title: Sex-role beliefs, work attitudes and mental health in employed and non-employed mothers.
abstract: The attitudes of mothers to their home and child-care role, to their employment role and to sex roles are potentially important correlates of mental health but have been little researched. Results from a general population survey of 160 working-class mothers of young children suggest that dissatisfaction with the home-maker role is associated with higher levels of psychiatric symptoms, psychological distress and self-depreciation. These relationships are strongest for full-time home-makers. For employed mothers, dual-role conflict was more strongly associated with psychological distress than was job satisfaction. Liberal sex-role attitudes were associated with lower psychiatric symptom levels in employed mothers and with higher self-esteem in non-employed mothers. There was a significant interaction between employment status and sex-role beliefs in relation to anxiety. Employed mothers with traditional attitudes and non-employed mothers with liberal attitudes were more anxious. This result was replicated in an independent sample of 200 working-class and middle-class mothers.
mesh_terms: D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000523:psychology; D001290:Attitude; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007062:Identification, Psychological; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008603:Mental Health; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D012923:Social Class; D014931:Women, Working / Q000523:psychology