The broad links between the family as an institution and the economic and social structure have traditionally constituted important areas of inquiry within the social sciences. Still, as Kanter (1977) noted, the connection between working and loving in the everyday life of families has been obscured by what she called the “myth of separate worlds.” In this view, work and family represent two distinct worlds that operate according to their own laws. In Victorian imagery, the family was a woman’s place — a haven of comfort and peace (Degler, 1980; Lasch, 1977). In contrast, the realm of work seemed naturally to be a man’s world—harsh and competitive.

Families and Work

Halloween, 1972. My face was broken, the cheekbones, the jaw. My head had gone through the windshield of the Volkswagen bug and then my leg, as the seat broke backwards, and then my face again, and my pelvis and my ribs hitting things, or being hit, ricocheting. I have a body memory of my right eye out of its socket, lying in wetness on my cheek. And then there was blackness, unconsciousness, coma. Once the kind-faced doctor tried cheering me. ‘‘You’ve only lost about 10‐15% of your I.Q.,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s plenty left.’’ Did he not know that his patient who could not do her times tables was a professor of sociology who taught advanced statistics at a major research university? She had not the slightest idea now what ‘‘10‐15%’’ meant, but she could hear, feel the word, lost. What had I lost? Much more than I.Q. points. I had lost access to my brain. I had lost language: my sword and my shield.My habitual routes for naming things weretorn up, blocked o¶ ; paths to words and formulae were gone. I could not locate where anything was stored in my brain. I could feel my mind searching ‐ this way, no, that way, up here, try there ‐ searching, searching in my brain, as if it were a computer, searching for words, thoughts, connections, searching for memory, endless searches. Sometimes I could sense the place where a word was ‘‘hiding,’’ but I couldn’t make it come out, be recognized, be spoken. When I could e nd the word’s e rst letter, I felt grateful. I still do.

Getting personal: Writing-stories

Research on wartime, long routine, and short routine marital separation is reviewed, with focus on spouses' distress, coping, and reunion reactions. Spouses' reactions are interpreted from the perspective of J. Bowlby's (1969) attachment theory (a) to illustrate similarities in spouses' reactions across different types of separation experiences, which argue for an integration of research in this field within a single conceptual framework; (b) to illustrate underlying similarities in separation reactions of adults and children, which further legitimize current extrapolations of attachment theory to adults; and (c) to conceptualize the differential reactions of home-based and traveling spouses, thereby extending attachment theory as it applies to adult romantic relationships. It is argued that a more comprehensive approach to the study of love and intimacy in adulthood requires attention to both the attachment and the caregiving systems.

Attachment Theory As Applied to Wartime and Job-Related Marital Separation

The conventional concept of linear progression through a traditional life cycle underlies much of social science theory The utility of retaining the traditional life-cycle framework has declined rapidly as patterns of family and nonfamily structure and behavior have become more diversified A more comprehensive framework which encompasses these new household types is suggested The utility of this expanded life-cycle model is explored, with particular reference to single-headed family households and primary households

Reformulation of the family life-cycle concept: implications for residential mobility.

This study examined the quality of life of women and men in two types of dual-career families. Individuals from 90 commuting and 133 single-residence dual-career couples were compared on measures of satisfaction and stress. Commuters were more satisfied with their work life and with the time they had for themselves, and were more dissatisfied with family life, with their partner relationships, and with life as a whole. Commuters did not report experiencing a more stressful lifestyle than did single-residence dual-career respondents, and commuters reported significantly less overload. There were no significant interactions of gender with dual-career family type on measures of either satisfaction or stress. Among commuters, there were no significant differences in self-reported satisfaction or stress between those who traveled and those who stayed at the primary residence, and there were no Commuter Role (traveler vs. nontraveler) x Gender interactions. We concluded that the commuting lifestyle can have both rewards and costs, and that in some ways single-residence dual-career lifestyle may be more stressful and dissatisfying.

Quality of life in dual-career families: Commuting versus single-residence couples.

In a study of two-location families, we have seen that this lifestyle is not historically atypical. Male-determined two-location families have been established for economic and other reasons. The women-determined two-location family seems to be a relatively new pattern. We suggest that the Women's Movement has helped create a situation where it is possible for women to get more support than men for women-determined two-location families. The sustaining of intimacy in such marriages becomes problematic. Stress may be minimized when there is high career motivation in both parties, acceptance of the wife's career motivation by the husband, high incomes, geographical propinquity, and a long-term marital relationship.

Laurel Richardson Walum

Papers

Two-location families

The Art of Domination: An Analysis of Power in Paradise Lost