Words as a conveyor of internal strife: Tales from working mothers during COVID-19

Abstract

This study acknowledges the tremendous demands that the COVID-19 pandemic has placed on working mothers and its impact on their careers. In Study 1, we examine the phenomenon of cross-domain identity threat, which occurs when an identity-relevant event (here, COVID-19) simultaneously threatens the cross-domain identities of working mothers (worker identity, mother identity). We anticipate that working mothers experiencing cross-domain identity threat report higher levels of emotional exhaustion and lower levels of career optimism. We test these hypotheses with a sample of working mothers obtained from the social media site, Reddit. In Study 2, we examine the relationship between the negativity of working mothers’ identity narratives expressed over the course of COVID-19 on Reddit and a planned job behavior – intent to leave the workforce. We find support for our hypotheses. Our study contributes to the identity literature by conceptually and empirically extending research on identity threat and identity narratives.