A CSO Frontier Series Output- What is this?
This release has been compiled during the COVID-19 crisis. The results contained in this release reflect some of the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 situation. For further information see Background Notes.
CSO statistical release, , 11am
Each of us has a unique experience of life at home, with different relationships, supports and challenges. The distribution of power and decision-making between partners in a couple has an influence on the ability of individuals in a couple to access opportunities outside the home. This is why the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has produced ‘Life at Home - Couples’, which is the third publication to be produced from the first online CSO Pulse Survey as part of the CSO ‘Take Part’ campaign. Pulse surveys, which take the ‘pulse’ of the country about an issue at a point in time, are usually short and frequent. They allow the public an opportunity to get involved in CSO surveys so that your story can become part of the story of Ireland. This report focuses on couples and includes insights into the division of household tasks; decision making; frequency of disagreements; and satisfaction with the division of tasks and decisions.
This online survey was carried out between Monday 24 May and Monday 07 June 2021 and was open to anyone aged 18 and over who is living in private accommodation in the Republic of Ireland. The online electronic questionnaire was available on the CSO.ie website and on all CSO social media platforms. There were 10,454 responses.
This report is a Frontier publication. The results in this report reflect only the responses of those who completed the Pulse survey questionnaire. While results are benchmarked to Irish population totals, the findings cannot be generalised to the entire Irish population, as the people who answered the questionnaire were not chosen at random from the population. Even with this caveat however, we hope that this report provides a valuable insight into life at home in Ireland. See the Background Notes for further details on the survey methodology.
Couples – Respondents living with a spouse or partner
The ‘Life at Home’ Pulse Survey asked people if they live with a spouse or a partner. For this report, those respondents who answered ‘Yes’ are classified as being in a couple.
Respondents living with a partner or spouse were asked
Between you and your spouse/partner, who is mostly responsible for organising and taking care of:
Response options to these questions were (1) Mostly me (2) Balanced and (3) Mostly my spouse/partner.
In this report, respondents are classified into three groups; those who said responsibilities are balanced for less than three of the seven household tasks and chores (0-2 Balanced); those who said responsibilities are balanced for three or four of the seven tasks (3-4 Balanced); those who said responsibilities are balanced for five or more of the seven tasks (5-7 Balanced).
Parents with a child (aged 18 or younger) in their home were asked three additional questions about who is mostly responsible for
Respondents living with a spouse or partner were asked to rate on a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 is 'not satisfied at all' and 10 is 'completely satisfied', how satisfied they are with how household tasks and chores are divided between the partners. These respondents were also asked to rate their satisfaction level with how the most important decisions are made in their households. Respondents with a score between zero and five are classified in this report as having a Low level of satisfaction. Those with a score between six and eight have a Medium level of satisfaction and those with a score of nine or ten are classified as having a High level of satisfaction.
A summary of the main findings from the analysis are presented below. Comparisons between same sex and opposite sex couples are made in chapter 2; the differences in perceptions of women and men in opposite sex couples are explored in chapter 3; the responses of women and men in same sex couples are analysed in chapter 4.
X-axis label | Balanced |
---|---|
Household chores | 42 |
Financial decisions | 61 |
Home and garden maintanence | 31 |
Groceries and meals | 36 |
Household health | 54 |
Utilities | 24 |
Socialising | 59 |
Same Sex Couples
Opposite Sex Couples
Impact of children in the household of opposite sex couples
Opposite sex couples- both employed
Opposite sex couples-one person employed
Retired couples
Financial freedom
Go to next chapter >>> Opposite Sex and Same Sex Couples
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