Contribution of gender role ideology to explaining emotional wellbeing among working parents

This study examined the contribution of gender role ideology to explaining emotional wellbeing among working parents as evaluated by positive and negative affect. The research sample included 611 working parents in Israel. Of these, 311 are women and 300 are men who were employed in diverse organizations. An egalitarian gender role ideology was found to be positively related to emotional wellbeing among both genders. It was further found that a large number of hours devoted to housework or to paid work is positively related to the emotional wellbeing of participants with a traditional gender role ideology. Family-work conflict was found to be negatively related to emotional wellbeing among participants with an egalitarian gender role ideology. The findings present an egalitarian gender role ideology as a resource that contributes to explaining emotional wellbeing. However, the power of a traditional gender role ideology in reducing the harmful effects of objective load on emotional wellbeing was found to be more salient than an egalitarian gender role ideology.