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Master of Science / Department of Psychology / Mark A. Barnett / Previous literature indicates that individuals tend to believe that a woman who stays at home with a young child is a better mother than a woman who works full time despite having a young child. However, relatively little is known about perceptions of a woman whose work/family status represents a compromise between these two extremes (e.g., a woman who stops working for 18 months after the birth of her child and, then, gradually increases her time at work). Furthermore, prior research has not adequately addressed whether perceptions of mothers in various work/family situations are related to perceptions of their children and their relations with their children. The present study was an attempt to expand the literature by exploring selected individual difference measures as potential predictors of perceptions of mothers in various work-family situations (i.e., Stay-at-Home Mother [SAHM], Working Mother [WM], and Middle Mother [MM]) and by extending the target of these perceptions beyond the mothers to their children and the mother/child relationship. Ninety-six undergraduates (a) completed a series of individual difference measures, (b) were introduced to a WM, SAHM, or a MM via audiotape, (c) observed the mother interact with her child on the identical brief videotape, and (d) rated their perceptions of the mother, child, and mother-child relationship. Contrary to prediction, none of the individual difference measures was associated with any of the participants' attitudinal ratings. However, a consistent pattern was found in which the ratings of the WM, her child, and her relation with her child were less favorable than the respective ratings for the SAHM and MM (which did not differ from one another). The implications and limitations of the present study, as well as a discussion of future directions in research on perceptions of mothers with various work-family situations, are presented.

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The objective of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between motherhood and women's labour force participation in South Africa. The key problem in estimating this relationship is the endogeneity of motherhood/childbearing with respect to women's labour force participation. Childbearing behaviour and decisions to participate in the labour force are jointly determined; and unobservable characteristics which influence childbearing behaviour are also correlated with women's labour force participation. This thesis shows that the definition of motherhood can exacerbate these sources of endogeneity bias. International studies typically identify mothers as women with biological children aged 18 years or younger who are co-resident with at least one of their children. In South Africa, however, a sizeable sample of women is not co-resident with their children. The remaining sample of co-resident mothers are a non-random sample of all mothers who are less likely to participate in the labour force than all mothers. Placing a co-residency restriction on motherhood therefore biases the relationship between motherhood/childbearing and labour force participation. In particular, it overestimates the negative relationship. In the international literature instrumental variable (IV) estimation has been used to disentangle these causal mechanisms. This thesis also considers an application of same sex sibling composition, first introduced by Angrist and Evans (1998), as a strategy to identify the exogenous effects of childbearing on women's labour force participation in South Africa. Little or no research has investigated this relationship in South Africa. One possible explanation for this is that studies on female labour force participation in South Africa have not been able to match women to their children with the datasets that have been analysed: most nationally representative household surveys in South Africa do not contain detailed birth history information. The first part of this thesis analyses what data are available to identify women with children and the quality of these data; it also outlines four different methods to match women to their children using these data. The second part of this thesis investigates the relationship between motherhood/childbearing and women's labour force participation in South Africa. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.

M.Comm. (Business Management) / Changes in the corporate landscape and an increase in female participation rates in corporate workforces necessitate a better understanding of female career paths and how organisations can accommodate them better. The purpose of this study is to identify the most appropriate work-life balance benefits organisations can offer to female employees to assist them in achieving greater work-life balance. The study further aims to identify learning and development opportunities that females who have exited from their professions can follow to remain relevant and up to date in their fields. Through the literature review the study examines the need for women in corporate workforces, and inspects reasons for the underrepresentation of women in workforces. It further investigates alternative career models female professionals often embark on in an attempt to gain more balance between family responsibilities and career demands and subsequently discusses the costs associated with losing female talent. It then explores how organisations can assist female employees by offering work-life balance benefits. The study was conducted by using an online questionnaire and respondents were selected by employing a snowball sampling method. In this study research found that the most appropriate work-life balance benefits are flexible working hours, on-site childcare facilities, parental leave, part-time work, mobile working and virtual or cyber working. Conversely, the most inappropriate work-life balance benefits are weekend work, shift work, overtime, temporary or casual work, term-only working and fixed term contracts. It further found that employees who have exited from their professions can follow certain learning and development opportunities to assist them to remain relevant and up-to-date in their fields and assist them to return to full-time employment. The following learning and development opportunities were listed as being most appropriate: Attending continuous professional development courses and workshops, reading and further studies, keeping in touch with colleagues to stay updated with new developments at the office and the organisation, attending seminars and doing ad hoc, private, part-time or consulting work.

Most sleep deprivation studies show increased body mass, increased hypertension, increased Type 2 Diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular issues and even death. There is a paucity of research in sleeping patterns of first time Caucasian mothers of babies between six and twelve months old in South Africa. The objective was to determine the impact of long-term partial sleep deprivation on metabolism and mood in these mothers. A qualitative and quantitative study using a small sample of thirty one mothers was undertaken. Interviews assessed age, education, anthropometric data, family history, medication use, and baby sleeping habits. Participants were also asked to complete the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Becks Depression Inventory II (BDI-II)to assess the mothers sleep quality and depressive state. Medication use significantly decreased sleep quality. Oral contraceptive use and depression (BDI-II score 14-40) were associated with a significantly higher PSQI score and significantly decreased number of hours sleep and sleep efficiency. Oral contraceptive users were significantly more depressed. The six mothers on antidepressants had significantly higher PSQI scores than those not on antidepressants, but hours of sleep and sleep efficiency were not significantly different. This study showed that sleep deprivation did not impact mothers anthropometry. Interestingly medication use affected sleep quality more than baby arousals.

Interest in child care has grown dramatically, yet little is known about how families manage to ensure appropriate child care. In a secondary analysis of data from 642 employed mothers representing a wide range of income levels, this research identified the factors contributing most to mothers' satisfaction with child care arrangements. The study used an ecological model with accessibility, affordability, quality, and workplace flexibility as characteristics of the exosystem, and household income, presence of a spouse or partner, and age of the youngest child as characteristics of the microsystem. The research explored how individual family characteristics combine with environmental characteristics to impact parental satisfaction. Three questions guided the study: (a) How do accessibility, affordability, quality of child care arrangements, and workplace flexibility affect parental satisfaction with child care arrangements? (b) How do income, household structure, and child's age affect parental satisfaction with child care arrangements? (c) How do these characteristics combine to affect parental satisfaction with child care arrangements? As proposed, the study found that for most mothers in the study, accessibility and quality combine with income and household structure to impact satisfaction with child care arrangements. Poorer women who pay a greater percentage of household income had more concerns about quality and were more dissatisfied with their child care arrangement than women paying a lower percentage of income for care. Despite concerns about quality for mothers paying a greater percentage of income for care, affordability contributed more than quality to satisfaction with child care. The data provided evidence of a different trade-off for lower income families. The results of this study have relevance for policies which address the needs of families at all income levels. The policy principles based on the results of the study include: 1. Basic health and safety regulations are important to quality and stability of care for all parents. 2. Financial assistance with the cost of child care is important, especially for those working families just above the poverty level. 3. Public support of services to improve child care is important to addressing the needs of all employed mothers, regardless of income status. / Graduation date: 1996

The purpose of this study was to discover how employed mothers who were graduate students coped with their many societal personas and still achieved their academic goals. Eight employed mothers who were graduate students were interviewed. Narrative inquiry guided the structure of the study. Phenomenological interviewing was used to gather evidence. A preinterview, a life history interview, a contemporary experience interview, and a reflective interview were conducted with each participant. All interviews were audiotaped and transcribed. Profiles for each participant were created using thematic analysis and were member checked to ensure accuracy.Themes identified through the literature review were verified through thematic analysis of the transcripts. The themes identified were strength, persistence, time, self-improvement, and gender bias. The basis for the participants' strength and persistence were the life-altering events and achievements they had encountered. The participants self-identified as "survivors." To fulfill their responsibilities they were adept multitaskers and used extensive support networks. Participants pursued their graduate degrees for better employment as well as self-fulfillment. Internalized gender bias was a significant contributor to each woman's feelings of guilt. Guilt was attributed to the societal expectations imposed through being a mother, an employee, and a student. Significant tension in the form of guilt occurred between participants' perception of the role of mother as nurturing and the role of the student as empowering. Each participant managed her guilt by realizing the "self as able." The participants came to appreciate "I am good at what I do," and achieved merged identities.Global, institutional, and individual implications came from this study. In order for U. S. society to compete on a global level, more women must be educated to compete for leadership roles. Societal stereotypes made earning a graduate degree difficult for the women in this study. Institutions of higher education and those who make policies within those institutions must realize that the majority of graduate students at the master's degree level, and those in education at the doctoral level, do not fit the traditional graduate student stereotype. Women, especially, experience role conflict. The tensions participants experienced were real. Institutions of higher learning must address such issues as childcare, time to degree completion, and course accommodation if they wish to attract and retain high-level graduate women. Overall, this study found that employed mothers who are graduate students do experience significant tension and in spite of many barriers, do succeed. / Department of Educational Studies

The present study examined the relationship between the sex role orientations of college students and their mothers' employment history. The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and a Parental Employment History Questionnaire were administered to 151 male and female undergraduates. Sixutilized standard score measures of sex role orientation from the BSRI as criterion variables. Predictor variables included sex of subjects, parents in the home, type of maternal employment and number of years mothers worked in full or part time postions. No significant relationships were determined between maternal employment and the sex role orientations of adult offspring. Implications and possible avenues for further research in sex role and maternal employment research are discussed.

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