Occupational Stress and Family Difficulties of Working Women

Problem statement: Work and family are the two most important aspects in women’s lives. Balancing work and family roles has become a key personal and family issue for many societies. There are many facets in working mother’s lives that subject to stresses. They deal with home and family issues as well as job stress on a daily basis. Imbalance between work and family life arises due to a number of factors. Various factors appear to strengthen the brunt of pressure on women. The question was raised whether there is a relationship between occupational stress and family difficulties of working women in Iran. Approach: The purpose of this study was to assess the relationships between occupational stress and family difficulties in working women. A sample of 250 married working women with 2 or more children participated in this study during 2010 in one of the largest city of Iran, Ahvaz. A non-experimental, cross-sectional survey design was conducted using Demographic Information form, The Sources of Work Stress Inventory (SWSI) and Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales-II (FACES-II). Results: Using correlation and regression analysis, results suggested that there were significant positive relationship between levels of occupational stress and family difficulties in working women. Conclusion/Recommendation: Regarding to woman’s household tasks and families responsibility, it is important to measure the level of occupational stress in working women and assess relation between occupational stress and family difficulties in order to obtain knowledge for health care providers to provide support to the working women and their families. There is a great need for research on working women, especially concerning the impact and occurrence of job stress on children mental health. Longitudinal data on young childbearing families are needed to examine the complex issues of work-family surrounding the family in today’s world.