engleski

(Dis)Balance in Distribution of Everyday Domestic Occupations in Croatian Couples

In the very core of occupational science is the research on how people are spending their time in different social roles they perform in daily life and how these occupations are influencing their life. Family roles of partner (Plaisier et al., 2008) and parent (Meites et al., 2012) are considered to be important human roles correlated to mental health. Although gender differences in domestic occupations included in family roles are reducing, research is showing that there is still a gap between domestic workload between men and women (Coltrane, 2000 ; Bartley et al., 2005 ; Kamenov i Jugović, 2009). The question still remains what is the situation in traditionally patriarchic societies where both spouses are full time employed outside home. To check this hypothesis, 104 married and 25 cohabiting couples living in the central part of Croatia participated in this research. The partners independently filled in the questionnaire estimating their relative investment in the distribution of three categories of domestic occupations, as well as their own satisfaction with such distribution and relationship itself. The results showed that women contributed significantly more to completion of everyday routine occupations. The most significant predictor of relationship satisfaction in both partners was not the distribution of household chores, but the satisfaction with making decisions regarding family functioning. It can be concluded that occupational balance is not only a result of equally shared occupations, but is also influenced by the power to make decisions regarding those occupations and mutual appreciation between partners.

occupation; balance; housework; satisfaction; couples

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