Work and family roles of women: Sources of stress and coping strategies

Women's lives are affected by the roles they assume, as well as when and in what sequence and combination they assume these roles. This study described the daily stressors and coping strategies reported by women with differing work and family role configurations. Ninety‐two women representing four common typologies of multiple roles (married working mothers, single working mothers, married workers without children, and homemakers) reported daily hassles and their responses to these hassles in a health diary. The predominant type of hassles reported was related to the self, including physical and emotional symptoms, unfulfilled expectations, and doubts. The major response to hassles was doing nothing, followed by problem solving. While there were no significant differences in the incidence of daily hassles among the four groups, types of hassles and coping responses differed in rank when compared among the four groups.