I Will Follow Him: Myth, Reality, or Forced Choice—Job-Seeking Experiences of Dual-Career Couples

Recent PhDs in psychology and biological sciences with spouses who were also professionals were surveyed; the focus was on their joint job-seeking. Couples frequently described egalitarian decision rules. But traditional patterns were also evident, particularly among the biological-science sample. Egalitarianism decreased in the actual job decisions made, but here the traditional alternative was frequently cited as a forced choice. Responses to simulations showed egalitarian decisions to be common under low constraint conditions. Constraints such as the need for a job and time pressure produced more nonegalitarian decisions. However, under these hypothetical conditions, the constraints were as likely to produce nontraditional as traditional following. It is suggested that the high traditionality of actual job decisions is, at least in part, a result of institutional constraints.