Salvation of the second shift: Are wives immune to monday blues?

In an internet survey, 702 Australians reported momentary and typical moods for each day of the week (DOW). Both mood measures indicated a gender x marital status x DOW interaction, wherein wives were relatively immune to Monday blues compared to husbands and single adults. Due to traditional gender stereotypes and roles within the household, wives may not associate Mondays with the loss of discretionary leisure and the onset of paid work. Consistent with this explanation, wives reported doing housework on the weekend more frequently than single women and men. They also experienced weekend leisure less frequently and performed substantially fewer hours of paid labor during the week compared to men, although there was no difference between single and married women on either variable. However, none of these variables mediated the gender x marital status x DOW effect on reported moods, suggesting that additional factors underlie wives' immunity to Monday blues.