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It’s a Match: The Relevance of Matching Chronotypes for
Dual-Earner Couples’Daily Recovery From Work
Jette Völker, Anne Casper, Theresa J. S. Koch, and Sabine Sonnentag
Department of Psychology, University of Mannheim
Cohabiting dual-earner couples are increasingly common. However, previous recovery research mainly
focused on employees independently of others, thereby overlooking an essential part of their life. Therefore,
we take a closer look at dual-earner couples’recovery processes and link this research to a circadian
perspective. We assumed that unfinished tasks impede engagement in time with the partner (absorption in
joint activities, directing attention toward the partner) as well as recovery experiences (detachment,
relaxation), whereas engagement in time with the partner should boost recovery experiences. Integrating
a circadian perspective, we proposed that employees from couples with matching circadian preferences
(chronotype) benefit more from engagement in time with their partner (i.e., stronger relationships with
recovery experiences). Additionally, we explored whether a match between partners’chronotypes buffers
the negative relationship between unfinished tasks and engagement in joint time. We conducted a daily diary
study with 143 employees from 79 dual-earner couples, providing data on 1,052 days. A three-level path
model showed that unfinished tasks were negatively related to absorption in joint activities and detachment,
whereas absorption positively predicted recovery experiences. Furthermore, the couples’chronotype match
mattered in the interplay with engagement in joint time: for couples with higher (vs. lower) chronotype
match, experiencing detachment depended on absorption while for couples with lower (vs. higher)
chronotype match, attention was even harmful for experiencing relaxation. Thus, it is crucial to consider
employees’partners when investigating their recovery processes because employees cannot act indepen-
dently if they also need to take their partner’s circadian rhythms into account.
Keywords: dual-earner couples, recovery experiences, unfinished tasks, chronotype, circadian rhythms
Supplemental materials: https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000351.supp
When employees experience a stressful day at work, recovering
after work is essential to prevent adverse well-being consequences
(Bennett et al., 2018;Sonnentag et al., 2022;Steed et al., 2021). In
most studies examining recovery processes, however, employees
are portrayed as individuals who experience recovery independently
from one another. This approach does not reflect most employees’
everyday life, as it neglects the social context they are embedded in.
Because employees are rarely independent of others, especially in
romantic relationships, an essential aspect of recovery processes is
neglected (e.g., Hahn et al., 2012,2014).
Cohabiting with a partner is one of the most common life concepts
(United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, 2021). Over and
above, the number of dual-earner couples is steadily increasing
(Adema et al., 2020), with both partners working and needing to
recover after work. Cohabiting dual-earner couples might spend a
large part of their leisure time and, thus, many recovery opportunities
together. Engagement in time with the partner can boost employees’
recovery by switching from their work role to their private role and
leaving work behind (Hahn et al., 2012;Rothbard, 2001). At the
same time, job stressors such as a high amount of unfinished tasks can
make it difficult to focus on the partner after work (Rothbard, 2001).
Unfinished tasks constitute a common and relevant job stressor due to
increasing workloadand limited possibility of finishing work tasks in
time (Eurofound, 2017). Unfinished tasks can reach into employees’
after-work hours by increasing negative activation and self-focused
attention (Mor & Winquist, 2002;Syrek & Antoni, 2014;Wood
et al., 1990). By increasing employees’self-focused attention,
unfinished tasks potentially limit engagement in the time with their
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This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
This article was published Online First March 27, 2023.
Jette Völker https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5369-7484
Anne Casper https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1163-4426
Theresa J. S. Koch https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4462-0095
Sabine Sonnentag https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9464-4653
The authors thank Beatrice Binder, Zoe Georgiadis, Lea K. Hobrecker,
Deborah F. Merl, Berit Rommelfanger, and Nikola Stoellger for their support
during data collection, as well as Monika Wiegelmann and Verena C. Haun
for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.
Jette Völker played lead role in conceptualization, formal analysis,
methodology, investigation, writing–original draft and writing–review
and editing and equal role in data curation and project administration.
Anne Casper played supporting role in conceptualization, investigation,
methodology and writing–review and editing and equal role in data cura-
tion, project administration and supervision. Theresa J. S. Koch played
supporting role in conceptualization, methodology and writing–review and
editing. Sabine Sonnentag played supporting role in conceptualization,
formal analysis, investigation, methodology, and writing–review and edit-
ing and equal role in supervision.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressedtoJette
Völker, Department of Psychology, Univer sityo f Mannheim, A5, 6, C108,
D-68159 Mannheim, Germany. Email: jette.voelker@uni-mannheim.de
Journal of Occupational Health Psychology
© 2023 American Psychological Association 2023, Vol. 28, No. 3, 174–191
ISSN: 1076-8998 https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000351
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