In the last few years, many more women than before have entered the labour force.
Consequently, employed women are confronted with demanding aspects at work and at home
and experience difficulty in combining obligations in both of these domains. The pressure of the
demands in their work place and family lives combined with managing the responsibilities from
their work and personal lives can have a negative impact on the health of employed females.
The objective of this research was to investigate the effects of work characteristics, borne
characteristics and negative work-home interaction on the ill-health of employed females in
South Africa. An availability sample (N = 500) was taken from six provinces of South Africa,
including the Eastern Cape, the Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal, the North West and
Western Cape. A job characteristics questionnaire, a home characteristics questionnaire, the
'Survey Work-Home Interaction Nijmegen' (SWING), and an ill health questionnaire were
administered. Exploratory factor analyses were used to determine the construct validity of the
questionnaires, Cronbach alpha coefficients were used to determine the reliability, while multiple
regression analyses were used to identify significant predictors of ill-health.
The results indicated that physical ill health could be predicted by a lack of role clarity and
pressures at home. Predictors of anxiety were work overload, a lack of support from colleagues,
uncertain roles in the workplace, home pressure as well as negative Work-home interaction
(WHI) and negative Home-work interaction (HWI). Fatigue was predicted by work pressure,
work overload, a lack of autonomy at work, a lack of instrumental support at work, a lack of role clarity, pressure at home and negative WHI. Predicting factors of depression were found to be job
insecurity, a lack of autonomy and clearly defined roles at work, pressure at home, a lack of
autonomy at home as well as negative HWI. / Mini-dissertation (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/1302 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Roux, Zoe |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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