Working vs. non-working mothers: comparison of selected psychological characteristics
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
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| Description | The work-family balance is an actual subject matter and considerable research is devoted to this topic. Research mainly focuses on work-family conflict (e.g. Mihelič & Tekavčič, 2014) and on the impact a mother’s early return to work has on a child (e.g. Harrison & Ungerer, 2002). However, Marshall and Tracy (2009) point out that little attention is being paid to how working mothers feel. The aim of this study is to compare selected psychological characteristics of working and non-working mothers of three-month old children. Our sample consists of mothers from Czech Republic, who were involved in our longitudinal survey study (called “the DOMOV project”). Mothers completes measures from the third trimester of pregnancy until the child is 3 years old. The relationship between the mother and the child (PPBQ, MABISC), depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), child-rearing attitudes (IRA) and selected childcare characteristics (e.g. breastfeeding, carrying, etc.) will be compared among working and non-working mothers. Preliminary analyses indicate that there is a difference between working and non-working mothers in mother-infant relationship (measured by PPBQ questionnaire). It seems that the relationship between non-working mothers and their children is disrupted more (m=12.25) than the relationship between working mothers and their children (m=10.11), t(261) = 2.02; p = 0,04. Preliminary results also indicates that non-working mothers of three-month old children registered a higher anxiety score (m=4.24) than working mothers (m=3.22), t(268) = 2.21, p = 0.03. Additional analysis of subsequent psychological characteristics will be employed. |
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