Multiple roles and women's mental health in Canada

Abstract

Health Issue: Research on the relationship between women's social roles and mental health has been equivocal. Although a greater number of roles often protect mental health, certain combinations can lead to strain. Our study explored the moderating affects of different role combinations on women's mental health by examining associations with socioeconomic status and differences in women's distress (depressive symptoms, personal stress (role strain) and chronic stress (role strain plus environmental stressors).Key Findings: Women with children, whether single or partnered, had a higher risk of personal stress. Distress, stress and chronic stress levels of mothers, regardless of employment, or marital status, are staggeringly high. Single, unemployed mothers were significantly more likely than all other groups to experience financial stress and food insecurity. For partnered mothers, rates of personal stress and chronic stress were significantly lower among unemployed partnered mothers. Married and partnered mothers reported better mental health than their single counterparts. Lone, unemployed mothers were twice as likely to report a high level of distress compared with other groups. Lone mothers, regardless of employment status, were more likely to report high personal and chronic stress. Data Gaps and Recommendations:National health surveys need to collect more data on the characteristics of women's work environment and their care giving responsibilities. Questions on household composition should include inter-generational households, same sex couples and multifamily arrangements. Data disaggregation by ethno-racial background would be helpful. Data should be collected on perceived quality of domestic and partnership roles and division of labours.

Women's patterns of everyday occupations and alcohol consumption

“…This could be described as an everyday pattern, with a lack of meaningful engagement in occupations, combined with environmental demands (e.g. motherhood) or disturbances, leading to dissatisfaction or, with reference to other studies (14,37), to stress and lower self-reported health. In our study, problematic alcohol consumption was not associated with living under strained or disadvantaged life circumstances.…”

Sex-specific interaction effects of age, occupational status, and workplace stress on psychiatric symptoms and allostatic load among healthy Montreal workers

“…In Canada and other industrial nations, differential exposures to workplace stressors are partially explained by an unequal sex distribution among occupations that generally render women of diverse ages and social strata (Maclean et al, 2004) more vulnerable to adverse D-C-S profiles and associated psychiatric symptoms (Marchand et al, 2005a,b,c;Vermeulen & Mustard, 2000). For example, women have a higher lifetime risk of developing depressive and anxiety disorders than do men (Seedat et al, 2009).…”

Sex × Gender and Sexual Orientation in Relation to Stress Hormones and Allostatic Load

“…In Canada and other industrial nations, differential exposures to workplace stressors are partially explained by an unequal sex distribution among occupations that often render women of diverse ages and social strata 128 more vulnerable to psychiatric disorders. 129 -131 These sex differences may be due, in part, to divergent gender roles and ranks held within occupational hierarchies.…”