Newswise — For heterosexual couples, most Americans still believe in the traditional division of household labor between husbands and wives. And for same-sex couples, they think the “more masculine” partner and the “more feminine” partner should generally be responsible for stereotypically male and female chores, according to a study presented at the 111th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Seattle.

The study breaks new ground by providing a large-scale examination of Americans’ beliefs about the division of chores and child care tasks focused separately on heterosexual and same-sex couples, said Natasha Quadlin, the lead author of the study and an IU Bloomington doctoral student in sociology.

Titled "Making Money, Doing Gender, or Being Essentialist? Partner Characteristics and Americans’ Attitudes Toward Housework," the study examined responses from a nationally representative survey of more than 1,000 adults in 2015 to determine which characteristics, including relative income, masculine or feminine traits, and sex, shape Americans’ ideas about how married couples should divide household labor -- indoor and outdoor chores, as well as child care.

Each respondent was randomly assigned a description of a heterosexual or same-sex couple. The description included information about each partner’s occupation and income, as well as his or her hobbies and interests, which cued whether the partner had traditionally masculine or feminine traits. The respondents also received a list of chores and child-care-related tasks to assign between the two partners.

Quadlin and co-author Long Doan, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Maryland and a 2016 IU Ph.D. recipient, found that among heterosexual couples, partner sex differences had the strongest overall effect on the assignment of chores and child care.

“Nearly three-quarters of our respondents thought that the female partners in heterosexual couples should be responsible for cooking, doing laundry, cleaning the house and buying groceries,” Quadlin said. “In addition, nearly 90 percent of our respondents thought that heterosexual men should be responsible for automobile maintenance and outdoor chores.”

When respondents were asked to assign tasks between same-sex partners, traditionally female chores were generally given to the more feminine partner, and traditionally male tasks were typically assigned to the more masculine partner.

“Even in same-sex couples where there are not sex differences between partners, people use gender differences as a way to approximate sex differences,” Quadlin said.

Women in heterosexual relationships were also expected by a large majority of respondents to handle the majority of child care tasks. As for same-sex couples, at least 60 percent of respondents expected the more feminine partner to attend to the emotional and physical needs of children.

More details about the study are available in an American Sociological Association news release.

Meeting Link: ASA Annual Meeting, Aug-2016