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Specialisation and gender theories offer competing hypotheses of whether men's and women's wages rise or fall based on the couple's division of household unpaid and paid labour, and how effects differ across the wage distribution. We test division effects by analysing British panel data using unconditional quantile regression with individual fixed effects, controlling for own hours in housework and employment. We find only high-wage men's wages were significantly greater when their partners specialised in routine housework, and when they were the sole breadwinner. Conversely, low- and high-wage partnered women incurred significant wage penalties as their share of housework exceeded their partners'. Wages for low-wage men and median- and high-wage women also decreased as their share of household employment increased. We conclude only elite partnered men benefit from specialisation. Everyone else is either better off or no worse off with equitable household divisions of paid and unpaid work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we study how unemployment is related to partner relationship happiness in the United Kingdom. We investigate multiple dimensions of unemployment—current unemployment, changes in unemployment, duration of unemployment, and past unemployment—each of which provides unique insights into how economic uncertainty can strain relationships. Not including these aspects potentially leads to an underestimation of the long-term effect of unemployment and times when couples are especially affected. Using British longitudinal data (UK Household Longitudinal Study), we employ random and fixed regression analyses. The results highlight the gendered nature of relationships and employment within British couples. As found in previous studies, unemployment, particularly men's unemployment, is associated with unhappier relationships. However, we find that over the long-run, relationship happiness declined and did not always recover. In addition, men's re-employment did not solve problems rising from unemployment, especially for women, who continued to be less happy with the relationship when their male partner was unemployed in the recent past. Overall, the research showed that unemployment is not only related to relationship happiness at the time of unemployment, but had a scarring effect on relationship happiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study longitudinally investigated the associations between becoming a female‐breadwinner household and changes in relationship satisfaction for men and women. Background: Female‐breadwinner households pose a fundamental challenge to gender norms, particularly in countries such as Australia with a strong male breadwinner culture. Despite an increase in their prevalence, the implications for relationship satisfaction is understudied. Hypotheses were formulated based on specialization, relative resource, role collaboration, and doing gender theories. Method: A total of 17 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia household panel survey (76,866 observations, 11,986 people) and fixed effects models were used to study the associations between changes in breadwinner arrangements and relationship satisfaction. Building on previous research our breadwinner typology combined employment and income differences between partners, differentiating single earners from dual earners. Results: Both men and women became less satisfied when they transitioned to dual‐earner households where women out‐earned their partners. Becoming a female‐breadwinner household due to male unemployment or illness decreased relationship satisfaction for women. Respondents were most satisfied when they were in male‐breadwinner, female‐homemaker households. For women, but not men, gender role attitudes influenced some of these associations. Conclusion: The results extend our understanding of the consequences of the increasing prevalence of female‐breadwinner households and suggest that they may be contributing to lower relationship quality and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The goal of this study is to estimate the effect of one's own and one's partner's job insecurity on relationship satisfaction, with attention to gender and educational differences in these effects. Second, we test whether the effects of individual job insecurity on individual relationship satisfaction depends on partner job insecurity. Background: Research has established that job insecurity is negatively associated with relationship quality at the individual level, but little is known about how partner's job insecurity shapes individual perceptions of relationship quality. Although one's partner's job insecurity is expected to be negatively associated with relationship quality on average, it may be protective in cases in which individual job insecurity is also high. We expand spillover–crossover and family stress models to develop and test hypotheses about the independent and interactive effects of individual and partner job insecurity on relationship quality and further consider potential gender and educational differences in the independent effects of individual and partner job insecurity on individual perceptions of relationship quality. Method: Dutch dyadic longitudinal panel data was used (Dutch Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences panels 2008–2015) composed of 11,536 observations of 3,668 individuals. Random and fixed effects models were estimated to study differences between individuals (random effects) and changes over time within individuals (fixed effects). Results: Men and women were less satisfied with their relationship when they felt more job insecurity, and women were less satisfied when their male partner experienced job insecurity. Men's relationship satisfaction was less strongly related to job insecurity when his partner experienced job insecurity as well. Relationship satisfaction of higher educated men suffered less from job insecurity than that of lower educated men. Conclusion: Job insecurity was negatively associated with relationship satisfaction, and this association was dependent on gender and, among men, on partner's job insecurity and educational attainment. A dyadic and moderation perspective is important for understanding the relationship between employment and relationship quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]