Role quality, multiple role involvement, and psychological well-being in midlife women.

Abstract

Women's occupancy of the social roles of paid worker, wife, and mother, and the quality of their experience in these three roles, were examined in relation to psychological well-being. Data were from a disproportionate random sample (N -238) of Caucasian women ages 35 to 55. Well-being was measured by indices of self-esteem, depression, and pleasure; pleasure was assessed by a scale consisting of single-item measures of happiness, satisfaction, and optimism. Role quality was measured by scales developed for this study that assessed the balance between the positive and negative attributes women perceived in their roles. Hierarchical regression analyses controlling for age, education, and income indicated that role occupancy per se was unrelated to well-being with one exception: occupying the role of paid worker significantly predicted self-esteem. In contrast, the three role quality variables were significant predictors of the well-being indices, with one exception: quality of experience in the role of mother did not predict pleasure. Overall, the findings suggest the importance of qualitative rather than quantitative aspects of role involvement and the need to examine different dimensions of well-being in relation to social roles.In a review of the literature on women's social roles, Long and Porter (1984) point to the existence of a kind of sex segregation in research and theory on multiple roles. For men, multiple roles have been seen as beneficial; Gove and Tudor (1973), for example, attributed the better mental health of men compared to women to their participation in both family and paid work roles. The topic of "dual roles," in contrast, has been seen as a woman's issue; for women, the role of paid worker is assumed to be added on to the normative condition of being a wife, mother, and homemaker. Role overload, role conflict, guilt, anxiety, and other hazards are expected to follow, resulting in impaired well-being. Two major hypotheses have been put forward concerning the relation of role involvement to well-being. The "scarcity" hypothesis (Marks, 1977), put forth by Goode (1960) and others, assumes that the social structure normally creates overly demanding role obligations, the more so the more roles one occupies. Because human energy is limited, well-being is impaired by the overload and conflict inherent in numerous, often incompatible roles. In contrast to this view, the "enhancement" hypothesis (Marks, 1977;Sieber, 1974) emphasizes the benefits rather than the costs of multiple role involvement: status, privileges, increased self-esteem, the ability to trade off undesirable components of roles. Like placing one's eggs in many baskets,

Work- and family-related variables, work–family conflict and women's well-being: some observations

“…Family-related variables were measured by number of children at home and spouse support. Spouse support was measured by eight items from a factor analysis of the modified scale of Baruch and Barnett's (1986) spousal experience. Sample items include 'Good communication' and 'Husband backing you up'.…”

Multiple roles and women's mental health in Canada

“…Other research has found no significant difference in the mental health outcomes between employed and unemployed women. [7,[11][12][13][14][15][16] Repetti et al compared the distress levels of employed and unemployed single and married women, and found that employment was associated with improved mental health for both groups. [17] A more recent study, which used a large, national sample, found that mental well-being was positively related to the mother's employment and negatively related to her total number of children.…”

“…[7] More recent research indicates that involvement in each role has both harmful and beneficial effects, and the balance between these varies depending on the characteristics of the role, the specific combination of roles, and the socio-economic context of women's lives. [8] Socio-economic status creates different experiences and exposures in daily life and these, in turn, have consequences for women's psychological health.…”

The Effects of Work on Family Life: A Review and Analysis of the Literature

“…The family related variables most often addressed as antecedents of conflict in these studies include: parental status, or the number and ages of children (Beutell and Greenhaus, 1982;Cartwright, 1978;Greenhaus and Kopelman, 1981;Keith and Schafer, 1980;Kingston and Nock, 1985;Pleck et al, 1980;Shamir, 1983); employment status of the spouse (Greenhaus and Kopelman, 1981;Pleck and Staines, 1982;Pleck et al, 1980; ) and the number of roles a woman occupies (Barnett, 1982;Baruch and Barnett, 1986;Cooke and Rousseau, 1984;Hall, 1975;Herman and Gyllstrom, 1977;Holahan and Gilbert, 1979b). Studies focusing on the number or types of roles occupied typically look for differences in the experience of work/family conflict as a function of being single, married with no children, or married with children.…”

“…The majority of work/family conflict studies are based on a role theory perspective of interrole conflict (Barnett, 1982;Baruch and Barnett, 1986;Greenhaus, 1982, 1983;Frone and Rice, 1987;Gilbert and Holahan, 1982;Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985;Greenhaus and Kopelman, 1981;Hall, 1972Hall, , 1975Hall and Gordon, 1973;Herman and Gyllstrom, 1977;Gilbert, 1979a, 1979b;Kopelman, Greenhaus and Connolly, 1983;Shamir, 1983). According to role theory (Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, and Rosenthal, 1964), individuals simultaneously occupy a number of different roles in their lives.…”