A community study of dual-role stress and coping in working mothers

This paper describes a pilot study in a community in North London of dual-role stress and coping in three groups of working mothers with dependent children at home. One group was married and enjoying comparatively high income; another was 'single' and also with comparatively high income; the third group was 'single' with comparatively low income. There were 15 women in each group. The study was by interview and questionnaire. Evidence of dual-role stress was found in the study, and the results are consistent with conclusions drawn from the literature. However, many women appeared to obtain important benefits from going to work, and there was considerable evidence of good coping, especially in terms of drawing on the informal support of other women. Both the quality of the job and quality of domestic support were important for the working mother's stress management. The relative poverty of organized child-care in Britain was reflected in the child-care problem reported by most of these women and the 'single' women in particular. Low income 'single' women reported greatest levels of stress and strain, financial and child-care stress, and work stress.