Family, Parenting and health

1
Family, Parenting and health
2
Effects of Wife Employment

• Who does the domestic work?
• The imbalance between spouses and the domestic
  work.
• The double shift
• No change in gender stereotyping

3
Domestic Division of Labour

• The three broad influences on domestic division
  of labour
• 1. Traditional beliefs about gender
  roles-childhood socialization and expectations in
  social organizations.
• Husbands are categorized into three groups
  second providers, ambivalent co-providers and
  co-providers.

4
Gender Roles Cont

• Co-provider husbands do the most domestic work
  out of the three----surprise????
• How will married men participate in housework?
• 1. When men agree to share the housework equally
  if both are working.
• 2. When men are living with women who accept this
  belief.

5
Influences on Division of Labour

• 2. Stage of the Family Life Cycle
• Women spend it during their childbearing and
  childrearing days, men at the beginning and end
  of their careers.
• Increased demands of parenthood.
• Although there have been changes in favour of
  equitable division of labour, traditional values
  still persist.

6
Influences Cont

• 3. Social Class
• Social class differences point to some
  differences with the exception of professional
  couples.

7
Womens Employment, Parenting and Health

• Canadian society and other Western societies not
  child friendly.
• Childcare as a backburner public policy
  issue-less support for mothers of young children
  who work.
• Harmful to children?

8
Parenting and Health Cont

• Work situations affect the morale, self-esteem
  and self-confidence as well as their
  psychological well-being-adversely affects
  parenting practices.
• Negative work experience affects tolerance for
  childs behaviour.
• Selective awareness leads to more control and
  punishment
• Employment benefiting parental relationships

9
Marital Relationships

• Wifes employment affects relationship for many
  reasons
• The increase in power because of her paycheque.
• The greater the resources the greater the power
• Instrumental roles-those roles concerned with
  family support
• Expressive roles- family relationships

10
Marital Relationships Cont

• The better the husbands support, the better the
  job of the wifes instrumental role-more
  expressive as a result.
• Full-time workers instrumental and expressive
  aspects become identical
• Breadwinner model imbalance and coolness.

11
The Income Factor

• Power is reflected in the wifes ability to
  induce fair domestic responsibilities and her
  influence on geographical moves for the family.
• The more economic contribution made by the wife,
  the more contribution made to domesticity by the
  husband.
• Marital quality depending on factors.

12
Expectations About the Division of Labour

• Marital satisfaction higher when the wife is
  employed.
• Co-provider husbands, ambivalent husbands and
  their reports of marital satisfaction.
• The curvilinear relationship for satisfaction for
  wives

13
Marital Satisfaction and Quality Cont..

• Satisfaction of division of labour was most
  important in explaining marital satisfaction than
  anything else.
• Two profiles of negative feelings in a marriage
  egalitarian sex-role attitudes and husbands who
  have traditional attitudes but are heavily
  involved in domestic work.
• Working full time and equal domesticityhappy
  marriage and no stress.

14
Perceptions of Fairness

• Women content with the unfair sharing
  arrangement.
• Family work more about getting it done.
• Communication the most important factor in wifes
  sense of fairness.
• Research on role attitudes, employment status and
  marital quality.

15
Employment Situations

• Tension related to the fit between marital role
  attitudes and employment situations in a
  marriage.
• The benefits outweigh the costs.
• Satisfaction and dissatisfaction dependent upon
  time management and roles.

16
Career Paths and Gender Differences

• Married men earn higher salaries than single men
• Gender distribution and industries men vs.
  women.
• Men prosper in high paying, good benefit jobs
  while women succeed at service industry.

17
Work and Family Balance

• Work and family and the reciprocal relationship
  between the two.
• Domains of work and family are complex.
• Job satisfaction and familial interactions-negativ
  e and positive.
• Dual-career wives are more stress and wives tend
  more to family matters.

18
Coping with Stress

• Seven strategies used to cope with stress
• 1. Cognitive Restructuring
• 2. Delegating
• 3. Limiting Activities
• 4. Subordination of my Career
• 5. Compartmentalizing
• 6. Avoiding Responsibility
• 7. Using Social Support

19
Coping with Stress cont

• Food Choices and Working Families
• The demands of dual income earners
• TV trends and network specials
• Spillover and role overload
• Effects on food choices
• Low-income and middle-income

20
Unemployment and the Family

• Unemployment has an impact on family finances,
  whether single or dual income earner.
• Losing a traditional way of life
• Moving away from communities?
• Dealing with the practicalities and emotions of
  unemployment

21
Unemployment cont

• A range and yo-yo of emotions anger,
  frustration, sadness, fear
• Families also feel the brunt of the emotional
  roller coaster
• Work serving many functions beyond the financial
• Structures time, regular contact, status and
  identity

22
Unemployment cont

• Sense of self-esteem
• Spouse may increase working hours
• Lack of knowledge in coping with unemployment
• Making costly decisions out of panic
• The downward mobility

23
Marital Status and Well-being

• Effect of Employment on Mental health has
  contextual factors marital status
• Marital status vs. parental status
• Single mothers vs. married mothers and the
  contextual factors involved.
• Marginal jobs

24
Employment transitions cont

• Employment transitions and modest family income
  change
• The precarious position of single mothers vs.
  married mothers
• Loss of marginal job devastation
• Contending with additional difficulties