Working Mothers and Stress, 1980

This research was designed to assess, from the level of the individual family, the daily conditions and experiences of employed and single mothers. The data were also collected to assess the implications of these findings for children and for policies and practices relating to employment, families, and women. The sample consists of 545 families in metropolitan Toronto, stratified to include adequate numbers of single mothers, age representation of children, and use of various child-care arrangements. The main instrument of the survey was a time budget completed by each member of the family above age 10. Mothers completed surveys for all children under 10. The time budget required respondents to list in detail what they did on the day in question, activity by activity. Each entry includes mention of the time, nature of the activity, location, other people present, simultaneous activities also performed, and a subjective evaluation consisting of seven-point scales describing the degree of voluntariness and stress entailed by the activity. The participants also completed a mental health and happiness scale. The interviewer observed interactions in the family while the budgets were being completed. After the completion of the time budgets, the mother was administered a structured interview covering factual information about childcare arrangements and employment, and subjective questions covering time pressures, dilemmas of working mothers, sources of pressures, suggested solutions, and family responsibilities.

本研究旨在从家庭个体层面，评估在职及单身母亲的日常处境与经历，同时亦旨在探讨上述研究发现对儿童，以及与就业、家庭及女性相关的政策与实践的启示。本研究的样本覆盖多伦多都会区的545个家庭，通过分层抽样确保单身母亲样本量充足、儿童年龄分布合理，并涵盖多种儿童照料安排。本次调查的核心工具为时间预算日志：家庭中10岁及以上的成员需自行填写该日志，10岁以下儿童的相关信息则由母亲代为填报。时间预算日志要求受访者详细记录受访当日的各项活动，逐一列明活动细节。每条活动记录需包含活动时长、活动性质、活动地点、在场人员、同步开展的其他活动，以及由7级量表构成的主观评价项，用于衡量该活动的自愿程度与伴随的压力水平。参与者还需完成心理健康与幸福感量表。在填写时间预算日志的过程中，访谈员将观察家庭成员间的互动情况。完成时间预算日志填写后，研究人员将对母亲开展结构化访谈，访谈内容涵盖儿童照料安排与就业状况的事实性信息，以及关于时间压力、职场母亲的困境、压力来源、可行解决方案与家庭责任的主观性问题。