Level of role conflict between partners in dual-career couples and a sense of purpose in life. Mediating role of stress and satisfaction with one’s achievements

Abstract

As different areas of life and an individuals life rules undergo transformation and intermingle increasingly, the ways that people get married and start up families change as well. A dual career marriage is a modem family model, within which both spouses realize, on the one hand, broadly defined professional careers under conditions of competitive job market and competitive forms of employment, often occupying managerial positions; and life careers on the other hand, those related to family, marital roles, housekeeping and earning the livelihood. As compared with traditional models and egalitarian partnerships, a dual-career marriage involves more sacrifices and threats, hut can also provide many benefits. In the study it was attempted to make inquiries in that matter, rooted in our wish to examine this specific link between dual-career couples and a subjective sense of partners’ quality of life, particularly in the aspect of its meaning - as compared with that of spouses in traditional marriages and egalitarian partnerships. Then a more detailed purpose of this study was to verify whether satisfaction with one's own achievements in partners of a dual-career marriage, both in their professional and extraprofessional life, together with the level of experienced stress are possible significant factors influencing the relation between role conflict and a reported level of sense of purpose in life. The study was conducted during 2013-2014 and involved examining a total of 150 couples in dual-career marriages (300 participants), i.e. relationships within which both partners realized their professional career in the competitive job market, oftentimes they occupied managerial posts and reconciled professional life with the role of a parent All investigated participants in dual career relationships had higher education, their age varied from 28 to 40 years and each marriage had at least 1 child. The control group was composed of 160 egalitarian partnerships and 135 traditional marriages. In order to verify the research questions and hypotheses stated above, four diagnostic tools Were used: Purpose in Life test, “Work-Life balance" Questionnaire, Stress level Questionnaire and Sense of Happiness Questionnaire. The analysis of empirical material presented that partners in dual-career relationships reported the highest level of experienced stress, fatigue, tension and role conflict, but also the highest levels of satisfaction. With one’s achievements or the family’s financial situation - factors which can neutralize the negative impact of experienced stress and conflicts on the general sense of life meaning. Also presented that experiencing role conflicts is negatively correlated with a general sense of purpose in life and With satisfaction with one's accomplishments, at the same time being positively correlated with experienced stress. It can be noticed, however, that in the calculated model a (high) level of satisfaction with one’s achievements acts as a specific buffer against the influence of experienced role conflict and stress.