Putting Mothers' Work-Related Stress in Perspective

Abstract

The present study examined whether mothers' work-related and global stress (e.g., depressed affect) were associated with changes in mother-adolescent relations across a 6-month period and whether mothers' stress and mother-adolescent relations predicted the adolescent's psychosocial adjustment. Subjects were mothers and early adolescents (sixth graders) in 96 dual-earner families. Mothers completed questionnaires assessing work-related and global stress, adolescents completed instruments measuring psychosocial adjustment, and perceptions of maternal acceptance and mother-adolescent conflict were obtained from both sources. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses found that global stress was related to the mother's decreasing acceptance of the child, according to mother and adolescent. Lower maternal acceptance was associated with poorer psychosocial adjustment in adolescents. Mothers' work-related stress, however, was not associated with mother-adolescent relations or adolescent adjustment. Results are discussed in terms of the meaning of mothers' work and work-related stress in families with adolescents.