The Emotional Impact of Unfulfilled Career Aspirations for Stay-at-Home Mothers in Australia

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2348230
AutoresMelissa Johnstone (0000-0001-9205-4417, The Institute for Social Science Research, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, QLD, Australia, autor de correspondencia), J Lucke (0000-0002-2885-5292, The University of Queensland)
Año2022
Volumen43
Número9
Páginas2480-2504
Fecha de publicación2022-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Family Issues (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0192-513X • E-ISSN: 1552-5481
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0192513x211030730
OpenAlexW3185779088
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas26

Australia has a relatively high proportion of stay-at-home mothers, despite most young women aspiring to combine motherhood with paid work. Using two waves of quantitative data from the 1973-1978 cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, and interviews with a subsample of stay-at-home mothers, we aimed to understand the role of agency in women's work-family outcomes and the impact upon their well-being. More than four out of five stay-at-home mothers (83%) had previously aspired to combine motherhood with paid work. There were no differences in mental health scores of stay-at-home mothers according to prior work aspirations. However, stay-at-home mothers had marginally lower life satisfaction, and were more dissatisfied with the progress of their career when they had previously aspired to paid work, compared with unpaid work. Although women described their current situation as a 'choice', their choices were deeply embedded within gendered, social and economic contexts

Cohort · Developmental psychology · Mental health · Paid work · Psychiatry · Sociology · Unpaid work · Employment and Welfare Studies · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Medicine · Psychology · Work-Family Balance Challenges