissatisfaction, greater participation in household tasks, and less available leisure time. It has also been suggested that husbands of working wives (dual worker husbands) may suffer lower self-esteem and greater identity conflicts than husbands of non-working wives (traditional husbands). Significant differences between the two groups of husbands were obtained for self-perceptions, general well being, values and preferences, and reacting to work, marriage, and parenting. No differences between the two groups were found for their use of leisure time or their help seeking patterns. Log-linear cross-classification analyses were performed to control for two major demographic variables that were highly correlated with wives' work status: spouses' education and family life cycle stage. Results which showed significant difference between the traditional vs. dual worker husbands net of these controls were emphasized. In many ways dual worker husbands reported more negative aspects of their psychological development. They had more negative self-perceptions (less often feeling good about themselves or feeling they are persons of worth, greater shortcomings and lower self-esteem and self-acceptance); they reported less sense of well being (greater drinking problems, feeling less useful and needed, a less full life and less clear mind, finding it harder to do things than before); and were more likely to have a negative attitude toward parenthood. They also reported less job adequacy, and more often attributed bad aspects of their marriage to the situation. In addition, traditional husbands more often thought they helped with housework and attributed bad things about their marriage to themselves. Additional results were found that showed significant differences between traditional vs. dual worker husbands, yet could also be attributed to one of the control variables. These results were given less emphasis. Dual worker husbands reported more often worrying and being unhappy about their health, were less upset about their sexual lives, and were more likely to report that marriage was a source of happiness. Traditional husbands more often attributed nice things about their marriage to the situation. They worried more often about family matters other than their marriage and children and were less unhappy about their health but more often unhappy about economic and material aspects of their lives, and they more often preferred an orientation toward power rather than affiliation. Dual worker husbands' lower self-esteem was interpreted as resulting from having to share the status of being the family provider with their wives. Being the provider is thought to be a core feature of identity for a significant number of husbands, particularly those of low to moderate social status, who adhere more rigidly to traditional sex role ideology. Identity diffusion was inferred to exist among dual worker husbands because of the disparity between their ideology and their current family situation. This diffusion has considerable implications for these men, their wives and their children. These implications were discussed within the psychoanalytical perspective on narcissism and identity development.