Multiple roles of working women and psychological well-being.

BACKGROUND

Today, women's roles are emerging differently with new commitment and career oriented as well as commitment to families. So, this in turn leads to a number of stress and strain among working women.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The aim and objective of this study was to elucidate the work-family conflict on psychological well-being experienced by working women and to determine whether social support has beneficial role in the psychological well-being of the working women.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Eighty-two women working in different professions from dual-earner family and 82 homemakers from traditional single-earner family were included in the study and assessed on the following: (1) Postgraduate Institute (PGI) Health Questionnaire and (2) PGI Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ) for the assessment of well-being and social support, respectively, and data were analyzed.

RESULTS

Working women scored lower on PGI Health Questionnaire than homemakers, which was statistically highly significant, indicating that working women had higher psychological well-being than homemakers or nonworking women. On the assessment of PGI and SSQ, scores revealed that women in dual-earner families perceived lower social support as compared to those of single-earner families.

CONCLUSION

Employed women are more satisfied with their life than nonworking women, and the quality of home and work environments determines the impact of employment on the psychological well-being of working women in dual-earner families.