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Infant care and wives' depressive symptoms
M C Lennon1, G A Wasserman, R Allen
1School of Public Health, Division of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032.
Women & Health
|January 1, 1991
Summary
Husbands' involvement in auxiliary child care impacts wives' psychological well-being, regardless of employment. Employed mothers face more distress when child care is costly or when husbands do not share basic tasks.
Area of Science:
- Sociology
- Psychology
- Family Studies
Background:
- Division of child care impacts wives' psychological well-being.
- Limited research on specific child care tasks and non-employed wives.
Purpose of the Study:
- Differentiate basic and auxiliary child care tasks.
- Hypothesize husbands' lack of participation in auxiliary tasks causes distress.
- Hypothesize husbands' lack of participation in basic tasks distresses employed wives.
- Hypothesize financial strain and arranging child care increases employed mothers' distress.
Main Methods:
- Mail survey of mothers with infants.
- Multiple regression analysis to evaluate hypotheses.
Main Results:
- Husbands' involvement in child care and housework is low.
- Wives' relative income predicts husbands' involvement.
- Lower husband participation in auxiliary child care increases wives' reported symptoms.
- Costly child care is associated with increased depression symptoms in employed wives.
Conclusions:
- Husbands' involvement in auxiliary child care affects wives' well-being regardless of employment status.
- Employed mothers experience distress when child care is costly.
- Expectations regarding parental responsibility influence child care division and well-being.