Ideological Pairings in Couples and Family Processes

人们普遍认为，性别意识形态（性别态度、规范、价值观）与家庭和就业相关行为密切相关。大量文献证明了这种联系，例如关于夫妻的有偿和无偿分工，以及在较小程度上关于家庭的形成和解散。然而，两大研究缺口依然存在。第一个是理论欠发达的夫妻视角，第二个是实证研究中的内生性问题。该项目旨在解决这两个问题。假设、研究问题和目标：首先，尽管大多数研究假设性别意识形态影响夫妻层面的结果（即家庭中的性别分工、婚姻轨迹、生育率），但通常只衡量一方的性别意识形态。这个项目的核心论点是，双方的意识形态需要相互结合，并以互动的方式（意识形态配对），以充分捕捉性别意识形态对这种夫妻层面结果的影响。更具体地说，我们假设伴侣是否同意或不同意性别意识形态将影响他们的工作分工和家庭转型。意识形态配对还会调节其他因素对研究结果的影响，例如伴侣的社会经济资源。其次，使用先进方法来解释意识形态之间的相互影响的纵向研究，例如，性别分工，是罕见的。因此，意识形态是否通过因果关系或选择过程或反向因果关系与工作分工相关联，迄今仍不清楚。我们将在四个研究包中解决这些悬而未决的问题，并提供该领域的概念和实证进展。首先，我们开发了一个分析和实证框架来评估夫妻，作为一个有意义的单位，借鉴生命历程理论。迄今为止，在家庭人口统计和性别分工的文献中缺乏这样一个框架。在一篇理论论文中，我们将提供这样一个概念化，特别关注个人和夫妻共同的性别意识形态如何与生命历程的转变和夫妻的工作分工交织在一起。从经验上看，我们将使用几个高质量的小组研究（例如HILDA， Pairfam，瑞士家庭小组，理解社会）和尖端方法（潜在阶级模型，SEM，增长曲线模型，固定效应）来检查，首先，夫妇的意识形态配对是如何跨时间和空间分布的。其次，我们将评估这些配对是否影响性别有偿和无偿工作分工和家庭结果，如生育和婚姻解散。原创性和创新水平：我们的项目将在家庭人口学和家庭社会学的理论和经验上具有开创性。主要研究人员：Natalie Nitsche和Daniela Grunow将作为合作项目负责人领导该项目。

There is broad agreement that gender ideology (gender attitudes, norms, values) is closely linked with family- and employment related behaviors. A rich body of literature demonstrates such linkages, e.g. with respect to couples’ paid and unpaid work-divisions, and to a lesser extent regarding family formation and dissolution. Yet, two major research gaps remain. The first is a theoretically under-developed couple perspective, the second concerns endogeneity in empirical studies. The project aims at addressing both issues. Hypotheses, research questions & objectives: First, although most research assumes that gender ideology affects couple-level outcomes (i.e. gendered work divisions in families, union trajectories, fertility), gender ideology of only one partner is typically measured. We center this project on the argument that both partners’ ideologies need to be incorporated, and interactively so (ideological pairings) to fully capture gender ideologies’ effects on such couple-level outcomes. More specifically, we hypothesize that whether partners agree or disagree on gender ideologies will matter for their work-divisions and family transitions. Ideological pairings will also mediate the effect of other factors, for instance partners’ socio-economic resources, on the studied outcomes. Second, longitudinal studies using advanced methodology to account for reciprocal effects between ideologies and, for instance, gendered work-divisions, are rare. Thus, whether ideology is associated with work-divisions via causal linkages or via selection processes or reverse causality, remains to date unclear. We will address these open questions and provide both conceptual and empirical advances to the field, in four research packages. First, we develop an analytical and empirical framework to assess couples, as a meaningful unit, by drawing on life-course theory. To date such a framework is lacking in family demography and the gendered work-division literature. In a theoretical paper, we will provide such a conceptualization, with a specific focus on how individuals’ and couples joint gender ideologies are intertwined with life course transitions, and couples’ work divisions. Empirically, we will use several high-quality panel studies (e.g. HILDA, Pairfam, Swiss Household Panel, Understanding Societies) and cutting edge-methodology (latent class modeling, SEM, growth curve modeling, fixed effects) to examine, first, how ideological pairings in couples are distributed across time and space. Second, we will assess whether these pairings affect gendered paid and unpaid work divisions and family outcomes such as childbearing and union dissolution. Level of originality & innovation: Our project will be groundbreaking theoretically and empirically for both family demography and family sociology. Primary researchers involved: Natalie Nitsche and Daniela Grunow will lead the project as Co-PIs.