Women with Multiple Roles: Role-Compatibility Perceptions, Satisfaction, and Mental
Health
Author(s): Linda Beth Tiedje, Camille B. Wortman, Geraldine Downey, Carol Emmons,
Monica Biernat and Eric Lang
Source: Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Feb., 1990), pp. 63-72
Published by: National Council on Family Relations
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/352838
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LINDA BETH TIEDJE Michigan State University
CAMILLE B. WORTMAN State University of New York at Stony Brook*
GERALDINE DOWNEY University of Denver**
CAROL EMMONS National Opinion Research Center***
MONICA BIERNAT University of Florida** *
ERIC LANG American Institutes for Research*****
Women with Multiple Roles:
Role-Compatibility Perceptions, Satisfaction, and
Mental Health
This study examines alternative models of how
women combine perceptions of role conflict and
enhancement. The role perception continuum
model proposes that perceptions of enhancement
and conflict are best represented on a continuum
anchored by conflict and enhancement, on the
assumption that these perceptions are mutually
exclusive. The role perception typology model
proposes that these perceptions can occur
College of Nursing, A-230 Life Sciences Building, Michigan
State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1317.
*Department of Psychology, SUNY at Stony Brook, Stony
Brook, NY 11794.
**Department of Psychology, University of Denver, Denver,
CO 80208.
***National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago,
Chicago, IL 60637.
****Department of Psychology, University of Florida,
Gainesville, FL 32611.
*****American Institutes for Research, Palo Alto, CA 94306.
simultaneously and are best represented by a
typology reflecting the four possibilities obtained
by combining high and low scores on these two
dimensions. Data were from a 1985 random sample of 158 married women college professors and
middle-level managers. All had a preschool child.
Findings supported the typology model rather
than the continuum model. Perceptions of conflict and enhancement were weakly associated,
which implies that they can occur simultaneously.
Further analyses showed that location in the
typology also predicted mental health and role
satisfaction. Women experiencing high enhancement and low conflict scored highest on measures
of mental health and role satisfaction, whereas
those experiencing low enhancement and high
conflict scored lowest. Results are discussed in
terms of the issues they raise for the conceptualization of role perceptions.
Profound changes in labor force participation
rates of mothers of young children are creating
one of the most significant social trends of our
Journal of Marriage and the Family 52 (February 1990): 63-72 63
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64 Journal of Marriage and the Family
decade. Fifty-two percent of married women with
children less than a year old now work outside the
home, more than double the rate in 1970
(Hayghe, 1986). This transformation in women's
sources of social support, skills that transfer from
one role to another, and an increased sense of
meaning, personal worth, and purpose (Sieber,
1974; Thoits, 1983).
lives has led to increased scientific and societal
concern about the implications of combining
work and family roles for women's health and
well-being. This study investigates (a) how women
perceive these new role combinations and (b) the
implications of these perceptions for women's
mental health and role satisfaction.
We examine these questions using data from
the first wave of an ongoing longitudinal study of
married women professionals with preschool
children. We focused on women with young
children for several reasons. These women form a
substantial proportion of the fastest growing seg-
ment of the labor force (U.S. Department of
Labor, 1985). In addition, survey data show that
employed mothers with preschool children are in
poorer mental health than other employed women
(see McLanahan and Adams, 1987, for a review).
They are also more likely than either fathers or
mothers of older children to report spillover between work and family (Crouter, 1984), rolerelated tensions (Kelly and Voydanoff, 1985) and
marital dissatisfaction (Staines, Pleck, Shepard,
and O'Connor, 1978; White, Booth, and Edwards, 1986). We focused on women in professional occupations because they are likely to view
work as another primary role, enhancing the
likelihood of conflict between work and family
roles. In addition the inclusion of women with
similar occupational and family demands in this
study avoids the confounding effects of employment in low-prestige occupations or single parent-
hood on role combination perceptions.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The conceptual framework guiding the research
Interrole Perceptions
Most research and theory to date has emphasized
either the positive or negative side of combining
multiple roles. Consequently, theories about the
relationship between role enhancement and role
conflict perceptions are not well developed. One
possibility is that enhancement and conflict are on
a continuum, with some women experiencing a
high level of enhancement and others a high level
of conflict (see Burr, Leigh, Day, and Constantine, 1979). Another approach was developed by
Barnett and Baruch (1985). They subtracted
rewarding from distressing role aspects to come
up with an index of quality of role experience.
This approach implicitly presumes that the
relative balance of conflict and enhancement is
the crucial aspect of role perceptions. An alternate explanation, which balance or continuum approaches do not capture, is that enhancement and
conflict perceptions coexist as independent
dimensions. That is, women may derive both conflict and enhancement from their multiple roles. If
this is the case, a typology model best represents
their perceptions of role combinations (see Fig. 1).
This study examines support for these alternative
conceptualizations of the enhancement!/conflict
relationship. We also examine the implications of
location in the typology for the women's mental
health and role satisfaction.
Interrole Perceptions, Role
Satisfaction, and Mental Health
Initially researchers studied only mental-health
consequences of the number and type of roles that
evolved from role theory, specifically the conflict
a person held. More recently research has begun
and enhancement hypotheses. The conflict
hypothesis views energies of individuals as finite
and role demands as infinite (Coser and Coser,
1974; Goode, 1960). Role conflict, then, becomes
an inevitable, normal, and expected consequence
to show that perceptions of multiple roles relate to
mental-health outcomes. For example, findings
indicate that attitudes, internalized beliefs, and
cognitive representation of roles have a moderating effect in predicting differences in reactions
of multiple roles.
to stress and stress outcomes (Linville, 1987).
The role enhancement hypothesis, in contrast,
emphasizes the potential benefits of multiple roles
(Marks, 1977). Advocates of this perspective have
These findings lead us to expect that women who
differ in their perceptions of role-related conflict
proposed that multiple roles provide multiple
tion and mental health. Specifically, we propose
and enhancement also differ in their role satisfac-
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Women with Multiple Roles 65
FIGURE 1. INTERROLE CONCURRENCE TYPOLOGY:
FAMILY AND CAREER ROLES
Enhancement
Low
Conflict
High
High Low enhancement High enhancement
High conflict High conflict
Low Low enhancement High enhancement
Low conflict Low conflict
either a college professor or a middle-level
of participants across the four types of companies. A total of 104 companies were contacted,
72 in Michigan and 32 in Cook County. Sixtyeight of the Michigan companies (94%) and 26 of
the Chicago-area companies (81%) agreed to participate.
The mean age of the women in this sample was
34.6 years and that of their husbands was 36.8
years. These couples were married an average of
8.6 years and had an average of 1.6 children.
Eighty-three percent (83.0%) of the women and
74.0% of their spouses had college degrees.
Seventy-four percent (74.0%) of the women and
61.0% of their husbands had graduate degrees.
The median total family income was $76,581, and
average length of time in one's current job was 4.2
manager. Female university professors were iden-
years.
that women who are high in enhancement and low
on conflict will be less depressed and will experience greater satisfaction from their home and
work roles.
METHODS
Sample
The study sample consisted of 200 professional
women who are participating in an ongoing
longitudinal study of role conflict and stress.
Complete data on role conflict and enhancement
were available on 158 women in the first wave of
the study. Each woman was employed full-time as
tified from lists of instructional faculty at the four
largest universities in Michigan and the two
largest universities in the Chicago area. Every
university contacted agreed to participate.
Telephone screening interviews were conducted to
determine the eligibility of each woman on each
list. Only currently married women who were
employed full-time and had a preschool child were
eligible. A total of 116 eligible female faculty were
identified, and 108 (93%07) agreed to participate.
Business women were selected from companies in
geographic proximity to the universities. We
targeted all companies with 50 or more employees
in four industries that attract female professional-
level employees: banking, accounting, law, and
advertising. The sampling frame was stratified by
size into small, medium, and large companies,
and companies were randomly selected from
within these strata to obtain an even distribution
Measures
During a two-hour interview at the woman's
home or workplace, the women provided information on objective sources of stress, perceived
stress, coping strategies, coping resources (e.g.,
personality factors, social support, and behavioral predispositions), role functioning, and mental
and physical health. The women provided additional background information in questionnaires
completed prior to the interview. Table 1 summarizes the key variables used in the study.
Perceptions of role conflict and enhancement.
This scale was developed for this study to measure
perceptions of interrole conflict and enhancement. In pilot work, we interviewed women (n =
69) about their perceptions of combining work
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66 Journal of Marriage and the Family
TABLE 1. CLASSES OF PSYCHOSOCIAL VARIABLES
Variable
Classes
Measures
Independent variable
Cognitive representation of interrole combinations Conflict and enhancement subscales (Tiedje et al., 1985)
Covariates
Personality factors, dispositional optimism Life Orientation Test (LOT) (Scheier and Carver, 1985)
Psychosocial assets (Resources)
Income Role conflict study (Wortman et al., 1985)
Spouse support
Child-care arrangements
Time spent at work and in child-care activities 7-day time diary (PIQ) (Wortman et al., 1985)
Dependent variables: Coping
Role satisfaction and mental health
Depression SCL-90-R (Derogatis et al., 1976)
Presence of positive emotions
Well-being Positive Affect Scale (Bradburn, 1969)
Satisfaction with particular life domains Marriage, Parenting, and Occupation scales
(Pearlin and Schooler, 1978)
Effective role functioning Social Adjustment Scale Self-report (Job)
(Weissman and Bothwell, 1976)
Life satisfaction Measure of global life satisfaction
(Andrews and Withey, 1976)
and family roles. Specifically, they were asked,
"Taking everything into consideration, how do
you feel that your relationship with your children
is affected by your career or your responsibilities
at work?" An open-ended follow-up question was
then asked: "Why is that?" We analyzed the content of this question, and the most frequently oc-
curring responses became items in a scale developed to measure the extent to which the roles of
mother, wife, and professional woman conflicted
with or enhanced one another.
The resultant 18 items were grouped according
to three role combinations: (a) overall careerfamily, (b) career-marriage, and (c) careerparenting. Responses were coded on a 5-point
scale ranging from "not at all true" to "very
true." Each group of role combinations had 3
items assessing conflict-for example, "having a
career often causes me to be tired, irritable or
short-tempered with my child(ren)" and 3 items
assessing enhancement-for example, "having a
career helps me to better appreciate the time I
spend with my child(ren)." Two subscales were
then formed: one consisting of the 9 items
measuring conflicts (Cronbach's alpha = .74);
the other a subscale of the 9 enhancement items
(Cronbach's alpha = .71). A principal-components factor analysis using all 18 conflict and
enhancement items confirmed the existence of the
conflict and enhancement constructs. Only two
factors with eigen values greater than 1.0 emerged
from this analysis. The conflict items loaded
highly on one factor and the enhancement items
loaded highly on the other.
Role satisfaction and mental health. Table 1 summarizes measures of depression; well-being and
satisfaction with particular life domains; functioning at work; and life satisfaction.'
Depression was measured with the 13-item
depression subscale of the SCL-90-R (Derogatis,
Rickels, and Rock, 1976). The scale included
items assessing how often in the past week the
respondents had experienced symptoms such as
loss of energy, crying easily, feeling lonely, feeling
blue, feeling no interest in things, and feeling
everything was an effort. The SCL-90-R has
evolved from the Hopkins Symptom Checklist
(Derogatis, Lipman, Rickels, Uhlenhuth, and
Covi, 1974), a self-report instrument that has been
widely validated.2 The coefficient alpha for this
measure was .85.
Well-being was measured with nine items from
Bradburn's Affect Balance Scale (Bradburn,
1969). This scale measures positive and negative
affect and has high validity and reliability. Nine
items were selected from the larger scale to assess
the extent to which respondents found their activities interesting and meaningful, experienced
feelings of pleasure and enjoyment, felt proud
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Women
with
Multiple
about things they had done, and felt that they
were living the kind of life they wanted to live dur-
ing the past month. The alpha coefficient was .90.
Dimensions of job, marital, and parental role
satisfaction were measured with parallel six-item
scales based on Pearlin and Schooler's (1978)
measures of role strains and satisfactions. The six-
item scale (three strains and three satisfactions)
for each domain (work, marriage, and parenting)
was based on response options of 1, "never or
almost never" to 5, "always or almost always."
Respondents were asked to rate how often they
had felt happy, satisfied, frustrated or angry, in-
secure, and unhappy in each particular role, and
how often they enjoyed themselves in each role
during the previous month. The alpha coefficients
in the present study were .81 (job); .89 (marriage);
and .81 (parenting).
Job functioning was assessed with six items
from the work role subscale of the Weissman and
Bothwell (1976) Social Adjustment Scale. These
items tap several dimensions of work functioning,
including how many days the respondent had
missed from work during the past month, how
well she was able to do her work, how productive
she had been in her work, how well she got along
with other people at work, how often she felt
upset while doing her work, and how interesting
she found her work.
General satisfaction with life was assessed by a
question from the subjective measures of wellbeing and satisfaction by Andrews and Withey
(1976). Response options varied from "terrible"
(1) to "delighted" (7).
Dispositional optimism. Scheier and Carver
(1985) found that optimists (as opposed to
pessimists) were most persistent in their coping.
Dispositional optimism was statistically controlled
in our analysis because of its potential to influence
role perceptions. The Life Orientation test
(Scheier and Carver, 1985), a valid and reliable
measure of dispositional optimism developed on
over 1,000 subjects, was the measure used. The
alpha coefficient for the present study was .82.
RESULTS
Preliminary analyses using t tests found no significant difference between the two subgroups of pro-
fessional women on any of the variables used in
the analyses, and these groups were combined in
the analyses we report.
Roles
67
Mean scores for each variable are summarized
in Table 2. As a group, the women showed a high
level of role satisfaction, mental health, and role
enhancement. Depression and well-being scores
were exceptions to this trend. In comparison with
national norms, the women in this sample appeared to be rather tense and slightly depressed
but nonetheless optimistic and satisfied with life.
They were especially satisfied with their parenting
role and felt they were doing a good job at work.
Intercorrelations among the seven coping effectiveness variables were all significant, as expected, ranging from .19 to .62 (see Table 3).
Perceptions of Role Conflict and
Enhancement
The correlation between the conflict and enhance-
ment scales was significant but small, r = -.16, p
< .05, suggesting that women can perceive the
roles they combine as sources of both conflict and
enhancement. This low correlation implies that
women's perceptions of role conflict and enhancement may be represented best by the typology proposed earlier. As a first step in testing this
typology, a median split was done for both conflict and enhancement scales. t tests revealed
significant differences between high and low con-
flict, t(155) = -16.80, p < .01, and high and low
enhancement groups, t(150) = -17.61, p < .01.
The resultant typology was formed by combining
these groups in their four possible permutations:
low enhancement/high conflict; high enhancement/high conflict; low enhancement/low conflict; and high enhancement/low conflict. Chisquare analysis revealed no association between
typology groups; X2 = (1, N = 149) = .25, p =
.62. Women were evenly distributed in the four
cells, which suggests that conflict and enhancenient are best conceptualized as independent
dimensions rather than as at opposite ends of a
continuum. If the conflict hypothesis were true,
one would have expected more women in the high
conflict/low enhancement group; if the enhancement hypothesis were true, there would be more
women in the low conflict/high enhancement
group.
Role Conflict/Enhancement
Typology and Outcomes
The relationship between location in the typology
and role satisfaction and mental health was ex-
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68 Journal of Marriage and the Family
TABLE 2. VARIABLES: DESCRIPTIVE DATA
Variable
na
Rangeb
Meanc
SD
Independent variables
Role conflict 155 11-39 (9-45) 26.54d 5.25
Role enhancement 150 21-45 (9-45) 33.39d 5.29
Dependent variables
Absence of psychiatric symptomology
Depression 148 1-3.92 (1-5) 1.93e (.93)f .52
Presence of positive emotions
Satisfaction with life domainsg
Job
156
12-30
(6-30)
21.87d
3.46
Marriage 158 14-30 (6-30) 24.02d 3.57
Parenting 158 17-30 (6-30) 24.78d 3.23
Well-being 154 1.67-5.22 (1-6) 3.39d .73
Life satisfaction 156 2-7 (1-7) 5.01d 1.00
Effective role functioning
Job functioning, self-report 158 2.83-5 (1-5) 4.05 .43
aNumber varies because of missing data.
bNumbers in parentheses reflect possible range.
cMean reflects per item score unless otherwise indicated.
dHigher numbers reflect greater conflict, etc.
eLower numbers reflect less depression.
fNumber in parentheses reflects correction for SCL-90 raw scores.
gNegative items reversed and six items for each domain summed. Means reflect summed scores.
deed account for differences in the dependent
variables; F(3, 152) = 1.91, p < .01.
Separate ANCOVAs were next carried out for
amined by using multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVAs), with dispositional optimism
as a covariate.3 Location in the typology did in-
TABLE 3. DEPENDENT VARIABLE INTERCORRELATIONS
Pearson r Correlations
Scale
2
3
4
5
6
7
1. SCL 90-Depression -.49** -.40** -.37** -.45** -.40** -.51*
2. Job satisfaction .36** .30** .62** .55** .62**
3. Marital satisfaction .39** .36** .34** .24*
4. Parental satisfaction .33** .24a* .19*
5.
6.
Well-being
Life
.68**
satisfaction
.46**
.47**
7. Job functioning
(Weissman self-report)
*p < .05. **p < .01.
TABLE 4. MEANS FOR MENTAL HEALTH AND ROLE SATISFACTION OUTCOMES BY
LOCATION IN ROLE PERCEPTION TYPOLOGY
Role Perception Typology
Low
Low
High
High
Conflict / Conflict / Conflict / Conflict /
High Low High Low
Dependent Enhancement Enhancement Enhancement Enhancement Scheffe
Variables
1
2
3
4
F
=
Range of n's 29-37 27-34 29-38 35-40
Depressiona 1.75 1.86 2.09 2.00 3.83*
.05
1
<
3
Parental satisfactionb 26.40 25.18 24.32 23.08 8.58** 1 < 3,4
2<4
Job satisfactionb 23.16 22.25 22.12 21.63 1.12 Well-beingb 3.57 3.31 3.44 3.23 2.14
Note: Dispositional optimism was included as a covariate in all the analyses.
aLower scores mean lower depression.
bHigher scores mean higher satisfaction and well-being.
*p < .05. **p < .001.
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Women
with
Multiple
Roles
69
each of the measures of role satisfaction and men-
might argue that parenting satisfaction leads to
tal health. Significant ANCOVAs showed that depression and satisfaction with parenting were associated with location in the typology, when the
effects of dispositional optimism were statistically
controlled (see Table 4).4 The role conflict/enhancement typology accounted for approximately
16%o of the variance in depression and satisfaction
with parenting.
Pairwise comparison of the adjusted means indicated that women who experienced low conflict
and high enhancement were less depressed and experienced more parental role satisfaction than did
more enhancing attitudes about role combination,
women with other conflictl/enhancement perceptions. This low conflict/high enhancement group
was found most often to be significantly different
We examined how women who combine the roles
from other conflict/enhancement typology
groups.
These data raise issues of the circularity of
perceptions. What is the direction of influence
between role conflict/ enhancement perceptions
and parenting satisfaction, for example? One
and not the opposite, as hypothesized in this
study. Simultaneous equations using standard
OLS (two-stage least squares) procedures revealed
that role enhancement perceptions significantly
predicted greater parenting satisfaction, B = .85,
SE = .40, p < .05, while the reverse influence
between these variables was not significant (see
Figure 2).5
DIscUssION
of mother, spouse, and professional perceive their
multiple roles. Women in this sample showed considerable variability in their perceptions of rolerelated conflict and enhancement, the focal dimensions of the study. Contrary to the role conflict hypothesis, conflict is not an inevitable con-
sequence of occupying three demanding roles.
Contrary to the enhancement hypothesis, balanc-
FIGURE 2. ROLE ATTITUDES AND PARENTING SATISFACTION:
DIRECTION OF INFLUENCE
Hours spent on child care .14
Parenting satisfaction
Satisfaction with child-care .15
arrangements
B = -.34 B = .85
(SE = .57) (SE = .40)
p > .05 p < .05
Dispositional optimism .29
Attitudes about inter-
role combination
(enhancement)
Spouse support .16
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70 Journal of Marriage and the Family
ing multiple roles does not always lead to perceptions of enhancement.
The weak negative relationship between conflict and enhancement shows that perceptions of
conflict and enhancement are also not mutually
exclusive. Some women view their roles as a
source of both conflict and enhancement; others
derive either conflict or enhancement; still others
derive comparatively little conflict or enhancement. These combinations of perceptions are inconsistent with the view that conflict and en-
hancement are at opposite ends of a continuum,
as some have proposed (e.g., Burr et al., 1979).
Rather, our findings support the role perception
typology outlined in Figure 1.
A focus on the relative balance of conflict and
enhancement is an alternative way of conceptualizing role perceptions that can encompass the
independence of these dimensions (e.g., Barnett
and Baruch, 1985). This balance hypothesis
presupposes that what is relevant for health and
well-being is whether a woman derives more
enhancement than conflict from her multiple
roles. Our results on the association between loca-
tion in the role perception typology and mental
health/role satisfaction argue against this alternative view. Contrary to predictions of the
balance approach, the depression / parenting
satisfaction of women who were high on both
work makes it easier to enjoy my children too. I
feel better about myself." Women who perceived
high role rewards and low conflicts seemed more
able to enjoy parenting. "Time spent with my
children is useful for getting away from my job,"
said one mother. "It helps put job pressures in
perspective." Such high enhancement/low conflict women would potentially handle home and
work situations that superficially might seem
filled with structurally imposed conflicts (Stryker
and Statham, 1985). High enhancement/low conflict perceptions may also help by altering the appraisal of conflict situations. Further research is
needed to explicate how processes of choice and
appraisal may link enhancement/ conflict in role
perceptions with parenting satisfaction and other
outcomes.
In assessing these results several caveats are in
order. First, these results are cross-sectional.
Longitudinal data are needed to further our
understanding of role conflict / enhancement
perceptions and their effect on the stress and cop-
ing process. If these perceptions of how roles
combine are persistent and not transitory, one
would expect similar patterns to emerge over time.
Longitudinal research on this group of professional women will help identify groups at risk by
discerning (a) whether role conflict / enhancement
typology group membership persists over time; (b)
conflict and enhancement differed from that of
whether membership in one of the role con-
women who were low on both dimensions. We
flict /enhancement typology groups is consistently
found that conflict was the relevant dimension for
connected with role satisfaction/mental health;
and (c) whether certain variables predict location
within the role perception typology.
Second, although considerable effort was
devoted to obtaining a representative sample with
high response rates, the sample was restricted to
married professional women with young children
in order to study role conflict/enhancement in
conditions where work and family responsibilities
both depression and parental role satisfaction.
Regardless of perceptions of enhancement,
women who perceived their roles as conflicting
were more depressed and less satisfied as parents.
A tendency on the part of low conflict/high
enhancement women to view the world through
"rose-colored glasses" does not explain this finding, as we controlled for dispositional optimism in
our analyses.
Why is location in the role perception typology
related to parenting satisfaction but not job
satisfaction? To address this question, we examined transcripts of pilot study responses (n = 69)
to an open-ended question about combining roles.
We focused on the reports of women who could
perceive more enhancing, less conflicting aspects
of role combination. One mother said, "The
distance and time away from the children gives me
a better perspective about them and their behav-
ior." Another mother reported, "Enjoying my
were maximized. The restricted occupational
range of the sample raises the possibility that the
role conflict/lenhancement perceptions described
may not be generalizable.
Third, the present study tests a parsimonious
conceptual framework, devoid of two core constructs of most stress and coping models: objective stressors and coping strategies. Further study
can enlarge and embellish this simpler conceptual
framework.
The above limitations need not obscure what
has been learned. The finding that role conflict
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Women
with
Multiple
and enhancement perceptions can occur simultaneously and are more significantly related to
some dimensions of mental health and role satis-
faction, indicates their importance in the stress
process. Further research should explore how
such interrole perceptions affect appraisal of
interrole conflicts and how such conflict/en-
hancement perceptions interact with resources,
personality, and coping strategies to affect coping
Roles
71
5. The question of the independence of the instrumental variables in two-stage least squares procedures is
often raised. Correlations between the two in-
strumental variables for parenting satisfaction
(hours spent on child care and satisfaction with
child-care arrangements) and the instrumental
variables for enhancement perceptions (dispositional optimism and spouse support) were weak and
not significant, ranging from .07 to .08. These weak
correlations attest to the independence of these instrumental variables.
outcomes.
REFERENCES
NOTES
This article is a revised version of a paper presented
at the annual meeting of the National Council on
Family Relations, Atlanta, Georgia, November
1987. The research reported here was supported by
Grant No. MH40255-01 from the National Institute for Mental Health and Grant No.
BNS-8417745 from the National Science Founda-
tion, awarded to Camille B. Wortman, principal investigator. The study was conducted at the Institute
for Social Research, University of Michigan.
1. Multiple standardized instruments were used to
measure indicators of role satisfaction and mental
health because coping efficacy includes several
distinct dimensions (Wortman, 1983) and adequate
functioning in one area is not necessarily related to
other areas of functioning (Lazarus and Folkman,
1985).
2. The SCL-90-R depression subscale is a widely used
and highly regarded measure of depression
(Derogatis, 1977). The SCL-90-R was chosen as a
more pure measurement of symptomatology, rather
than the more commonly used CES-D scale, which
includes social support, positive affect, and other
constructs in addition to depression. Studies that
have used both the CES-D and SCL-90-R have
reported similar results (Lehman, Wortman, and
Williams, 1987).
3. Dispositional optimism was consistently the
strongest covariate related to coping effectiveness,
being significantly correlated (p < .01) with depres-
sion (r = -.29), marital satisfaction (r = .30), and
life satisfaction (r = .29).
4. Preliminary analyses showed that results were not
affected by statistically controlling for such factors
as average time spent on family and work roles,
level of spouse support, and difficulties with childcare arrangements. Previous research had suggested
that these factors might influence the role satisfaction and mental health of multiple-role women
(Beutell and Greenhaus, 1982; Bryson, Bryson, and
Johnson, 1978; Holahan and Gilbert, 1979;
Rapoport and Rapoport, 1971; St. Johns-Parson,
1978; Staines and Pleck, 1983; Timmer, Eccles, and
O'Brien, 1986). The test for equal slopes (p values
ranged from .12 to .99) in all ANCOVA analyses in-
dicated that none of these covariates interacted with
role conflict /enhancement perceptions.
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