Schools, childcare infrastructures, and mothers’ time use and psychological well-being: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark

Success of nutrition‐sensitive agriculture programmes targeted to women may be influenced by increased demands on women's and other household members' time and by time‐related trade‐offs to accommodate programme participation. However, evidence of how such programmes impact time use and whether changes in time‐related demands negatively influence maternal or child health and nutrition outcomes is limited. This paper examines the impact of Helen Keller International's Enhanced Homestead Food Production programme in Burkina Faso (2010–2012) on women's and men's time use and associations between changes in women's time use and maternal and child health and nutrition outcomes. We used quantitative data from a cluster‐randomized controlled trial (baseline 2010, endline 2012) and qualitative data from two rounds of process evaluation (2011, 2012). Two‐stage analyses were used to first assess programme impacts on women's and men's time use using difference‐in‐difference impact estimates and second to evaluate whether programme impacts on women's time use were associated with changes in women's and children's health and nutrition outcomes. Programme impacts were considered significant if corrected P < 0.01, and associations were considered significant if p < 0.05 and p < 0.01. Qualitative data were analysed through manual coding and by calculating the means and standard deviations for the time spent by women and men on activities in intervention and control groups. Findings show that the programme significantly increased the amount of time women spent on agriculture in the intervention compared to the control group, but this was not associated with changes in maternal or child health or nutrition outcomes. Process evaluation data supported these findings.

This study aims to contribute to the research on poverty by analysing the association of income poverty with gender inequalities in time use patterns. Based on South Africa's first time-use data compiled in 2000, we explore whether household income poverty has any influence on the typical patterns of time use of women and men. Controlling for a variety of household and individual characteristics, we assess the extent to which living in income poverty produce long hours of work –-in particular unpaid work hours-- using bivariate and multivariate Tobit estimations. Our results show asymmetric impacts of income poverty on women's and men's time allocations controlling for the widely accepted determining factors. While women in poor households spend more time on unpaid work activities, we do not see any significant change in men's unpaid work time with poverty status. Women's total paid and unpaid work time is higher under poverty as the increase in their unpaid work time extends away from the decline in paid work time. Other findings obtained provide supporting evidence presented in previous research: being married/cohabiting with a partner has an increasing impact on women's unpaid work, whereas an opposite impact is observed for their male counterparts. Women's unpaid work time increases with the number of preschool children, whereas it is the paid work time which rises in case of men's work time.

Seeking personal well-being and life satisfaction during a global pandemic can be daunting, such is the case for early care and education teachers who were considered non-health care essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The potential changes in their physical activity, along with their overall physical and psychological well-being, may have ultimately influenced their life satisfaction. These changes included the potential for increased sedentary behaviors. Despite the high health risks associated with these factors during the pandemic, the role of physical activity in early care and education teachers’ well-being and life satisfaction remains largely unknown. The purpose of this study is to examine the associations of physical activity and sedentary behaviors with teacher well-being and life satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, we explored two competing models of the relationship between the teachers’ physical activity, well-being, and life satisfaction, one with physical activity as a mediator and the other with teachers’ well-being as a mediator. An online survey, that collected information on physical, psychological, and professional well-being, job demands, and life satisfaction, was completed by 1434 US ECE teachers in 46 states. To test our hypothesized models, we conducted confirmatory factor analyses, followed by structural equation modeling. Of the respondents, 77% were overweight or obese and only 39% met the recommended 150 min of moderate physical activity per week. They had a mean life satisfaction score that qualifies as slight satisfaction, they experience moderate stress, and, collectively, are approaching the threshold for depression yet still reflect moderate-to-high work commitment. The empirical test of our competing mediation models found the model where teacher well-being mediated the association between physical activity, sedentary behavior, and life satisfaction was the superior model. The relationships between physical activity, sedentary behavior, and overall well-being suggest that these modifiable risk factors can be addressed such that early care and education teachers can improve their overall physical and psychological well-being, along with their life satisfaction.

Using data from the British Household Panel Study and the UK Household Longitudinal Study (1992–2019), this study investigates the impacts of partnership and parenthood on women's and men's paid work and unpaid work time and how these impacts have changed in the last three decades in Great Britain. We applied two fixed‐effect models—one conventional, one novel—with individual constants and slopes to account for the selection and longitudinal changes in time use. We found that the gender‐traditionalizing effect of partnership on the use of time has weakened over the years. Marriage did not affect women's and men's paid work time, and since the 2010s, marriage no longer affect women's and men's time spent on housework differently. However, motherhood continues to reduce women's paid work time substantially, and the extent of this impact has remained unchanged over the previous three decades. Partnership and parenthood have resulted in minor changes to men's paid work and unpaid work time; the extent of their effects has likewise remained modest over the previous three decades. Our findings suggest that in Britain, the gender revolution of the division of labor among parents has stalled, and family policies have not successfully increased mothers’ paid work time and fathers’ unpaid work time.

In this study we use time-diary data from Denmark, Spain, and the United Kingdom to analyze how fathers’ child care differs across countries with distinct gender norms, family policies, and maternal employment rates. We pay particular attention to the role of mothers’ paid work time in influencing paternal child care. Results show that Danish fathers display the most involved child care behavior. Spanish fathers spend more time in child care than UK fathers, but Spanish fathers are less egalitarian than UK fathers regarding the relative contribution to the couple’s child care time. Women’s paid work is significantly associated with men’s routine child care, the most time-demanding and female-typed forms of parenting, but not with men’s interactive child care. The study suggests that maternal employment partly drives cross-national differences in fathers’ child care time, implying that women’s employment policies can influence active paternal involvement.

Updating cross-cultural research of the past decade on the relationship between life aspirations and wellbeing, we compared Romanian (N=69) and US (N=64) undergraduates on the contribution of the importance and likelihood of attaining intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations to psychological maladjustment and life satisfaction, and on the qualitative meaning they assign to financial success. Similarly to prior studies, we found that extrinsic and intrinsic aspirations tended to be either negatively or positively correlated with life satisfaction, respectively; however, wealth predicted life satisfaction for Romanian students. Unlike previous research, we found generally negative relationships between intrinsic aspirations and psychological maladjustment. Although there were no differences between Romanian and US undergraduates on extrinsic and intrinsic orientation, on the overall importance of attaining aspirations, or on specific extrinsic and intrinsic aspirations, Romanian students expressed weaker expectations of fulfilling intrinsic aspirations than did US students. Finally, the groups produced similar rankings of aspirations and assigned similar meaning to financial success. The results favored a social cognitive rather than a self-determination model of psychological wellbeing in that expectations for attaining aspirations were more often predictive of life satisfaction than were their content. We interpret these findings and their convergence and departure from earlier research in terms of political economic, demographic, and cultural factors. We encourage future cross-cultural investigations of the social construction of aspirations, subsidiation of seemingly contradictory aspirations to each other, and cognitive and ecological mediation of the complex relationship of aspirations to psychological functioning.

Psychological well-being is a multifaceted and multi-dimensional construct that encompasses an individual's overall happiness, satisfaction with life, and mental and emotional health. It includes key components such as positive emotions, autonomy, positive relationships, low levels of negative emotions, purpose in life, life satisfaction, and personal growth. The definitions of psychological well-being have been debated among researchers, with the World Health Organization defining it as a state of mind where an individual is able to develop their potential, work productively, and cope with normal stresses of life. Psychological well-being is considered crucial for comprehensive health and happiness and has been linked to improved mental health, better physical health, and longer life expectancy. This study attempts to gain theoretical knowledge about psychological wellbeing and knowledge of the various studies conducted in the area of psychological wellbeing.

The world and the health care system went through a challenging and life-changing situation. Psychological wellbeing and life satisfaction have an impact on the overall development of an individual. People with higher psychological wellbeing enjoy a better quality of life and a higher life satisfaction outcome. As a counsellor for the study population in this study, the investigator assesses the association between psychological wellbeing and life satisfaction during the lockdown and post-lockdown periods from August 2020 to January 2022 to provide appropriate service. Methodology: The researcher used a quantitative descriptive design. Six hundred seventy-two2 students participated by filling out an online demographic Performa, Ryff's and Keye's psychological wellbeing scale, and Diener's Satisfaction with Life scale. The psychological wellbeing and life satisfaction were assessed during lockdown, two weeks post-lockdown, and three months post-lockdown. Data Analysis: The psychological wellbeing and life satisfaction of undergraduate nursing students during and after the lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic were analysed using descriptive and univariate regression analysis. Results: The study involved 672 nursing students, predominantly female Christians from Tamil Nadu, South India, with a mean age of 22.87 ± 1.94. Psychological wellbeing remained consistently high during the lockdown, two weeks post-lockdown, and 3 months post-lockdown, with scores of 91.42 ± 12.56, 91.75 ± 12.37, and 92.53 ± 14.31, respectively. Similarly, life satisfaction scores were 25.41 ± 5.39, 25.30 ± 5.61, and 25.54 ± 5.88 during these periods. Positive relationships with others significantly contributed to the student's psychological wellbeing (p &lt; 0.001), with post-lockdown relationships showing continued significance. Additionally, personal growth exhibited a positive relationship (p = 0.030) between lockdown and three months post-lockdown. Life satisfaction significantly improved (p &lt; 0.038) from lockdown to three months post-lockdown. Conclusion: Based on the findings, the counselor took appropriate interventions to improve the wellbeing and life satisfaction, such as tele-counseling based on the sub-scale and overall score, identifying appropriate support systems, enhancing positive coping strategies, and developing resilience.

Two major social changes have focused attention on the role of fathers. First, the massive movement of married women into the paid labor force disrupted the traditional division of labor within the nuclear family. With 67% of married mothers with children under 18 in the paid labor force, mothers now share the breadwinning role with their husbands (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992, Table 621). Correspondingly, many people now believe that fathers should be more involved in providing care to their children, especially when mothers are employed full-time (Thornton, 1989). The belief that fathers should be more involved with children is based on two reasons: (a) It is more equitable to mothers, and (b) it benefits the children (Hochschild, 1989). In spite of these shifts in attitudes, time budget studies show that fathers still spend relatively little time in child care and rarely take sole responsibility for their children (Lamb, 1987; Pleck, 1985). Even when mothers are employed full-time, they spend twice as much time in housework and child care as do fathers (Hochschild, 1989; Pleck, 1985).The second major change has been a decline in the prevalence of the nuclear family and a corresponding increase in mother-only families, due to a rise in both divorces and nonmarital births. Currently, the majority of children in the United States will spend some portion of time in single-parent families, usually with their mothers (Norton & Glick, 1986). This trend has problematic implications for relations between fathers and children. Many nonresident fathers have relatively little contact with children and either fail to pay child support or pay less than they should (Furstenberg, Nord, Peterson, Zill, 1983; Seltzer & Bianchi, 1988). Furthermore, Eggebeen and Uhlenberg (1985) demonstrated that the postponement of marriage, the decline in fertility, and the increase in divorce have resulted in men spending decreasing proportions of their lives coresiding with children.Changes in gender roles and attitudes, and the growing divergence in the lives of men and children, lead to questions about the significance of fathers in children's lives. Available evidence regarding the importance of fathers (reviewed below) is surprisingly ambiguous. This article contributes new data on the significance of the father-child relationship, in particular the contributions fathers make to the psychological well-being of young adult children. In particular, I address whether the father-child relationship is associated with offspring well-being independently of the mother-child relationship. I also examine whether the salience of fathers is moderated by offspring gender, parental divorce, marital status, parenthood, or employment. Finally, I consider whether relations with stepfathers are related to offspring well-being.LITERATURE REVIEWTwo positions can be constructed from available research. The first holds that fathers are key figures in the lives of most children. In contrast, the second position holds that fathers are peripheral figures in the lives of most children.FATHERS ARE IMPORTANTSeveral types of research support the notion that fathers are important. One cluster of studies examines correlations between father involvement and child outcomes. This research, reviewed by Lamb (1987), Radin and Russell(1983), and Snarey (1993, Chapter 6), is generally supportive of the role of fathers. Father involvement and nurturance are positively associated with children's intellectual development; this is particularly true when fathers are interested in children's academic outcomes, assist with homework, and have high educational expectations for their children. In addition, father involvement and nurturance are positively associated with children's social competence, internal locus of control, and the ability to empathize. More generally, authoritative parenting (involving warmth and a moderate degree of control) by both parents is associated with psychological and social adjustment among children (Rollins & Thomas, 1979). …

Extant literature has shown that authenticity is positively related with life satisfaction and psychological well-being. Nonetheless, most of the previous research has been conducted in Western and European individualistic countries. The association of authenticity with life satisfaction and psychological well-being in the Asian collectivist context remains unexplored. In addition, previous research has not investigated the psychological processes that link authenticity to life satisfaction and well-being. To void these gaps, the current research investigated the association of authenticity with life satisfaction and psychological well-being, while examining the mediating role of emotional expressiveness in these associations. For the present study, data were collected from 254 employees from India, a predominantly collectivist culture. Standardized measures were used to assess the research constructs. The results of the study show positive associations between authenticity, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being. Specifically, the results show that the greater the individuals’ authenticity, the higher their life satisfaction and psychological well-being. In addition, the research shows that individuals high on authenticity are more emotionally expressive than individuals who are low on authenticity. This research provides evidence regarding the implications of authenticity for individuals’ psychological health and well-being in Asian collectivist context.

Forgiveness is the framing of a perceived transgression such that one's responses to the transgressor, transgression, and sequelae of the transgression are transformed from negative to neutral or positive. The source of a transgression, and therefore the object of forgiveness, may be oneself, another person or persons, or a situation that one views as being beyond anyone's control (Thompson et al., 2005) Currently, there is great theoretical interest in the possibility that forgiveness is involved in promoting well-being. Various models suggest that forgiveness can offer opportunities for recognizing a deeper meaning in the transgression, developing compassion for others, appreciating social support systems, and discovering a renewed sense of life purpose (Enright, Freedman, & Rique, 1998). Empirical studies suggest that forgiveness have potential benefits for mental health (Toussaint & Webb, 2005), and well-being (Brown, 2003 ; Karremans, Van Lange, Ouwerkerk, & Kluwer, 2003; Karuse & Ellison, 2003).Psychological well-beingPsychological well-being is usually conceptualized as some combination of positive affective states such as happiness (the hedonic perspective) and functioning with optimal effectiveness in individual and social life (the eudaimonic perspective) (Deci & Ryan, 2008). Psychological well-being is about lives going well. It is the combination of feeling good and functioning effectively (Huppert, 2009). Psychological well-being refers to one's positive intrapersonal, interpersonal, and social functioning that is influenced by his or her perception and meaning given to his or her life situations (Ryff & Singer, 1996). Psychological well-being can be measured as emotional well-being in a hedonistic sense (i.e., experiencing more positive affect than negative affect) and positive psychological functioning in a eudaimonic sense (i.e., living a meaningful life and fulfilling one's potentials).Psychological distressPsychological distress is viewed as an emotional condition that involves negative views of the self, others and the environment and is characterized by unpleasant subjective states such as feeling tense, worried, worthless and irritable (Barlow and Durand, 2005). These subjective states can reduce the emotional resilience of individuals and impact on their ability to enjoy life and to cope with pain, disappointment and sadness. Psychological distress can be viewed as a continuum in which people can move from experiencing wellbeing to distress andback at various times throughout their lives (Horwitz and Scheid, 1999; Mechanic, 1999).A link between forgiveness and mental and physical health has attracted much attention in psychological research (McCullough, 2000; Thoresen, Harris, & Luskin, 2000). In forgiveness research, psychological well-being has often been considered equivalent to global satisfaction of life, minimal psychological distress or absence of psychopathology, or a combination of certain positive cognition and affect. Thus, a possible relationship between forgiveness and psychological well-being in the eudaimonic sense has been overlookedPrior research suggested that trait forgiveness is generally more strongly correlated with some aspects or components of psychological well-being and other mental health variables than state forgiveness (McCullough & Witvliet, 2002).HFS was also foundto positively predict satisfaction with life and negatively predict trait anger, state anxiety, and depression among college students (Thompson et al., 2005).Among the wide variety' of protective factors that have been recognized, acceptance, forgiveness, and gratitude appear to be three personal characteristics that have been found to be closely related to psychological well-being (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002; Nakamura & Orth, 2005).The Human Development Study Group (1991) revealed positive results, indicating that the promotion of forgiveness enhances psychological well-being among individuals coping with a variety of serious offenses. …

Based on her analysis of published tables from US homemakers’ 1924–32 week-long time use diaries collected by the US Department of Agriculture, Vanek (1974) concluded that housework time had not declined over the previous half-century―despite the diffusion of many “time-saving” home technologies. Although frequently challenged, this claim still survives in parts of the sociological literature; we use newly available evidence to refute it. Analysis of the original USDA diaries (many of which have now been recovered from the US National Archives), alongside more recent diary microdata from the American Heritage Time Use Study, reveals a pair of clear and contrary trends: a continuing decline in women’s core housework (cooking and cleaning), partially offset by an increase of time in childcare and shopping. Names and addresses attached to the original diaries allow the identification of more than 93 percent of the USDA diarists in one or both of the 1920 and 1930 US Federal Censuses. Analysis (Oaxaca decomposition) of the household- and individual-level information from this source shows that most of the historical time shifts result not from changes in family demography or women’s growing attachment to paid work over this period but from “behavioral” change, reflecting in part the spread of labor-saving domestic technology.

The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based physical exercise program on university students’ psychological well-being and life satisfaction. In the study, a randomized control group pre-test, post-test, and follow-up test design was used. The study group consisted of 60 students (30 in an experimental group and 30 in a control group) continuing their education in different faculties of a foundation university during the Covid-19 pandemic in Turkey. A personal information questionnaire, Psychological Well-Being Scale and Life Satisfaction Scale were used to collect the study data. The Mindfulness-Based Physical Exercise Program was implemented in the experimental group, once a week for 8 sessions. The results suggested significant differences between the psychological well-being and life satisfaction post-test scores of the experimental and control groups in favor of the experimental group. In the sub-dimensions of psychological well-being, significant differences were found between the experimental and control groups in post-test scores of environmental mastery, personal growth, and purpose in life. There was no significant difference between the psychological well-being, positive relationships with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and self-acceptance sub-dimensions except personal growth sub-dimensions, and life satisfaction post-test and follow-up test scores of the university students in the experimental group. In the post-test comparisons of two groups, a significant difference was found between total psychological well-being, environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life, and self-acceptance, in favor of the experimental group.

The simultaneous occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition to adulthood have posed particular obstacles to university students’ mental health. However, it remains unclear whether hope promotes mental health in the relationship between self-compassion, psychological well-being, and life satisfaction. Therefore, this study investigated the role of hope as a mediator in the relationship between self-compassion, psychological well-being, and life satisfaction among Vietnamese undergraduate students in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants consisted of 484 students (aged 18–24) from several universities in Vietnam. To measure the four variables in the research model, we opted for the Self-Compassion Scale, the State Hope Scale, the World Health Organization 5-item Well-Being Index, and the Satisfaction With Life Scale. The results showed that (1) self-compassion was significantly positively correlated with psychological well-being, (2) self-compassion was not correlated with life satisfaction, (3) hope was a mediator of the relationship between self-compassion and psychological well-being, and (4) hope was a mediator of the relationship between self-compassion and life satisfaction. These findings suggest interventions on self-compassion to enhance hope and subsequently increase students’ mental health, which offers colleges, psychologists, and psychiatrists a guideline to cope with harmful psychological implications during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The article is devoted to the study of well-being, which is considered as a multi-factorial construct and is described by most scientists in three terms: «subjective well-being», «life satisfaction» and «psychological well-being». The article covers the theoretical analysis of the concepts of «psychological well-being» and «subjective well-being», and also the concept of «coherence». Psychological well-being is considered as a basic dynamic characteristic of a personality, which reflects a subjective assessment by a person of his functioning and potential capabilities. Subjective well-being is considered as an integral system, which consists of the personality's ideas about himself, his life, his relations, capabilities. The concept of «sense of coherence» is considered as an orientation of a person to what extent a person perceives life as conscious and amenable to control. The empirical study involved 251 people, of whom 197 were women and 54 men, the average age was 27-41. Four test methods and two statistical-mathematical methods were used. The results of the study of the correlation between the sense of coherence and the level of psychological and subjective well-being among students are presented. The specificity of correlation between the components of coherence (comprehensibility, manageability, meaningfulness) and indicators of well-being is considered. A correlation analysis was performed to detect the relationships between the components of a sense of coherence and psychological well-being. For a visual representation, the results obtained are presented in the form of diagrams. Regression analysis was used to study the effect of sense of coherence on psychological well-being. It was revealed that sense of coherence is a factor of ensuring the psychological well-being. Further perspectives for psychological well-being research have been identified. Further perspectives are in clarification of the concept of psychological well-being and the study of the characteristics of the relationship of psychological and subjective well-being with various dispositions of an individual.