Since the industrial revolution, work and family
have been viewed as separate spheres, with women
relegated to the family sphere. With the advent of women
into the paid labor force, few studies have considered
the potentially complex context of women's work and
family experiences. The purpose of this study was to
examine the impact of family structure, occupational
status, and workplace relationships on women workers'
perceptions of stress.
The sample for this study included 379 women dental
assistants and hygienists who responded to mailed
questionnaires sent to the dental offices where they
worked. The dependent variables used in this analysis
were mental stress, physical stress, and four social
stress items.
Analysis of variance was performed for the family
structure groups on physical, mental, and social stress
items. Single parents and parents in general were
especially stressed in terms of financial stress and
marital stress. The second series of analyses included
t-tests on stress by occupation. Dental assistants had
more financial stress than hygienists. Hygienists had
more mental stress than assistants. Workplace
relationships were assessed in the full regression
models. Frequency of talking with fellow workers was
strongly and positively associated with financial
problems. The full regression models supported the
findings in earlier analyses that tensions from children
and financial problems were associated with the presence
of children in the home.
The findings in this study suggest that for women
workers, work and family do not occupy separate spheres.
Women workers think about family matters at the workplace
and discuss them with their other women workers. Further
research needs to focus on women workers, especially
those in traditionally female occupations, and the work
and family connections for these workers. / Graduation date: 1992
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/36716 |
| Date | 08 May 1992 |
| Creators | Schmiege, Cynthia J. |
| Contributors | Zvonkovic, Anisa M. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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