Is ‘me-time’ selfish?: Daily vitality crossover in dual-earner couples

Abstract

This multisource daily diary study examined the recovery outcomes of working mothers' time spent for the self (i.e. me-time) and whether the benefits crossover to their husbands. Drawing on the recovery literature, we hypothesised that working mothers' me-time positively relates to their vitality. In line with the crossover theory, we expected a positive relationship between mothers' and their husbands' vitality, mediated via hostile marital interaction. Because working mothers commonly associate guilt with spending time for themselves, we further examined whether the benefits of me-time are qualified by mothers' guilt-proneness. Data were collected from 79 dyads of heterosexual dual-earner couples with children at bedtime for two work weeks. As expected, working mothers' me-time positively related to their own vitality, controlling for their time spent for others. Moreover, mothers' vitality positively related to their husbands' vitality, which was mediated by mothers' hostile marital interaction reported by husbands. Contrary to our expectation, the well-being benefits of me-time were similar across working mothers regardless of their guilt-proneness. Bridging two streams of research on recovery and crossover, this study represents an important contribution to the literature.