Division of labor, perceived labor-related stress and well-being among European couples

Background: The objective of this study was to analyze how involvement in paid and unpaid work and perceived labor-related stress are re- lated to the well-being of married or cohabiting men and women in Europe. Methods: Data from the European Social Survey round two has been used. The sample consists of 5800 women and 6952 men, aged between 18 - 65 years. Exposure variables were divided into labor involvement, time spent on paid and unpaid work, and la- bor-related stress. Multiple logistic regressions with 95 % confidence interval were used. Re- sults: Women spent more hours on housework than men did, but fewer hours on paid work. Women tended to perceive higher degrees of housework-related stress than men did. Fur- thermore, women who experienced housework- related stress tended to have higher odds of reporting a low level of perceived well-being than men, while men had higher odds of report- ing a low level of perceived well-being when they experienced work/family conflicts. Conclu- sion: For both men and women, the perceptions of labor involvement are of more importance for the well-being than the actual time spent on paid and unpaid work. This implies that, when study- ing the relationship between labor involvement and well-being, perceived stress should be con- sidered