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ETD_Final_Chin_Thesis_Ohiolink_2.pdf (455.82 KB)

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Is Household Power Earned?: Income Contribution and Household Power in Midlife

Chin, Janecca A
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2333-0681
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1666803349463524

Abstract Details

2022, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, Sociology.
Midlife is a stage where individuals’ sense of control may be challenged by inevitable physical changes, cognitive declines, and shifts in social roles. To maintain feelings of control, midlife adults may desire to have a final say over household decisions. The power dynamics under which these decisions are made may set the stage for life satisfaction in late life. Thus, it is imperative to uncover the correlates of perceived power among midlife women and men. Using the 2014 and 2016 Health and Retirement Study, I employed two prevailing frameworks, resource theory and the gender-deviance neutralization hypothesis, to investigate how women’s relative income contribution links to whether she, or her partner, perceives whether they have the final say on four distinct decision-making domains in the household. Resource theory was supported in three of the four domains. When women contributed 0-39% of the household income (vs. 40-59% of the household income), men were more likely to say they had the final say on family issues and women were more likely to say men had the final say on financial decisions. When women outearned men (60-100% vs. 40-59% of the household income), men were more likely to say women had the final say on family issues, financial decisions, and vacation destination decisions, but women were more likely to say they had the final say on financial decisions only. No evidence in support of the gender-deviance neutralization hypothesis emerged. These findings suggest that resources influence men’s power perceptions more than women’s, and that women’s greater income contribution appears to be a factor that can advance egalitarian decision-making patterns in midlife, but mostly from men’s perspectives.
I-Fen Lin, Ph.D (Committee Chair)
Susan Brown, Ph.D (Committee Member)
Kei Nomaguchi, Ph.D (Committee Member)
56 p.
Aging; Families and Family Life; Gender; Sociology
Household Power; Decision-Making; Midlife; Resource Theory; Gender-Deviance Neutralization Hypothesis; Gender Egalitarian; Couple Power Dynamics; Marital Power

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Chin, J. A. (2022). Is Household Power Earned?: Income Contribution and Household Power in Midlife [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1666803349463524

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Chin, Janecca. Is Household Power Earned?: Income Contribution and Household Power in Midlife. 2022. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1666803349463524.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Chin, Janecca. "Is Household Power Earned?: Income Contribution and Household Power in Midlife." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1666803349463524

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1666803349463524
140
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This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.