Stress and rewards in women's multiple roles: The case of women in the middle.

Abstract

This research examined stress and rewards experienced by 95 women who were simultaneously occupying the roles of caregiver, mother, and wife. The study examined role-specific stress and rewards as predictors of well-being (physical health, positive affect, negative affect, and role overload) and examined the effects of an accumulation of role stress and role rewards across these 3 roles. Role rewards contributed unique variance to well-being, even after role stress had been considered. An accumulation of role stress across roles was related to poorer well-being, whereas an accumulation of role rewards was related to better well-being. Findings indicated that caregivers' experiences in multiple roles could both detract from and enhance their mental and physical health.

Grandchildren's Perceptions of Caring for Grandparents

“…Caregivers often feel a sense of burden, stress, sleeplessness, and conflict associated with the long hours of caregiving (Stephens, Franks, & Townsend, 1994). Caregiver burden (i.e., the build up of stress from providing care) also may increase due to earlier characteristics of relationships with parents or spouses.…”

“…Caregiving can be a rewarding experience for both caregivers and care recipients. Specifically, rewards associated with the parent-care role from the perspective of female caregivers included that caregivers: (a) knew the parent was well cared for, (b) felt fulfillment in family obligation, (c) spent time with their parents, (d) gave care because they wanted to and not because they had to, (e) felt they had accomplished something in their lives, and (f) felt the parent showed them affection or appreciation for their caregiving duties (Stephens, Franks, & Townsend, 1994).…”

Beliefs of Icelandic elderly living in the greater Reykjavik area toward autonomy and paternalism in caregiving of the elderly

“…Stress and rewards in the women's roles as mothers were more consistent and more related to well-being than were stress and rewards in the caregiving roles. Suggestion is made that multiple roles should be examined in terms of quality and not simply in terms of role occupancy (Stephens, Franks and Townsend, 1994). Similar findings are reported by Stephens and Franks (1995) from their examination of how the role of caregiver and wife affect one another and how spillover effects are related to caregiver well-being.…”

“…Little attention has been given to issues of role quality in family caregiving and how the different roles influence well-being beyond the influence of the caregiver role. Stephens, Franks and Townsend (1994) examined role-specific stress and rewards experienced by 95 women who were simultaneously in the roles of caregiver, mother and wife. The findings supported researchers predictions that these caregiving women (daughters and daughters-in-law) would not only experience stress in their three roles but also many rewards in these same roles.…”

Locus de controle materno, satisfação com a vida e relacionamento com o filho adolescente

“…A incapacidade de controlar o comportamento do filho é um dos motivos de estresse no desempenho do papel materno (Stephens, Franks & Townsend, 1994). De fato, considerando-se apenas os índices específicos das principais variá-veis analisadas, verificou-se que os diversos aspectos do locus de controle parental foram mais preditivos que os aspectos da satisfação com a vida.…”