Das Wohlbefinden der Väter und die Wochenarbeitszeit der Mutter

Abstract

This investigation studies the relation between the well-being of fathers and the number of hours that their wives work outside the home. Two groups of fathers were involved in the investigation: the modern, caring fathers, and the more traditional fathers, who are often in full-time employment outside the home. It would appear to be true for both groups that the amount of hours their wives work, correlates negatively with the well-being of fathers both physically and mentally. Two hypotheses were compared: does the well-being of fathers correlate mainly with the actual absence of the wife, measured by the absolute number of hours that she works? Or does it correlate more with ‘symbolic’ factors, measured by her relative share in the family income or the relative number of hours that she works (her working hours compared with his). Confirmation was found for both hypotheses, but the unfulfilled husband hypothesis had the most support. Financial factors play a rather less important role. Finally, it must be observed that the number of hours that men themselves work still has a positive correlation with their well-being.