Taking credit: couples' reports of contributions to child care

Biases in husbands' and wives' reports of the relative distribution of child-care responsibility, and the effect of those biases on marital adjustment, were examined in this study. Two hundred and sixty-eight married couples estimated each spouse's percentage contribution to 32 specific child-care tasks and to five global aspects of child-care responsibilities, and completed the Spanier dyadic adjustment scale. The t tests comparing husbands' and wives' estimates on the child care measures showed a consistent credit-taking bias. Spouses gave themselves more credit for participation on a given task than they were given by their partners. Pearson correlations between the degree of credit-taking and marital satisfaction were not significant. The inconsistency between credit-taking for child care and other evidence suggesting an idealization bias between spouses is discussed.