Influence of women's work status on the well-being of Indian couples

Background. In urban India, working women are expected to continue to discharge their traditional domestic duties; the likely result is compromised well-being due to role strain. Husbands of working women may also experience pressures and hence poorer well-being. Well-being in working couples, particularly husbands, is little researched in developing countries. Method. The Subjective Well-Being Inventory was administered to 46 'one-working' (only husband employed) and 51 'both-working' (both spouses employed) randomly selected urban, middle-class couples. Results. In one-working as well as both-working families, wives experienced less well-being than their husbands. Working wives experienced more confidence in coping than non-working wives. Husbands in both-working families experienced better social support but less social contact, less mental mastery, and poorer perceived health than husbands in one-working families. Few or no sociodemographic variables were associated with well-being. Conclusions. Employment may benefit women but stress their husbands.