Stress, depression and role conflict in working mothers

Abstract

It is believed that depression will be the number one cause of disability worldwide in the year 2020, and stress will be a contributing factor. This is significant for South Africa which is considered to be one of the most highly stressed societies in the world with many social problems that contribute to stress and depression. One of the factors that research has indicated may lead to stress is work/home role conflict. This is often considered stressful for working mothers as they tend to carry a greater domestic burden. This study aimed to explore the levels of and interrelationships between stress, depression and work/home role conflict in a sample of 59 working mothers. Mediating factors such as coping skills and social support were also explored. The study found that for this sample work/home role conflict was not significant but that half of the sample reported features of depression. There was a positive correlation between stress and depression and negative correlations between coping, support, stress and depression.

South African Psychiatry Review - May 2002