The relationship of employment status and role satisfaction to stress levels in mothers with young children

There has been a significant amount of research in recent years investigating housewife dissatisfaction and role strain of working mothers. This study examines some unanswered questions by comparing the stress levels of housewives and working mothers. The relationship of role satisfaction to stress is also examined. It is hypothesized that the relationship between employment status and stress will be insignificant, but that there will be a positive correlation between role dissatisfaction and stress. The findings support these hypotheses. There was no significant difference in stress levels or in role satisfaction between working mothers and housewives. However, there was a difference in stress levels between satisfied and dissatisfied women, with dissatisfied women having higher stress scores. This relationship between stress level and role satisfaction did not depend on the working status of the mother.