The longer your work hours, the worse your relationship? The role of selective optimization with compensation in the associations of working time with relationship satisfaction and self-disclosure in dual-career couples
Abstract
This two-wave panel study investigates the associations between working time, selective optimization with compensation in private life and relationship outcomes (i.e. relationship satisfaction and self-disclosure) in dual-career couples. We propose that one partner’s selective optimization with compensation in private life either mediates or moderates the association of this partner’s working time and relationship outcomes (i.e. relationship satisfaction and self-disclosure). Moreover, we postulate the crossover (i.e. transmission) of relationship satisfaction and self-disclosure within the couple. To test these hypotheses, we conducted an online study with a time lag of six months, in which 285 dual-career couples took part. We found evidence for selective optimization with compensation in private life as a mediator: working time spent by partners in dual-career couples was associated with selective optimization with compensation in their private life that, in turn, predicted relationship satisfaction and self-disclosure. Results did not support the assumption that one partner’s selective optimization with compensation in private life moderates the association between working time and relationship satisfaction and self-disclosure. Relationship satisfaction, but not self-disclosure, crossed over within the couples. The results challenge the assumption that longer work hours have negative consequences for romantic relationships.
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Biographies
Dana Unger is a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the ETH Zurich, Switzerland in the Department of Management, Technology, and Economics. She obtained her PhD from the University of Konstanz, Germany in 2013 where she also studied psychology. She worked as a research assistant at the University of Konstanz and at the University of Mannheim, Germany. In her research, Dr Unger focuses on the work–life interface and on career issues in individuals and romantic couples. She has published in journals such as Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Journal of Vocational Behavior. [Email: [email protected]]
Sabine Sonnentag is a full professor of Work and Organizational Psychology at the University of Mannheim, Germany. She studied psychology at the Free University Berlin and received her PhD from the Technical University Braunschweig. Before she moved to Mannheim she held professorships in Germany and the Netherlands. Dr Sonnentag’s research addresses the question of how individuals can achieve sustainable high performance at work and remain healthy at the same time. She studies recovery from job stress, proactive work behavior, learning as well as health behavior and self-regulation in the job context. In her research she uses a multi-method approach with a strong emphasis on quantitative diary data and within-person analysis. Dr Sonnentag is a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and a member of the Society of Organizational Behavior. She published in Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology and Journal of Organizational Behavior, among others. [Email: [email protected]]
Cornelia Niessen is a full professor in Work and Organizational Psychology at the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. Dr Niessen’s research interests are in the areas of adaptive performance, vitality, proactive behaviour and aging at work. She has published in journals such as Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Leadership Quarterly. [Email: [email protected]]
Angela Kuonath (née Neff) is a postdoctoral researcher at the LMU Center for Leadership and People Management at LMU Munich, Germany. After studying psychology at the Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg she was a research assistant at the work and organizational psychology unit at the University of Konstanz where she finished her doctoral dissertation in 2012. Her research interests address the interplay between employees’ work and private lives, job-related self-evaluations and leadership in the context of occupational health psychology. She published in Human Relations, Journal of Vocational Behavior and European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. [Email: [email protected]]
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Article first published online: June 11, 2015
Issue published: December 2015
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