A married couple has experienced academic success. Now they are facing the task of searching for their high-end jobs. Once they've both obtained employment in their chosen professions, they need to balance their personal and professional lives. With this comes a lot of stress. Duel career couples need to develop necessary coping skills in both their work and home life to succeed.
Workforce
It has been estimated that approximately 80 percent of the workforce in the year 2000 consisted of dual career couples. In that same year, women were a majority in the workforce at 60 percent. This means more couples are facing dual career decisions. For example, when to have children, who will be with them as well as moving for which career and more are all important questions facing dual career couples.
Multiple Responsibilities
Women are used to dealing with multiple responsibilities when it comes to relationships. In dual-career marriages, women are often expected to focus on the role of wife and mother over their career. This causes a lot of marital conflicts. Society tends to accept men and their work and family roles. Expectations of intimacy between a couple can suffer. This often requires men to change their approach to work and family for the marriage to succeed. They should develop an ability to understand and accommodate their spouse’s needs concerning work and family life.
Dealing With Stress
Even when things go well, it can cause strain on a couple's relationship. There may be disagreements when it comes to having children, moving to accommodate one career over the other, balancing work and free time. These disagreements can grow and overwhelm the most loving couples. It's important they make agreements on such issues and honor those agreements.
Trailing Spouse Syndrome
This is a situation where one marriage partner experiences much less professional success than the other spouse. This can happen when the less successful partner has made major sacrifices for the career of their spouse. This type of frustration and resentment is nothing new. Experts agree that dual career couples need to effectively establish and communicate priorities.
Staggering Careers
This works for some couples. When one spouse intentionally starts their graduate education later, it may avoid competition. This could mean one spouse is working in their career while the other is finishing their education. Both couples are able to pursue their career without the pressure of both being in school at the same time. This requires a strong relationship. When it is successful, the couple succeeds and also experiences a reduction in stress when it comes to pursing their careers.
High Divorce Rate
Many people view duel-career couples as having the best types of marriages. The reality is that these couples have some of the high divorce rates in the United States. Many couples worry too much about meeting the expectations of others. They feel if they don't have a successful career and relationship they've failed. It's important for these couples to develop effective support systems. They need to develop a routine of being nurturing. Duel-career couples also need be comfortable depending on one another.