What is the theory behind the worksheet?
This worksheet is based on the Role Theory. This theory specifies that marriage partners most likely chose each other having similar expectations of marital roles (Ogletree, 2014).
How will the worksheet help?
The present worksheet will help practitioners identify the cause of clients’ marital disagreements.
How to use the worksheet?
Conflict and miscommunications in marriage come from unrealistic expectations about the allocation of roles between partners. Who should do what? Are your expectations justified, or are you thinking too idealistically?
The present worksheet contains a list of couple of activities accompanied by roles to straighten out the expectations and the realities.
Roles and Expectations in Marriage worksheet
| Role | His job | Her Job | Why? |
| Cooking | |||
| Weekend activities | |||
| Housekeeping | |||
| Do the groceries | |||
| Pay the bills | |||
| Initiating sex |
How do you manage conflict? What about your partner?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Which is your main role in the marriage? Why?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Describe briefly which are the main strengths in your marriage:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
References
Ogletree, S. M. (2014). Gender role attitudes and expectations for marriage. Journal of Research on Women and Gender, 5(1), pp. 71-82.
You can download this worksheet here.