<p>Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur multipla roller upplevs och hanteras av personer som delar en professionell och en privat domän. Tidigare forskning har visat att multipla roller ofta upplevs som stressande och är en grund till konflikter i såväl den privata som den professionella domänen. Åtta personer i fyra intervjupar intervjuades individuellt med hjälp av en semistrukturerad intervjuguide. Studiens resultat visar att samtliga deltagare har positiva upplevelser kring de delade domänerna då de anses ge en ökad förståelse för den andra parten och leda till en utvecklad relation. Vidare forskning föreslås koncentreras kring negativa upplevelser av fenomenet då denna undersökning inte undersökt detta.</p>

<p>Arbetet i ett fängelse är annorlunda mot de flesta andra arbetsplatser. Det är en isolerad arbetsplats med lite insyn från det övriga samhället, samt i hög grad styrt av lagar och förordningar. Det framgick i forskning att fängelseanställda har högre arbetsengagemang då de upplever sin arbetsplats som rättvis, och då de får stöd från arbetsledare. Studien ämnade undersöka om det fanns ett samband mellan konflikten mellan arbete och familj och arbetsengagemang, samt om det fanns samband mellan arbetsmiljö (rättvisa, kontroll i arbetet och arbetsbörda) och arbetsengagemang. Undersökningen hade en svarsfrekvens på 15 % vilket påverkade studiens tillförlitlighet. Den visade ett samband mellan rättvisa och arbetsengagenmang. Inget samband hittades hos konflikten mellan arbete och familj och arbetsengagemang.</p>

Background This thesis explores the relationship between individuals’ subjective experiences and the welfare state setting. The research questions in focus deal with the outcomes of women’s and men’s increasing dual roles in work and family in contemporary welfare states. The studies analyse women’s and men’s subjective experiences of combining work and family, and their perceptions of fairness in the division of household work. Methods The thesis applies a comparative perspective where the unit of analysis is country and/or family policy model. A broad perspective with the aim to capture general patterns across a broad range of welfare states is combined with a narrower case-oriented approach. Multilevel analysis is used to analyse patterns at national as well as individual levels in the same model. Latent Class Analysis is used to capture patterns of latent dimensions with regard to the central concept of subject experiences. Results The results indicate that the introduction of policies aiming to promote dual roles among women and men and the articulation of gender equality can matter for individuals’ subjective experiences of work-family conflict. In dual-earner countries, the probability that a high level of conflict is counterbalanced by feelings of life satisfaction is higher than in other policy models. A class asymmetry is found when it comes to effects of policy on men’s and women’s levels of work-family conflict and work-family satisfaction; women in the working class and the salaried class are more similar when it comes to experiences of work-family conflict and satisfaction in Sweden than in Germany and the UK. The analysis also shows that perceptions of fairness in the division of housework are moderated by the institutional and normative context. The politicisation of gender equality increases the correspondence between actual share of housework performed and the perceptions of fairness in the division of housework. The effect of politicisation is more important for men’s perceptions than for women’s. Conclusion The thesis contributes to a deepened understanding of the relationship between policy and work-family conflict and the integration of the perspectives of role conflict and role expansion; knowledge about the ways in which both class and gender relations are structured concerning the patterns of work-family conflict and satisfaction in different policy contexts; and new knowledge about the relationship between policy and men’s – and not only women’s – perceptions of fairness in the division of household work.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur multipla roller upplevs och hanteras av personer som delar en professionell och en privat domän. Tidigare forskning har visat att multipla roller ofta upplevs som stressande och är en grund till konflikter i såväl den privata som den professionella domänen. Åtta personer i fyra intervjupar intervjuades individuellt med hjälp av en semistrukturerad intervjuguide. Studiens resultat visar att samtliga deltagare har positiva upplevelser kring de delade domänerna då de anses ge en ökad förståelse för den andra parten och leda till en utvecklad relation. Vidare forskning föreslås koncentreras kring negativa upplevelser av fenomenet då denna undersökning inte undersökt detta.

Arbetet i ett fängelse är annorlunda mot de flesta andra arbetsplatser. Det är en isolerad arbetsplats med lite insyn från det övriga samhället, samt i hög grad styrt av lagar och förordningar. Det framgick i forskning att fängelseanställda har högre arbetsengagemang då de upplever sin arbetsplats som rättvis, och då de får stöd från arbetsledare. Studien ämnade undersöka om det fanns ett samband mellan konflikten mellan arbete och familj och arbetsengagemang, samt om det fanns samband mellan arbetsmiljö (rättvisa, kontroll i arbetet och arbetsbörda) och arbetsengagemang. Undersökningen hade en svarsfrekvens på 15 % vilket påverkade studiens tillförlitlighet. Den visade ett samband mellan rättvisa och arbetsengagenmang. Inget samband hittades hos konflikten mellan arbete och familj och arbetsengagemang.

ABSTRACT HAVING IT ALL? MOTHERS’ EXPERIENCES AS ASSISTANT PROFESSORS IN COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY ACADEMIA by Caroline H. Leavitt For approximately the past 20 years, women have earned significantly more Ph.D.’s in the area of counseling psychology than men. However, women continue to lag with regard to rates of tenure and promotion in counseling psychology academia. Despite the significant amount of theoretical literature, there is limited empirical research on this gender disparity. The current study is designed to begin filling this gap in the literature. For this study, ten female assistant professors in counseling psychology were interviewed to elicit information about their experiences as academicians. All of the participants were mothers of minor children. A standardized interview protocol was used and interviews were audio-taped. The interviews were then transcribed and subject to a multi-step coding process. The coding process revealed six domains, each with multiple primary and secondary themes. The domains include: Culture, Mentorship, Work-Family Conflict, Gender Discrimination/Harassment, Intrapersonal dynamics, and Recommendations. All ten participants were represented in all of the domains except for gender discrimination which had an n=9. Generally, the participants’ experiences supported the literature’s explanations for the continuing gender gap in counseling psychology academia. If universities are committed to including women in all ranks of the academy, multi-faceted changes must be made to acknowledge, accommodate, and respect women’s priorities and values.

Research suggests that single mothers experience poorer mental and physical health than their partnered counterparts. This health differential has been attributed, in large part, to the chronic economic and social stressors to which many single mothers are exposed. Less research, however, has focused on the well-being of single mothers who are employed, despite their growing presence in the Canadian labour force. Using data from a telephone survey of employed parents in a mid-sized Western Canadian city conducted in 2005, the aim of this study was to: (1) compare the mental health of employed, single mothers relative to partnered mothers; and (2) explore the potential role of work-family conflict and psychosocial job characteristics as explanations for any observed differences in psychological distress. Analyses were restricted to 674 employed mothers (438 partnered and 236 single), who were 25-50 years old, with at least one child in the household under the age of 20 years. Bivariate analysis indicated that compared to partnered mothers, employed single mothers reported significantly higher levels of psychological distress, work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict. Single mothers were also more likely to be employed in a high-strain psychosocial work environment (i.e., high demand and low control). Multiple linear regression revealed that after adjusting for key sociodemographic characteristics, psychosocial work quality and work-family conflict, single parenthood was no longer statistically significantly associated with psychological distress. These findings suggest that being a single mother in and of itself need not result in poorer mental health, but greater attention needs to be paid to the economic and psychosocial work environment of single mothers, including policies to facilitate work-family balance.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

The gender wage gap is accounted for to a substantial degree by the sex composition of occupations. The present thesis examines the mechanisms that produce this pattern. In particular, the theory of devaluation, currently the most widely accepted sociological explanation, is tested. The empirical findings, reported in three self-contained essays, question this line of explanation. All results are based on Swedish data: the Level of Living surveys (LNU; essays I and II) and administrative labour market registers (essay III). In Essay I the association between occupational prestige and occupational sex composition is examined. The association is non-linear, with gender mixed occupations having the highest prestige. Further, care work does not have lower prestige than other kinds of work. These results are inconsistent with expectations derived from devaluation theory. The analysis also shows that the wage returns to occupational prestige are lower for women than for men. Essay II examines why women receive relatively low returns to prestige. Family related factors are shown to be crucial. The gender difference in pay-off to prestige is thus marked among married/cohabiting employees with children but insignificant among singles as well as among childless married/cohabiting women and men. The gender wage gap in high-prestige occupations is largely due to differences between women and men in work characteristics difficult to reconcile with family duties. In essay III the functional form of the relation between wages and occupational sex composition is investigated. In the cross-section gender mixed occupations have the highest wages. Panel data tend to confirm this pattern: mobility from strongly male or female dominated occupations to more gender mixed occupations is associated with relatively high rates of wage growth. Further, there is a wage premium for care work but a wage penalty for other service work. These findings do not support devaluation theory. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript. 3: Accepted.</p>

Research suggests that single mothers experience poorer mental and physical health than their partnered counterparts. This health differential has been attributed, in large part, to the chronic economic and social stressors to which many single mothers are exposed. Less research, however, has focused on the well-being of single mothers who are employed, despite their growing presence in the Canadian labour force. Using data from a telephone survey of employed parents in a mid-sized Western Canadian city conducted in 2005, the aim of this study was to: (1) compare the mental health of employed, single mothers relative to partnered mothers; and (2) explore the potential role of work-family conflict and psychosocial job characteristics as explanations for any observed differences in psychological distress. Analyses were restricted to 674 employed mothers (438 partnered and 236 single), who were 25-50 years old, with at least one child in the household under the age of 20 years. Bivariate analysis indicated that compared to partnered mothers, employed single mothers reported significantly higher levels of psychological distress, work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict. Single mothers were also more likely to be employed in a high-strain psychosocial work environment (i.e., high demand and low control). Multiple linear regression revealed that after adjusting for key sociodemographic characteristics, psychosocial work quality and work-family conflict, single parenthood was no longer statistically significantly associated with psychological distress. These findings suggest that being a single mother in and of itself need not result in poorer mental health, but greater attention needs to be paid to the economic and psychosocial work environment of single mothers, including policies to facilitate work-family balance.