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Work and Occupations, Vol. 35, No. 2, 127-163 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0730888408315543

Life Course Patterns of Career-Prioritizing Decisions and Occupational Attainment in Dual-Earner Couples

Joy E. Pixley

University of California, Irvine, jpixley{at}uci.edu

Couples' long-term pattern of favoring one spouse's career in major decisions is thought to affect occupational trajectories, but current research has looked only at short-term effects of single decisions. This article applies a new technique, the interpolated curves approach, to represent and compare life course patterns of major career-prioritizing decisions, using in-depth data from 51 couples. Five clusters of career hierarchy patterns are identified; the patterns predict income better than summary measures of career hierarchy, including average individual career gains to decisions and self-reported career priority. Findings are significant for wives, and are similar but weaker for husbands.

Key Words: dual-earner couples • career hierarchy • occupational attainment • life course • methods


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