Washington -- In dual-earner families, mothers' and fathers' stress is caused more by the separate pressures of their job and family roles than by any conflict that arises from the demands of having both job and home responsibilities (i.e., job-family interference). This is one of the major findings of a new study by psychologists Neala S. Schwartzberg, Ph.D., and Rita Scher Dytell, Ph.D., appearing in the current issue of the American Psychological Association's Journal of Occupational Health Psychology.

As men and women take on increasingly similar levels of responsibility at work and within the home, their perception of work stress and family stress and their level of psychological well-being also become more similar. In this unique study, Drs. Schwartzberg and Dytell looked specifically at how self-esteem and depression in dual-earner mothers and fathers were affected by both work stress and family stress, as well as by job-family interference.

The authors found that both parents derive self-esteem from their accomplishments at work rather than accomplishments at home, while their emotional state of happiness or depression is obtained from the relationships they have within the family.

The study did not find any support for the idea that men's sense of well-being is defined by their work experiences while women's well-being is defined by their experiences within the family. Moreover, while family and work may hold equal importance for working mothers and working fathers, the two spheres may differ in their importance for self-esteem and depression.

Work stress was suggested by this study to be more important in determining the self-esteem of mothers than fathers, while family stress appeared to be more important in determining depression for fathers than mothers. Overall, the family stressors resulting in depression were different for mothers and fathers; dual-earner fathers reported depression due to lack of spousal support or family role insignificance, whereas dual-earner mothers were sensitive to a lack of task sharing.

These findings are consistent with previous studies indicating that working fathers seem more attuned to their emotional relationship with their spouses, whereas working mothers seem more attuned to the amount of actual assistance they receive around the house.

Reference: Dual-Earner Families: The Importance of Work Stress and Family Stress for Psychological Well-Being, by Neala S. Schwartzberg, Ph.D. and Rita Scher Dytell, Ph.D.; in Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Volume 1, Number 2, pp. 211-223.

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