Dual-Careers:

Implications for Career Counselors

By: Paul Crolley

Definitions
 Dual-Career Families:
 “…familiesin which both partners work”
(Jordan, Cobb, & McCully, 1989)

 Traditional-Career Families:
 Only one of the partners (typically the
husband) works while the other (typically the
wife) stays at home as a home-maker
 What is the difference
between dual-career families,
a two-person career, and
two-job families?
Dual-Career Family:
Both partners focus intently on their respective careers

Two-Person Career Family:

Both partners focus their efforts into the career of one of the
partners (usually the husband)

Two-Job Family:
One partner (typically the husband) who pursues a career,
while the other (usually the wife) has a job that is secondary
and serves to support the career of the partner

Cherpas, 1985
Dual-Career Families
 The Family as a System
 Our different family members’ work roles and attitudes influence our
perceptions
 Marital Satisfaction
 Communication and work-view congruence
 Cultural Considerations
 There are influencing factors and considerations unique to each
person
 Issues facing Dual-Career Families
 Expectations, role conflicts, child care options, & relationship factors
 Implications for counseling
 Important issues for clinical application, such as referrals to couples
counseling
The Family as a System
 Any system, whether
a corporation, a city
government, or a
family, comprises
interdependent
elements that have
interrelated functions
and share common
goals

Zunker, 2006
 The family
system is
embedded in
larger social
systems

Zunker, 2006
Current Trends
 More single adults  The question to
 Postponement of consider with these
marriage
 Fewer children
trends is: How will
 More women working they affect the
 More divorce perceptions of life
 More single-parent roles (like work)?
families
 More remarriages
Interesting observations
 Fathers involved in dual-career families
are less prone to exhibit stereotypic
behaviors (providing children with more
positive parenting roles)
 Children who observe their mother as
economically independent, with choices
and opportunities, can gain a perception of
what women can do and achieve

Zunker, 2006
Marital Satisfaction
 The level of marital
satisfaction can be
correlated to how well
the partners are in
agreement with their
respective aspirations
and attitudes
Marital Satisfaction
 The way conflicts are expressed and
negotiated and the manner in which
resources are shared appear to be strong
binding forces
 Couples who have more traditional sex
role attitudes tend to experience greater
stress in a dual-career marriage

Zunker, 2006
High
Level of overall marital satisfaction

Low

Start of Birth of Adolescence Launching of Retirement

marriage first child of children children from work

SOURCE: From Human development: A lifespan view, 3rd ed., by R.V. Kail/Cavanaugh, 2004.
Cultural Considerations
 As with any type of
counseling practice,
practitioners should
take into
consideration each
client’s cultural values
and traditions
 Cultural Considerations
 Individualistic v. collectivist cultures
 In collectivist societies (Africans, Asians, and Hispanics) it is
expected that all family members contributes to its welfare ->
individual aspirations are secondary
 In Asian and Hispanic families, husbands typically are head of
the family and the family usually maintains strong traditional
roles, including stereotypical male-female relationships
 Providing career counseling approaches that include family and
family needs are often most effective

Zunker, 2006
The following can serve as a check list when
evaluating potential conflicts with members of
culturally diverse families:
 Effects of poverty (poor housing, lack of
transportation, and health care)
 Country of origin (language barrier, work role
perceptions, & view of government)
 Circumstances if immigration (political
oppression and lack of trust for gov. agencies)
 Degree of acculturation (worldviews,
conflicting messages of appropriate behavior, and
perception of work role)
 Spiritual beliefs (family roles, health care
issues, and social activities)
 Skin color (discrimination and exclusion from
some work roles)
 Poor self-esteem (depression, restriction of
job choice, and interpersonal relationships)
 Lack of trust of institutions (resist using
agencies for assistance)
 English fluency (restricted job choice and
limited personal contacts)
 Intergenerational family contacts
(conflicts over parents’ view of appropriate behavior
and contemporary views of the host country)
 Lack of support in community (isolation
and restricted community involvement)
 Discrimination (feelings of oppression,
isolation, and restricted career choice)
 Socioeconomic status (exclusion of
opportunities in life, work, and leisure)
 Feelings of powerlessness (lack of
direction and difficulty adjusting to new
environment)
Goldberg and Goldberg, 2002
Issues Facing Dual-Career Families

 Expectations and
Intentions of Work and
Family
 Role Conflict
 Child Care
 Relationship factors
 Other personal factors
 Expectations and Intentions of
Work and Family
 In a study of university students, Gilbert (1993) found that young
women and men reared in dual-career families were highly
committed to a role-sharing marriage
 Roles can include employment, home, social, and family
responsibilities
 Lack of agreement between expectations of roles in marriages has the potential
to create interpersonal conflicts (Silberstein, 1992; Goldenberg and Goldenberg,
2002)
 Role overload typically occurs between spouses when family roles
are not clearly defined
 If the husband’s occupational role is assumed to be primary, or if the wife views
the husband’s employment as a less important career, there is a greater potential
for minimal sharing of household work

Zunker, 2006
Role Conflicts
 Generally is between family roles and work roles (family roles are
source of most role conflicts [i.e., with household chores])
 Klinger (1988) developed a model designed to delegate household
tasks based on interests, aptitudes, and time available
 Part I – Formulate list of household tasks
 Part II – Agree on frequency of the tasks (daily, biweekly, etc.)
 Part III – Agree on person(s) responsible for each task
 Taking into consideration each person’s available time, interest, and abilities
(undesired tasks are rotated)
 Part IV – Review of tasks to determine the following:
 A. Did the person(s) designated perform the task?
 B. Was the task viewed as satisfactorily completed?
 C. For “no” responses to questions A or B, what were the obstacles to completing the
task?
 D. What additional resources (time, money, people, objects) are needed to complete
the task successfully?
 Part V – Recycle: add or delete tasks, change person(s) responsible,
etc.
Child Care
 Since both partners are
working, couples with
children need to explore
child care options
 Options include: sitters, daycare,
& relatives
 A major concern many
parents have are the
potential negative effects
on children who attend
day care centers
 Clark-Stewart’s (1993) research
indicates no difference in
cognitive, linguistic, and social
development in infants between
day care and home settings
Zunker, 2006
Child Care
 Many companies recognize the need to provide
for child care and offer alternatives:
 Emergency Care (temporary care when regular arrangements fall through)
 Discounts (arrangements with providers for reduced rates)
 On-site day care
 Companies have also developed family-oriented
work policies designed to help dual-career
families with child care responsibilities
 Telephone access (permits parents to make/take personal calls to children)
 Parental leave (i.e., maternity leave)
 Flexible work arrangements (part-time hours, job sharing, flexible place
[telecommuting])
Zunker, 2006
Relationship Factors
 A pivotal point in some dual-career families is a geographical
relocation to enhance of the partner’s career
 What kind of things go through your mind at the prospect of moving to
another city in this situation?
 Competition can also be associated due to a need to achieve and
be recognized
 Important to consider because feelings of competition might not be
expressed directly but could result in debates about other things
 Another key aspect in the decision-making process – more
specifically, who is empowered to make decisions.
 Its important to reach mutual agreement no both major and minor
decisions to avoid one of the partners feeling treated unjustly

Zunker, 2006
Relationship Factors
 Accommodators
 One partner’s career
involvement is the highest
priority and home involvement
is the lowest; the other partner
has the opposite commitment
 Traditional-career families
 Adversaries
 Both parties give highest
commitment to career pursuits
 This type usually leads to
competition to achieve and
conflicts over child care

Zunker, 2006
Relationship Factors
 Allies
 Both partners are strongly committed to
advancing their careers and home roles
 Satisfaction and fulfillment primarily comes
from a happy family and home life
 But primary focus is on the career, which can
lead to not having children (or having fewer)
 Acrobats
 Both partners are also actively committed to
career and home roles – are more successful
at it (they want it all and go all out to become
high achievers, have happy children, attend
social events, and go to prestigious places
for vacations)
 They work in harmony to achieve their goals
but are not surprisingly subject to work
overload

Zunker, 2006
 Other Personal Factors
 The need to dominate is a personality factor that
influences how partners combine occupational and
family roles
 Typically, a dominating partner expects the other to take a
secondary role in career aspirations
 The stages of career development of both partners are
also important considerations
 Ex., one partner might have reached the point where career has
become secondary in life’s priorities, and, as a result, might not
support the other partner’s career advancement
 Other personal factors could make one partner resist
accepting nontraditional roles to provide time for the
other partner’s career efforts
 Little support is offered in way of role sharing

Zunker, 2006
Implications for Career Counseling
 One major problem is
gender equity
 Subtleties of male
dominance often present in
dual-career marriages
often lead couples to deal
with anxiety indirectly
 Women might be
searching for equity, while
men fear giving up power
 Major decision points are
crucial in any marriage,
but even more so with
dual-careers
 Ex., when (or if) to have
children, or as mentioned
before, relocating for a
position
Zunker, 2006
Couples Counseling
 In many cases, intervention strategies should
include collaboration with couples counseling
 Inconjunction with couples counseling, the career
counselor can provide:
 Role-sharing strategies
 Leisure time commitments, including family leisure time
 Restatement of career goals (centering on plans for the
future)
 Career development of children as a sharing venture
 Reformulation of lifespan goals

Zunker, 2006
Summary
 About 12% of married women
with children under age 6
worked outside the home in
1950; the figure increased by
the early 1990s to 57% and to
62% in 2000
 Dual-career families is a
growing trend in our society
and as practitioners we need
to be mindful of the factors,
values, and attitudes
influencing clients seeking our
assistance