Women's Work Involvement and Experience of New Motherhood

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2588872
AutoresNancy Pistrang (0000-0002-7872-8152, autor de correspondencia)
Año1984
Volumen46
Número2
Páginas433
Fecha de publicación1984-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Marriage and the Family (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0022-2445 • E-ISSN: 1741-3737
EditorialJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/352475
OpenAlexW2073997663
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas17
Referencias citadas30

This study examines whether career-oriented women have more trouble adjusting to new motherhood than more traditional women and whether new mothers who return to work shortly after childbirth have more stress than nonworking mothers. 105 women who had given birth to a first child within the last 5 to 9 months who had also worked before pregnancy were interviewed on work involvement psychological loss of work sex role attitudes changes in self perception life changes experiences as a mother motherhood satisfaction depression and self-esteem. For nonworking mothers high work involvement is correlated with irritability depression lower self-esteem higher costs of motherhood and more negative marital changes as predicted. Psychological loss of work and work involvement are correlated. High work involved mothers experience stopping work as a loss; their work had provided intellectual stimulation a feeling of independence recognition and respect and a sense of accomplishment. Conversely low work involved mothers were now content to stay at home. The low work involved mothers had been working out of financial necessity and therefore had not regarded work as a source of gratification. For all working mothers no significant relationship existed between work involvement (part-time in all cases) and other factors. The study suggests that the relationship between work involvement and the experience of being a new mother is a complex one. Differences in how working and nonworking women experience new motherhood do not surface in the first few months. Paid employment has psychological value for many mothers of infants and future research should consider this as well as individual differences in womens work involvement

Childbirth · Depression (economics · Developmental psychology · Feeling · Gratification · Pregnancy · Spouse · Work (physics · Working mother · Emotional Labor in Professions · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Psychology · Social Psychology · Work-Family Balance Challenges