“Thank u, next”? Repartnering and the household division of labor

Abstract

Objective: Drawing on life course and gender theories, this study tests competing hypotheses about the effect of repartnering on women's and men's levels and shares of housework. Background: Amidst increasing cohabitation rates and union instability, women and men are likely to form and dissolve multiple marital and nonmarital unions with different partners over the life course. However, most of our knowledge about the role of past relationships are based on cross-sectional studies comparing first- and higher-order union. This study investigates whether people change their housework arrangements upon repartnering and whether women and men experience similar patterns of change in heterosexual relationships. Method: The analysis draws on 40 years of longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and a sample of 1897 women and men who were observed in two sequential heterosexual unions. The author used fixed effects models to estimate change in housework behavior upon repartnering. Results: Overall, the results show stability in housework behavior upon repartnering once controlling for other life course changes that concur with repartnering. Women continued doing the majority of housework upon repartnering. Conclusion: The results suggest that forming a new heterosexual union evokes gender scripts which overall maintains the gendered housework behavior. Although housework is dynamic over the life course, the gender dynamics that shape housework is stable amid union instability.