Dyadic Temporal Rhythms of Work and Coparenting and Shared Well-Being among Korean Dual-Income Parents

Objective: To examine how dual-income parents coordinate coparenting schedules, how couple-level work characteristics shape these patterns, and how they relate to shared and individual well-being.Background: Drawing on structural symbolic interactionism and time-geographic perspectives, this study conceptualizes coparenting as a dyadic process in which role expectations are enacted within structurally constrained daily time. In this context, demanding work characteristics constitute a key structural constraint.Method: Using nationally representative 2009, 2014, and 2019 Korean Time Use Survey data of 758 dual-earner parents, we identified dyadic coparenting schedules using multichannel sequence and cluster analyses. Multinomial logistic regression and dyadic structural equation models assessed how couple-level work characteristics (work schedule irregularity, commute timing, and work hours) predicted coparenting schedules and how these schedules related to shared and individual well-being.Results: Five coparenting schedules emerged: mother-centered care with morning–evening peaks (47%), evening shared care (24%), mother-centered all-day care (12%), father-centered evening care (10%), and transition to shared care (7%). Shared caregiving clusters were more likely when wives worked longer, more irregular, or later schedules than husbands. These clusters reported lower shared time pressure and higher shared life satisfaction, with fathers benefiting beyond shared effects.Conclusion: Understanding work constraints requires a couple-level perspective that foregrounds gendered dynamics in how paid work and caregiving are coordinated. Workplace and policy interventions that address these gendered dynamics may more effectively support coparenting.