Persisting Problems with Operationalizing Dual-Career Couples: A Proposal to Use the Term Dual-Income Couples

Abstract

For decades, published articles regarding employed couples have used inconsistent terminology and loosely defined terms, thus hindering the comparability of findings. Articles drawing attention to this problem have been published, as long as 25 years ago. The first purpose of the current study is to see if these inconsistencies with terminology and definitions still exist in the literature by using content analysis. The second purpose of the current study involves seeing if dual-career couples can be consistently categorized as such. A sample of couples was recruited and three common operationalizations of a career were used to classify the participants as having a career or a job. This study verifies that inconsistencies still exist with the terminology being used and in determining which couples are members of dual-career couples. Most couples were not consistently categorized as dual career. I propose abandoning the practice of using the term “dual-career couple” and instead to use the more inclusive term “dual-income couple.” Researchers also should provide more detailed information about the couples used in their samples.

KEYWORDS:

• couple
• dual career
• dual earner
• dual income
• terminology