effective functioning in dual-career families: an investigation

Journal ofFamily Therapy (1984) 6: 365-380

Effective functioning in dual-career families: an investigation

Alexandra Cunningham*? and Graham S. Saayman*

This study is concerned with the commonalities inherent in diverse psychotherapeutic strategies, despite seemingly discontinuous theoretical stances. Two approaches were evaluated with respect to effective family functioning, viz. Analytical Psychology and Systems Theory. Analytical Psychology posits the growth of conscious awareness in the individual as the source of therapeutic change. Problem centred systems therapy of the family emphasizes the importance of teaching clinically presenting families to negotiate collectively family rules and expectations and thus to allocate and monitor d e s via clear and direct verbal communication. Both positions thus stress the reflective mode as a pivotal factor in effective problem solving. Analytical psychologymaintains that conscious awareness expands to the extent that the individual integrates the contrasexual aspect of the personality, that is, the affective, expressive mode or ‘feminine principle’ in the male, or the instrumental, assertive ‘masculine principle’ in the female. Such individuals are said to be ‘androgenous’. It was therefore hypothesized that such individuals would more readily be able to negotiate family rules and expectations in a manner consistent with a major therapeutic thrust of family therapy. These clinically derived hypotheses were subjected to an empirical test by assessing twenty, non-clinical, dual- career families where both parents pursued careers and were therefore presumably both required to share instrumental and affective rdes on the basis of mutual agreement. Results indicated that negotiation contributed si<gnificantly to successful rBle fulfilment and effective family functioning, thus substantiating the focus of family therapy strategies upon clear and direct communication and rBle allocation.

Introduction

The traditional husband-wife relationship in the nuclear family is in the process of redefinition due to the changing r81e of women in present day society (Helson, 1972; Tangri and Mednick, 1972; Weitz, 1977; Chetwynd and Hartnett, 1978; Lips and Colnill, 1978). The traditional model allocates the ‘instrumental’ r61e of economic provider to the

Revised version received March 1983. * Psychology Department, Universityof Cape Town, Rondebosch South Africa, 7700. t Present address: Warleigh School, Warleigh Manor, Bathford.

365

0163-4445/84/040365 f16$03.00/0 @ 1984 The Association for Family Therapy

366 A . Cunningham and G. S . Saayman father and assigns ‘expressive’ activities, such as the provision of nurturance, to the mother (Parsons and Bales, 1955). Thus, in many families, parental rbles are assumed in an automatic, nonreflective manner, on the basis of sex-rble stereotypes consistent with the traditional model. Marital conflict is frequently generated when the implict assumptions of the traditional model are challenged by either spouse.

The present study seeks to address these problems from the perspectives of two clinically derived theories: problem centred family therapy, and the depth psychology of C. G. Jung. Since methodological con- siderations frequently confound attempts to validate clinical conten- tions within the clinical context, dual-career families were chosen as the focus of the investigation, since in those families where both parents pursue careers, effective family functioning requires a departure from traditional rble allocation by both spouses.

Clinical observation from the perspective of family systems theory suggests that the fulfilment of both instrumental and affective rbles are necessary for effective family functioning and problem solving (Epstein et al . , 1978). Indeed, clinical experience indicates that it is precisely in the area of rble allocation that conflict between the spouses is frequently located. An overinvolvement by the father in activities related to professional achievement is often associated with inattention to affective functions within the family system. This frequently generates resent- ment in the wife and exacerbates a variety of problems related to the personal growth and development of other family members with a consequent deleterious effect upon family functioning as a whole.

Whereas the McMaster Model of Family Functioning (Epstein et al., 1978) is not prescriptive with regard to which spouse fulfils which r6les within the family, clinical experience indicates that r61e expectations are most satisfactorily fulfilled when clearly communicated, appropriately allocated and accounted for on the basis of negotiation. It was therefore hypothesized that the conscious awareness of rble allocation would prove a pivotal factor in successful rble fulfilment and satisfactory problem solving in well functioning dual-career families. This implied that such an awareness would manifest in the family’s ability to negotiate, defined here as their ability to verbalize clearly and directly the options available and thus to allocate, on the basis of mutual agreement, both instrumental and affective tasks to appropriate family members. This included the ability, of the career-oriented spouses in particular, to anticipate potentially affectively-laden issues and to negotiate, devise and monitor optimal strategies satisfactory to all parties concerned.

Dual-career families 367

The second thrust of the study was to investigate the effects of psychological androgyny as opposed to sex r61e stereotyping upon r61e fulfilment. The concept of androgyny, though perhaps not widely recognized, has a theoretical basis in Jung’s analytical psychology (Donelson and Gullahorn, 1977). Broadly speaking, it can be defined as the one which contains the two: the male (andro) and female (gyne) (Singer, 1976). Jung has frequently drawn attention to the one-sided overemphasis in contemporary Western society upon the rational, linear, logical, cognitive (‘instrumental’) mode of functioning as opposed to the intuitive, affective (‘expressive’) mode. He identified the former as the masculine principle and the latter as the female principle of intrapsychic functioning Uung, 1972) and contended that psychological disequilibrium, due to an excessive overevaluation of the instrumental mode, is a significant sourceof neurosis. (Jung, 1 9 3 1 ~ ) . It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that the r61e allocation in many clinically presenting families described above reflects a similar imbalance in the distribution of instrumental and affective d e s ; overinvolvement of the father in instrumental functions is often at the expense of his own affective development, provoking a counter-reaction and generating imbalance in the family system.

Thus, sex r6le stereotyping may adversely affect both male participation in the domestic sphere as well as female participation in the public, social domain. The achievement of such participation by either spouse suggests behavioural flexibility across sex-typed situations. However, in many societies boys are encouraged to be aggressive, achievement- oriented and competitive, whereas nurturance, dependence and com- passion are encouraged ingirls(Weitz, 1977). Indeed, it hasbeen argued (Weisfeld, 1978) that differential sex r6les in the division of labour are biologically based as an outcome of man’s long evolutionary history in a hunter-gatherer social system. This implies that ,the male, morphologically, behaviourally and psychologically, has become specialized for vigourous and aggressive action, whilst the female, as the primary caretaker of children, has evolved inherent predispositions adapted to domestic activities. Given the trends in modern society mentioned above, this view is a source of controversy and has implications for the day-to-day realities of modern men and women and their children.

However, Jung’s contention that a predominantly ‘instrumental’ conscious attitude in the male is counterbalanced by a contrasexual, under- developed feminine function (and vice versa in the female), is consistent with the psychobiological notion of an interdependence between males

368 A . Cunningham and G. S . Saayman

and females in terms of reproduction and survival and, consequently, of the evolution of human family systems; given the long period of dependence by the human child upon its parents, an overlap in parental nurturant and instrumental r6les is inevitable, so that inherent specializations in different tasks by either sex is therefore a matter of degree (Weisfeld, 1978, p. 44). Furthermore, although Jungian theory contends that human behaviour is uniquely human due to the phylo- genetic development of characteristic, collective, inherent predispositions (Jung, 1919), it does not imply the inflexibility often associated with viewpoints derived from the principles of Darwinian natural selection. On the contrary, Jung maintained that from the perspective of ontogenetic development, the integration of the masculine or feminine contrasexual aspect of the personality is a necessary outcome of personal maturation through the critical stages of life (Jung, 1931b) so that the balanced person is capable of employing both modes. Thus, in the recent literature on androgyny, Bem (1974, 1975, 1977) regards the androgynous individual as adaptive, flexible and effective in particular interpersonal contexts. Accordingly, an androgynous individual can be both instrumental (assertive, competitive, independent) and expressive (warm, nurturant, compassionate, supportive), depending upon the demands of the situation.

I t is at this point that the two thrusts of the present study draw together to form a synthesis, since the integration of the contrasexual aspect of the personality implies an expansion of conscious awareness (Jung, 1972). Should this be the case, i t would follow that the ability to negotiate concerning family rbles as defined above would be facilitated by an androgynous orientation. The relative contributions of negotiation and psychological androgyny to successful rBle fulfilment were therefore assessed in dual-career families as a quantitative evaluation of our two clinically derived hypotheses.

Methodology Subjects The data were derived from a study of twenty white dual-career families, that is '. . . that type of family in which both heads of household pursue careers and at the same time maintain a family life together' (Rapoport and Rapoport, 1971). The sample was representative of a wide spectrum of occupations requiring a high degree of commitment in terms of time and energy. These included editors, teachers, lecturers, engineers, medical doctors and business executives, distributed virtually equally


between the spouses. Seventeen of the wives and sixteen of the husbands respectively possessed university degrees. The mean age of the wives was 36.2k6.1 and that of the husbands40.0k6.7 (X _+ S.D.). Socio-economic status was controlled for by the nature of the sample since the professional occupations of both parents placed all families in the middle- to upper middle-class income bracket and ensured an adequate provision of basic resources.

The assessment of adequate family functioning required the existence of children within the marital dyad, thus permitting an examination of parental nurturance of children. The presence of at least one preadoles- cent child was required as the onset of adolescence is usually associated with increasing independence of parental rbles. The mean number of children per family was 2.2 _+ 0.9 (X -+ S.D.) with an average age of 8.4 k 3.9 years (X k S.D.) . Parents had been married for an average of 11.2_+4.7years(Z _+S.D.) .

Families with a history of psychiatric or debilitating physical illnesses were excluded to ensure that both spouses were capable of functioning adequately in their parental r6les. Thus, hospitalization for major physical illnesses or treatment for a psychiatric disorder in an institution were explored. Consultation with the University, the major source of professional qualifications, facilitated access to a viable sample which met the above criteria.

Assessment of role fulfilment

A formal interview was derived from the McMaster Family Categories Schema (Epstein et al . , 1978), which permitted the assessment of family problem-solving with particular reference to parental rbles. Five necessary family rbles were specifically examined in this study.

Provision of basic resources. These functions are instrumental in nature and include tasks associated with the provision of food, clothing and finances.

Provision of nurturance and support. These affective functions include the provision of comforting, reassurance and support of all family members. The contribution of each marital partner was individually assessed. This provided an important practical index of androgynous functions with particular reference to the husband.

Personal development. For the purposes of this study, personal develop-

370 A . Cunningham and G. S. Saayman

ment functions were defined as those instrumental and affective functions necessary to permit an adult to pursue a career interest as well as to maintain a family life. Areas such as marital satisfaction, work satisfaction, familial and work commitment, self-esteem, achievements and goals were explored. The personal development of the spouses was particularly considered.

Systems management and behaviour control. Systems management includes functions such as leadership, decision-making, maintenance of family boundaries and standards of household hygiene. Behaviour control is defined as ‘. . . the pattern the family adopts for handling behaviour in three specific situations- physically dangerous situations, situations involving the meeting of psychobiological needs and drives, and situations involving socialising behaviour’ (Epstein et al., 1978, p. 26). The respective contributions of both spouses were assessed since these r6les were considered particularly important as practical indices of androgyny.

Sexual gratification. Each couple’s degree of satisfaction with marital sexual relationships was assessed.

Assessment of androgyny

The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) is based on items chosen on the basis of sex-typed desirability as rated independently by males and females. Consisting of sixty personality characteristics, usually used self- descriptively, it is rated on a seven-point scale. The androgyny score reflects the relative amounts of masculinity and femininity included in the subject’s self-description and, as such, best characterizes the nature of the subject’s total sex r6le (Bem, 1974).

Assessment of negotiation

The concept of negotiation and criteria for its quantitative assessment, were derived from the McMaster Family Categories Schema (Epstein et al., 1978). In this study, this function measures the ability of the family to achieve consensus by means of negotiation. Thus, potentially problematic i,nstrumental and affective issues are resolved in a manner satisfying to all parties concerned, taking due account of the available options and optimal strategies. Family rules are clearly delineated and agreed upon so as to allocate appropriately r61e responsibility and to


monitor the consequences of action taken, as opposed to an ad hoc development of strategies in a non-reflective fashion. This process therefore implies conscious awareness of rble allocation, communicated between all concerned in clear and direct verbal messages. Particular attention was paid as to whether or not issues were negotiated prior to their occurrence in practice. Examples included the planning of children, and whether or not effects of dual careers upon the marital relationship as well as child rearing practices were anticipated.

Procedure

Husband and wife were interviewed together by a trained interviewer. Each interview was dynamic in nature as opposed to a pencil and paper type survey. Interviews, averaging one-and-a-half hours in duration, were tape-recorded and rated on the same day. Upon completion of the interview, both husband and wife completed the BSRI independently yet simultaneously under the supervision of the interviewer. BSRI questionnaires were then handed to a second experimenter uninvolved in the scoring procedure in order to analyse the data blind upon completion and rating of all interviews.

In order to control for the subjects’ responses to ‘demand characteristics’ (Orne, 1962), they were told that the study was a normative survey of the manner in which rbles were allocated in dual-career families, that there were no clear theoretical expectations regarding any possible conclusions and consequently, that there were no right or wrong answers.

Scoring of data

Each of the five rbles was evaluated with reference to both husband and wife along a seven-point scale, yielding a total of ten subscales. Epstein’s research group has developed scales and criteria from the McMaster Family Categories Schema, and these were adapted for our purposes. Thus, the criteria for rating r61e fulfilment and negotiation were derived from clinical value judgements and a single score for each subscale was therefore based upon the quality and content of the exchanges between the spouses during the interview. Point 1 represents ‘severely disturbed functioning, point 5 ‘normative’ or healthy functioning, and point 7 a ‘superior’ level of functioning. ‘Normative’ is defined as acceptable, healthy functioning, taking into account factorssuch as the achievement of consensus concerning appropriate rble allocation, co-operation in the


monitoring and accomplishment of r61e functions and the ability to respond in a flexible manner when the reallocation of rbles is necessary. ‘Superior’ represents an ideal level of functioning seldom, if ever, achieved in practice, whereas ‘severely disturbed’ functioning implies the inability to solve problems adaptively which characterizes clinically presenting families with extreme pathology. Each family was also assigned a general rble fulfilment score, summarizing functioning on the subscales.

Similar criteria were employed to rate negotiation on a scale ranging from one to seven. By interviewing husband and wife simultaneously, i t was possible to make a clinical value judgement by assessing in viuo the degree of mutual agreement on critical issues such as the planning of children, attitudes towards professional involvement and the allocation of both instrumental and affective rbles within the family (see Assessment of Negotiation above). Point l on the scale represents a complete lack of consensus and an inability to communicate clearly and directly, point 5 effective communication concerning both instrumental and affective tasks and the satisfactory allocation of rbles in the majority of cases, and point 7 highly efficient and concise transmission of messages and total consensus on r61e allocation.

Statistical treatment of results

The data were analysed via the BMPDIR-Multiple Linear Regression program. This method investigated the validity of using the following independent variables, namely, negotiation, androgyny of husband and androgyny of w q e in predicting the dependent variable, that is, rble fulfilment.

Examination of the data on the general rble fulfilment score revealed the existence of two groups within the sample, namely twelve normative families rated at five or above and eight subnormative families whose overall rble fulfilment score was less than five. Differences between the two groups with reference to each of the five necessary family roles, general rble fulfilment and negotiation were tested for significance using the student’s ‘t ’ test.

Results

The BMPDIR-Multiple Linear Regression Program yielded the following prediction equation: Rble Fulfilment = 0.891 negotiation + 0.209 androgyny of husband - 0.093 androgyny of wife, with a highly


significant multiple R = 0.941. The value of R due to random sampling variation was 0.324. Thus, the independent variables accounted for approximately 88% of the variance of the dependent variable, namely r6le fulfilment.

The quality of the prediction system was further assessed by the computation of an F-ratio between the variance accounted for by the regression system (‘regression’) and that unaccounted for (‘residual’). This yielded the following highly significant result: F= 41 . l 1; d.f. 3, 16; P<O.OOl.

The contribution of each independent variable to the regression system was tested for significance via a ‘t’ test between its beta weight (8) and the hypothesized 8=0. This revealed that the independent variables, negotiation and androgyny of husband, contributed significantly ( t = 10.246, d.f. = 16, P<O.O1 and t = 2.305, d.f. = 16; P<O.O5, respectively) to r61e fulfilment. However, the contribution of androgyny of w$e proved insignificant ( t = 1.027; d.f. = 16; P<0.05) .

The correlation matrix, including correlations between the ten r61e subscales, general r61e fulfilment, negotiation and androgyny of husband and wife, is presented in Table 1. The intercorrelation between the significant independent variables (negotiation and androgyny of husband) proved insignificant (P<0.05), indicating that multi- collinearity did not occur. Thus negotiation and androgyny of husband accounted for different proportions of the variance of the r61e fulfilment scores.

The correlation between general r61e fulfilment and negotiation was particularly high ( r = 0.91, P<O.Ol). Moreover, there two variables correlated significantly (P<O.Ol) with the majority of the other variables, with the exception of the provision of basic resources and androgyny of both husband and wife. The latter three variables did not correlate significantly with any other variable. The majority of the remaining correlations proved significant.

The data on the normative and subnormative families are shown in Table 2. In the majority of instances, the scores of the normative families were significantly greater than those of the subnormative families. In the three indices where this was not the case (provision of basic resources and personal development of both husband and wife), scores were in the same direction, but failed to achieve significance.

There were five androgynous husbands and seven androynous wives in the normative families whereas there were two androgynous husbands and three androgynous wives in the subnormative families.


TABLE 2 Dzjferences between normative and subnormative families on general rde fulfilment, family rating scales and negotiation (;z -+ S. D. )

1. General rBle fulfilment

2. Basic resources

3. Husband nurtures wife

4. Wife nurtures husband

5. Husband nurtures children

6. Wife nurtures children

7. Personal development (wife)

8. Personal development

9. Systems management (husband)

(wife)

10. Systems management (husband)

11. Sexual gratification

12. Negotiation

Normative

5.67 .+ 0.75

5.33 f 0.49

5.75 * 0.75

5.50 * 0.76

5.33* 0.89

5.67 0.71

5.92 * 0.51

5.67 2 0.65

5.67 * 0.65

5.42 ? 0.79

5.17? 0.83

5.42 * 0.79

Subnormative

3.63 ? 0.65

5.13 * 0.35

3.63 * 0.92

3.50? 0.80

3.93 2 0.74

4 .75k 0 .78

5.38 +. 0.74

4.88 * 1.36

4.13 +. 0.83

3.88 2 0.35

3.63 +. 1.30

2.63 2 0.52

t d.f. P

6.50

1.03

5.67

5.61

4.45

2.67

1.93

1.76

4.64

5.44

3.23

8.75

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

<0.001

>0.05

<0.001

<0.001

<0.001

<0.05

>0.05

>0.05

<0.001

<0.001

<0.01

<0.001

Discussion

For some three decades, following the publication of Eysencks seminal paper in 1952, psychotherapists have been confronted with a challenging question: Is psychotherapy effective? Given that psychotherapists have an obligation to substantiate claims for the curative efficacy of their methods, Eysenck (1 952, 1969) argued that the case for psychotherapy was not proven. He drew attention to the phenomenon of spontaneous remission and produced evidence indicating that roughly two-thirds of neurotic patients recover in about two years, irrespective of whether or not they receive psychotherapy.

Subsequently, the evaluation of the effectiveness of techniques of psychotherapy has become a major focus of research. Moreover, given that a great variety of approaches to psychotherapy has proliferated in


recent years (see e.g., Barton, 1974), there is also an increasing interest in the commonalities which may be inherent in diverse psychotherapeutic strategies, irrespective of the theoretical orientations of practitioners.

Thus, our research group has focused on a possible synthesis between intrapsychic theory and problem centred systems therapy of the family, employing the Jungian notion of a ‘collective unconscious’ to forge a link between these seemingly discontinuous approaches to psychotherapy (e.g., Kaplan et al., 1981). In keeping with attempts to develop a general theory of psychotherapy, this paper endeavours to isolate factors implicated in adaptive family problem solving, employing the theoretical framework of analytical psychology and the family systems approach. Although this study does not employ the conventional methodology of outcome studies, it derives its thrusts from established theory and is thus consistent with Rachman and Wilson’s (1980) emphasis on the importance of theory as a rationale for research in this area: ‘Where possible, outcome studies should be designed to collect evidence that bears on significant theoretical questions. One should attempt to determine whether the observed effects can be accommodated by existing theory.’

Whereas a considerable amount of outcome research indicates that family therapy has some positive effects (e.g., Santa-Barbara et al., 1979), much of the previous research is impeded by the multiplicity of problems which hampers traditional attempts to evaluate the efficacy of psychotherapy in general. Conventional studies, conducted within the traditional clinical area, must contend with many methodological pitfalls including, among others, the use of adequate outcome measures, the equivalence of presenting problems and severity of disorders in experimental and control groups, therapist variables, ‘perceived demand’ or placebo effects associated with ‘treatment’ and an accurate estimate of the ‘natural history’ of specific disorders in the absence of treatment.

Thus, in the present, non-clinical study, it was argued that well functioning, dual career families would demonstrate an insightful, flexible approach to r61e allocation in particular, and that this would be based upon negotiation and explicit contracts. These propositions were derived from the Jungian notion of Individuation as well as a systems approach to family therapy. The study therefore has direct and specific relevance to the problem of psychotherapy evaluation, precisely because it was conducted in a non-clinical context. Indeed, it throws independent light upon some of the major processes of psychotherapy


and the operations and interventions employed by psychotheapists when treating disturbed families: Epstein and Bishop (1981) have indicated that experienced psychotherapists move through a number of distinct macro stages during the process of psychotherapy and have suggested that ‘by studying and delineating the basic treatment concepts and applying them consistently, therapists will be able to be reasonably effective with the majority of their cases. These concepts should be readily teachable to non-experts, be transferable to different settings, and be applicable to a variety of clinical family problems. The operational definition of these concepts facilitates research on the therapy process and outcome as it allows the therapeutic process to be broken down into simple, discrete components which can then be analysed and measured.’ The present study can, then, be seen as a direct test of these assertions, with specific reference to Epstein and Bishop’s major stages of Assessment, Contracting and Treatment.

Thus, the results of the present study indicate that well functioning dual career families spontaneously go through a relevant number of the steps advocated by the treatment model of Epstein and Bishop, viz. they correctly identify significant problem areas and consistently move through a sequence of steps designed to resolve them. This implies assessing and clarifying problem areas, ranking them in order of priority, deriving strategies, negotiating concerning the most suitable alternatives, planning and contracting concerning action and tasks to meet specific needs and monitoring and evaluating subsequent outcome.

In particular, therefore, the results of the present study indicate that, as hypothesized, the ability to negotiate contributes significantly to the allocating of necessary instrumental and affective family functions, and hence to satisfactory r61e fulfilment. The significant t-value (P<O.Ol) showed that negotiation accounted for a substantial proportion of the variance of the dependent variable, namely, r6le fulfilment. Further analysis revealed that the normative families scored significantly higher on the ability to negotiate than did the subnormative families (Table 2).

This finding has important implications for evaluative research on family therapy. Clinically presenting families Frequently fail to allocate r6les appropriately. The present non-clinical study therefore underlines the importance of a psychotherapeutic focus upon teaching these families to negotiate and thus to improve problem solving skills (see also Haley, 1976). This implies a conscious awareness of family functions, appropriate r61e allocation and the ability to communicate problems, particularly those of an affective nature, in a clear and direct fashion.


The second hypothesis, namely that psychological androgyny would contribute to successful r61e fulfilment received minimal support. The contribution of androgyny of husband barely reached significance ( P < 0.05) whilst androgyny of wife proved insignificant (P> 0.05) and there were no significant correlations between either androgyny of husband or wife and any other variable (Table 1). The failure of androgyny of the wife to achieve significance is perhaps not surprising since the study focused on family functioning within the domestic domain. Whereas psychological androgyny theoretically contributes to the wife’s engagement in non-stereotypic female behaviour such as career involvement, it is the domestic domain which benefits from the husband’s androgynous orientation. His behavioural flexibility is manifest here, thereby facilitating his participation in the traditional female areas of nurturance and household tasks and, subsequently, con- tributing to r61e fulfilment in the family context.

It is possible that these weak results are due to methodological difficulties in the measurement of psychological androgny. Wore11 (1978) outlines the dangers inherent in using a sex-rble measure to predict a wider band of behaviours than that encompassed by the theory upon which the particular measure is based. However, the present study took adequate account of this potential pitfall. Behaviour viewed as practical indices of husband’s psychological androgyny, such as the provision of nurturance, parenting and participation in household tasks, and, similarly, those behaviours viewed as practical indices of wife’s androgyny, such as committed career involvement, represent a logical and valid sample of sex-r6le behaviour within the instrumental and expressive domains.

More pertinent to the present findings is the contention that the current data on sex-r6les scales suggests that the endorsement of one’s degree of instrumental and expressive characteristics is not necessarily predictive of all sex-r6le and gender correlated behaviour (Worrell, 1978). It may well be that the weak, though significant contribution of androgyny of husband to r61e fulfilment can perhaps be attributed to certain inadequacies inherent in a self-report measure such as the BSRI. Therefore, though this study identified only seven androgynous males, it is possible that a greater percentage of sample males were androgynous. This speculation is based on the nature of their behavioural participation in the domestic domain as revealed to the interviewer. Further investigation of the adequacy of self-report measures as indices of androgynous behaviour such as the paternal provision of nurturance, appears warranted.


Acknowledgements

We thank L. H. Gilbert and G. Finchilescu for statistical advice.

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effective functioning in dual-career families: an investigation

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