The role conflict-burnout-depression link among Chinese female health care and social service providers: the moderating effect of marriage and motherhood

Abstract

Background Women with depression disorder outnumber men, and health care and social service providers are mostly female. Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study aims to examine the association between role conflicts and depression among health care and social service providers, and further investigate the mediating effect of burnout, as well as the moderating effect of marital status and motherhood. Methods The data come from the baseline of the ‘China Social Work Longitudinal Study’ conducted in 2019, which contains 1,219 female social workers who reported work-family conflict. The five items of the scale in our model were extracted from the existing literature to ensure the construct validity of potential variables, and confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were also conducted to ensure the validity and reliability of the scale. Descriptive analyses and correlation analyses were performed with SPSS 24, while the path analysis was conducted using Amos 24. The moderating effects of marital status and motherhood were further tested using multiple-group analyses. Results Female health care and social service providers experienced a high level of depression. Work-to-family conflict (WFC), family-to-work conflict (FWC), and organizational role conflict (ORC) were significantly and positively associated with female social workers’ depression. Exhaustion and cynicism fully mediated the effects of ORC on depression and partially mediated the effects of WFC on depression. In addition, FWC had only a direct effect on depression. A multiple-group analysis further indicated that both marital status and motherhood status may have played a moderating role in the conflict-burnout-depression link and that being unmarried and having no child were risk factors for depression in female health care and social service providers. Conclusions Marriage and motherhood have both negative and positive effects on the depression of female health care and social service providers. This suggests that marriage and motherhood may act as a form of “family clientelism” for female health care and social service providers who marry and have children.

Personality and occupational correlates of anxiety and depression in nurses: the contribution of role conflict, core self-evaluations, negative affect and bullying

“…This study found that there was a significant positive relationship between role conflict with anxiety and depression. These findings were in consistent with previous studies conducted by Zheng et al [ 42 ], Desouky and Allam [ 46 ], Niedhammer et al [ 31 ] and Nakada et al [ 47 ]. Zheng et al [ 42 ] found that female health care and social service providers experienced a high level of depression.…”

“…These findings were in consistent with previous studies conducted by Zheng et al [ 42 ], Desouky and Allam [ 46 ], Niedhammer et al [ 31 ] and Nakada et al [ 47 ]. Zheng et al [ 42 ] found that female health care and social service providers experienced a high level of depression. Organizational role conflict was significantly and positively associated with female social workers' depression.…”

“…Multiple regression was used to assess the ability of predictor variables in predicting depression and anxiety. We entered the predictors in the regression equation based on the theoretical importance of the variables according to the evidence in the literature [16,29,[42][43][44][45]. The level of significance was considered to be 95% (p < 0.05).…”

Care engagement with healthcare providers and symptom management self-efficacy in women living with HIV in China: secondary analysis of an intervention study

“…This study was conducted among Chinese WLWH. Chinese WLWH react differently to symptom management self-efficacy than men because of their gender roles, as in this traditional culture, women tend to be more responsible for doing house chores, taking care of family members as well as making sure the ends meet [ 36 , 37 ]. Also, WLWH are more likely to be victims of domestic violence and their household responsibilities are heavy, which can compromise their ability to cope with the disease [ 38 ].…”

Latent Occupational Burnout Profiles of Working Women

“…The confirmation of a latent relationship is provided by the results of a study conducted in a group of women employed in health care. They showed that emotional exhaustion and depersonalization mediate between work-related pressure (WHC) and psychological disorders in working women [ 14 ]. Therefore, taking into account gender and social roles in the search for burnout predictors seems to be a vital research direction.…”