In the midst of concerns relating to distress, the working mother would do good to remember that removing all stressors from work is frequently not feasible nor may it always be desirable. When one recognizes that the potential for positive outcomes of the stress process exists, the potential to identify ways to manage of work-related demands and experience satisfaction, contentment and better performance in the workplace and at home increases. Recognizing, acquiring, and implementing the tools necessary to more effectively manage workplace demands that may translate into stressors, however, requires education and effort.
In the following table, Straub (2006) compares a number of common hassles working mothers may experience to numerous common uplifts they may cultivate or nurture to help them better cope with stressors in their multiple roles.
Common Hassles Compared to Common Uplifts (Straub, 2006, p. 104).
Common Hassles
Common Uplifts
1. Concern about weight
1. Relating well with spouse of lover
2. Health of family member
2. Relating well with friends
3. Rising prices of common goods
3. Completing a task
4. Home maintenance
4. Feeling healthy
5. Too many things to do
5. Getting enough sleep
6. Misplacing are losing things
6. Eating out
7. Yard work; outside home maintenance
7. Meeting responsibilities
8. Property, investment, or taxes
8. Visiting, phoning, or writing someone
9. Taxes
9. Spending time with family
10. Physical appearance
10. Pleasing home environment
Quinn M. Pearson (2008) argues that multiple roles can positively impact the working mother's happiness and life satisfaction in the report: "Role overload, job satisfaction, leisure satisfaction, and psychological health among employed women." Multiple roles may provide "more outlets for one's interests, abilities, values, and self-concept. Closely aligned with this perspective is the role enhancement hypothesis… which emphasizes that multiple roles can be energizing and provide opportunities for meaningful involvement" (Pearson, p. 34). The role scarcity perception, however, like the scarcity hypothesis (Straub, 2006) purports that when role demands increase, the individual's limits to time and energy may exhaust and overtax the individual. This counters the supposition noted earlier that "that the quality of roles rather than the number of roles has the greater impact on life satisfaction" (Ibid.). The subsequent effect of multiple roles on the working mother's well-being, the literature indicates, relates to the individual nature of the working mother's experiences.
Findings from the study, "Calling and conflict: A qualitative exploration of interrole conflict and the sanctification of work in Christian mothers in academia, Kerris L.M. Oates, M. Elizabeth Lewis Hall, and Tamara L. Anderson (2005) suggest that a relationship exists between spirituality and coping construct. Spirituality "has emerged as a key component of individual psychology. Its relevance to the topic of interrole conflict is suggested by its consistent connection to well-being" (Oates, Hall, & Anderson, ¶ 2). Extensive research demonstrates that working...
) who complement one another in order to achieve functions of the family. In the opinion of Stephan Beach and Linda L. Lindsey, who are the authored, "Essentials of Sociology," reproduction, socialization, provision of protection, regulation of sexual behavior, companionship for the members of a society all comes under the functions of family along with the social placement (2003:290). It is gender according to which the roles are divided in the
1986). In actuality, as long as there is enough love and support at home, a woman working outside the home could actually provide some very useful instruction to her children, not just on the redefinition of gender roles and the multiplicity of a woman's choices that has occurred in recent decades, but also on the responsibilities of life and the hard work it takes to achieve success. This conclusion is
The study focused on mothers in management because as white collar workers they were more inclined to suffer from the loss of steam, reputation ability to advance as they worked to combine their mothering responsibilities with the needs of the career. In addition they would have the financial ability to negotiate roles and if needed move into different jobs as opposed to quit all together to go home. Gaining greater knowledge
Working Parent Working full time while being a parent to two children is one of the most challenging positions to be in. According to Barrow (2006), most working parents spend just 19 minutes a day looking after their children. The situation is more intense for working mothers than fathers, as record numbers of women are working full time while also contending with mortgages, household bills, and rising cost of petrol and
"From the moment of conception where our survival depends on the intrinsic and extrinsic decisions of our host, to the conflicts of development within our internal and external environment, we are consistently reconciling our past, present and future" (Bjorklund & Bee, 2008). Many of the studies of stressful life events and health have used the Schedule of Recent Experiences, an instrument developed in the mid 1950s, or the Social Readjustment Rating
Role effect women World War One. Women during the First World War This paper discuses in regard to women who were required to abandon their traditional role as housekeepers during the First World War. These individuals were virtually forced to employ all of their efforts in order to provide for their families, for soldiers on the front, and for their countries as a whole. Even with this, it is only safe to
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