Stressful Family Contexts Linked to Unmarried Parenting, Working Mothers and Marital Instability in a Globalizing Society Chapter 11. Family Relationships as Sources of Stress and Support: Making the Connection Between Work and Family Experiences 1

Dorothy Parker has been quoted as saying, “Women and men, men and women-- it will never work. ” Many feel the same pessimism about relationships between parents and children, as positive affect is abraded and worn down by the competing agendas and priorities of multiple generations, varying in age and gender, but held together by shared residence and family ties. Individuals continue to see family ties as important potential sources of existential meaning, life satisfaction, and happiness. Nevertheless, their actual experience in family interaction is often an uncertain and volatile mixture of contentment, disappointment, pride, and anxiety. There is little doubt that the quality of family relationships contributes to individual well being, and much research has investigated this linkage between relationship quality and individual outcomes. Studies of family influences on children repeatedly find that what parents do with and for their children-- the materials they provide, the attention and warmth they display, and the investments of time and energy they make in their child

Employment, Parental Responsibility, and Psychological Distress

This article uses panel data from 745 married women in the Detroit Metropolitan Area to examine the mental health effects of employment and parenting status changes. Contrary to popular belief, the transition to parenting is not directly related to increases in psychological distress. Changes in employment status, however, are. Women who significantly increase their labor force participation report lower levels of psychological distress over the study period, while women who significantly decrease their labor force participation report higher psychological distress. The effects of labor force changes on mental health are not all modified by parenting status or changes in parenting status. The transition to parenting and increased parenting responsibilities, however, are indirectly related to increased psychological distress insofar as they result in decreased labor force participation. The implications of these results are used to evaluate four competing perspectives on the relationship between roles, stress, and psychological functioning.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66791/2/10.1177_019251389010004006.pd