Results are reported from a 2-year study designed to explore how the nature of women's jobs, as viewed by women and their husbands, influences the system of nuclear family relationships and affects parents' involvement with their children's schools. The research has evolved into a comparative exploratory study of the responses of 30 families to wives' employment in jobs requiring no more than a high school education. All of the participating families, representing Anglo, Black, and Mexican-American ethnic groups, were generally at the same stage of family cycle. Specifically, wives' employment took place within two types of businesses: (1) a large telephone company where working women experienced little autonomy in organizing their work, close supervision and high pressure, and almost no flexibility in taking short-term emergency leave to deal with family/children's needs; and (2) three large banks in which women experienced a greater range of autonomy, a much more relaxed relationship with their supervisors, and relatively flexible policies for short-term emergency leave. Evidence was presented which suggests a link between low autonomy/rigid short-term leave policies and the following effects: greater stress and strain on the system of relationships within the nuclear family, mothers' feelings of parental inadequacy, and lower levels of parent involvement in the schools. Interview schedules used for the first and second phases of the study, descriptions of work and family environment scales, tabular data, and other related materials are appended. (MP)