The Contribution of Support Networks to Household Labor in African American Families
Studies on support networks suggest that networks are an important context from which families manage, especially for African American families. The 1988 National Survey on Families and Households was used to assess the extent of network involvement and the relationship to household labor. Among married, African American couples, about half received tangible assistance related to managing a household and a majority of men and women reported receiving emotional support from friends and relatives. Path models with tangible assistance, emotional support, demographic factors, and an indicator of stress revealed different variable relationships for husbands and wives. Husbands who received help with tasks reported more hours in weekly housework time. For wives, however, tangible assistance was independent of time in household tasks, but emotional support contributed to feeling overwhelmed by household responsibilities.