Turner Heather A
Department of Sociology, Horton Social Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA.
Am J Community Psychol. 2007 Dec;40(3-4):181-93. doi: 10.1007/s10464-007-9141-0.
Considerable research has found elevated levels of stress and psychological distress among single mothers. However, little research has addressed the relevance of employment for stress processes in this population, and few studies have focused on links between employment, stress, and mental health among single mothers living in rural areas. Based on a probability sample of 508 single mothers age 18-39 living in rural Northern New England, this study: (1) documents variations in chronic stress and psychological distress for employed and unemployed single mothers, (2) considers the extent to which different forms of chronic stress mediate or explain the employment-distress relationship, and (3) examines whether employment status modifies associations between chronic stress and psychological distress. Findings indicated that rural single mothers who were employed reported significantly less financial stress, childcare stress, and rural residence stress, relative to mothers who were not employed, independent of variety of other factors. Employed mothers also experienced significantly less psychological distress which was partially mediating by their lower financial stress. However, there was also a statistical interaction between employment status and financial stress such that the harmful effect of financial stress on well-being was greater for employed women. Implications of the findings are discussed.
大量研究发现,单身母亲的压力和心理困扰水平较高。然而,很少有研究探讨就业与这一人群压力过程的相关性,而且几乎没有研究关注农村地区单身母亲的就业、压力和心理健康之间的联系。基于对居住在新英格兰北部农村地区的508名年龄在18至39岁之间的单身母亲的概率抽样,本研究:(1)记录就业和未就业单身母亲的慢性压力和心理困扰差异;(2)考虑不同形式的慢性压力在多大程度上介导或解释就业与困扰之间的关系;(3)研究就业状况是否会改变慢性压力与心理困扰之间的关联。研究结果表明,与未就业的母亲相比,就业的农村单身母亲报告的经济压力、育儿压力和农村居住压力显著更小,且不受其他多种因素的影响。就业母亲的心理困扰也显著更少,而这部分是由她们较低的经济压力所介导的。然而,就业状况和经济压力之间也存在统计学上的交互作用,即经济压力对幸福感的有害影响对就业女性更大。文中讨论了这些研究结果的意义。