Life role salience among black African dual-career couples in the South African context

The rise of the dual-career family has meant that managing and balancing the demands of diverse life roles has become a challenge for both men and women. Contemporary western career development theories focus extensively on the differences in the career development of men and women, but these theories may not generalise unconditionally to non-western contexts. This study probes the applicability of life role salience theory in dual-career couples in a non-western context. Data were collected from black African dual-career couples with the Life Role Salience Scale developed by Amatea, Cross, Clark and Bobby (1986). The results indicate that black African dual-career couples' personal satisfaction or fulfilment from life roles was higher than the level of commitment of personal resources they were willing to dedicate to these roles. Black African women displayed the same level of salience towards career over a lifespan as men. In addition, a gender-differentiated pattern towards work and family roles throughout the lifespan did not emerge. In contrast to theoretical expectation, role salience reversal in the middle adulthood and middle career phase did not seem to occur.