Physiological, emotional, and self-reported indices of stress response for women in dual-career marriages

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Content PHYSIOLOGICAL, EMOTIONAL, AND
SELF-REPORTED INDICES OF STRESS RESPONSE
FOR WOMEN IN DUAL-CAREER MARRIAGES
by
Frederic W. Norris
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(Education -- Counseling Psychology)
o * '
August 1987
Copyright 1987 Frederic W. Norris
UMI Number: DP25177
Ail rights reserved
INFORMATION TO ALL USERS
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In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript
and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed,
a note will indicate the deletion.
UMI DP25177
Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author.
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This dissertation, written by
. . G.. .Will iam.. N.orr.i s...........
under the direction of h is Dissertation
Committee, and approved by all its members,
has been presented to and accepted by The
Graduate School, in partial fulfillm ent of re
quirements fo r the degree of
ElS i?b.
Ph.D.
E4
*87
D O C T O R O F P H IL O S O P H Y
Dean of Dean of Graduate Studies
D a te I 1 .}.3 ./.* !
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE
Chai/person
Dedication
"Love is the active concern for
the life and the growth of that
which we love." Erich Fromm,
The Art of Loving.
To my wife, Candra. Without her support,
companionship, encouragement, and patience I may
never have attempted or achieved this goal.
ii
Acknowledgement!;
When I began my doctoral studies I had the
expectation that the execution of doctoral
research was a rather solitary process. Over the
course of this project I have learned however,
that a dissertation is the result of assistance
from many sources. This like other dissertations
carries with it the mark of many individuals who
have been very generous with their support,
encouragement, and guidance.
First I would like to thank the chairman of
my guidance committee, Dr. Paul Bloland. From the
beginning of my studies, he has provided extremely
helpful guidance and has been very generous with
his contributions of time, energy and support of
my goals.
I would like to thank the other members of my
guidance committee, Dr. Rand Wilcox and Dr.
Donald Schrader. They have been extremely helpful
and made significant contributions to this
dissertation as well as my professional
development. I would also like to thank Dr.
Douglas Bonett, a former member of my committee
who continued to provide invaluable statistical
iii
assistance welT~beyond—fhe end of“his formal role-
on my committee.
I am also greatly indebted to Dr. Robert
Foery, Mike Reedy, and Reference Laboratory for
their support in the analysis of subjects urine
samples. I am equally appreciative of the
assistance provided me by George Corbin, in
finding subjects for my study.
To this day I carry with me the pride and joy
my parents expressed at my capabilities as a
youngster. Their confidence in me left me with
the self-assurance that I was capable of doing
whatever I set my mind to. I continue to
appreciate this and similar expressions of
confidence my parents have given me, for without
them I would never have attempted many of the
goals I have set in my life.
Some people are fortunate enough to have had
one special person in their life who has always
been their in times of need as well as times of
celebration. I consider myself one of the
fortunate recipients of this type of support. For
me, this person has been my grandmother, Ivey
Dalrymple.
iv
Finally, I wouIcTTTke to thank my children,
Ricky and Rebecca. Throughout this ordeal there
have been times when their needs have had to come
second to mine. They have always done so in an
unselfish, sensitive, and responsible way. It is
my sincerest hope that I will someday honor this
gift by having the chance to support them in their
pursuit of some accomplishment they highly value.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I Introduction 1
Background of the Problem 3
Statement of the Problem 6
Purpose of the Study 7
Overview of the Study 7
Research Questions 9
Theoretical Framework 10
Hypotheses 14
Definition of Terms 17
Outline of Remainder of Dissertation 19
II Literature Review 20
The evolution of research on the
dual-career family. 20
Summary of Findings 25
Research on stress in the dual-career
marriage. 26
Internal Strain 27
External Strains 32
Summary of Findings 35
The concept of stress as it
specifically relates to
wives in dual-career
marriages. 37
Summary of Findings 42
The relationship between social
desirability and measures
of stress. 45
vi
Summary of Findings 4‘ 8
Conclusion 49
III Method 51
Design 51
Path Analysis 52
Statistical Analysis 52
Null Hypotheses 55
Subjects 56
Measures 59
Rorschach 59
Presence of Catecholamines 59
Social Desirability Scale 61
Questionnaire 61
Procedure 62
Summary 6 3
IV Results 64
Hypothesis 1 65
Findings 65
Interpretation 68
Hypothesis 2 68
Findings 69
Interpretation 6 9
Hypotheses 3.A 70
Findings 71
Interpretation 71
Hypothesis 3.B
Findings
Interpretation
Summary
V Discussion
Method
Subjects
Measures
Results
Discussion
References
Appendix A 1
Appendix B 1
Appendix C 1
Appendix D 1
Appendix E 1
Appendix F 1
Appendix G 1
Appendix H 1
Appendix I 1
Appendix J 1
Appendix K 1
Appendix L 1
Table 1
Figure 1
72
73
73
74
77
80
80
81
82
85
93
02
06
09
11
1 3
1 5
1 7
1 9
22
25
26
28
66
53
viii
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
An increasing number of married women have
been entering the work force since 1940.
Whitehurst (1977) reported that in 1940, 36.4 %
of the women in the labor force were married. By
1972 that figure had jumped dramatically to 63 %.
Many married women are working out of economic
necessity, rather than choice (Orden & Bradburn,
1969). The dual-worker family is more likely to
occur among couples with lower formal occupational
qualifications. In contrast the dual-career
family is likely to have higher levels of
occupational qualifications. But what most
distinguishes dual-career couples from dual-worker
families is their high degree of commitment to
both their career and their family. While many of
the strains may be similar for dual-career and
dual-worker families, the serious commitment of
both spouses to their careers in addition to their
children, family life, and housework suggests
there may be more stress and time pressure for the
dual-career family (Price-Bonham & Murphy, 1980;
Rapoport & Rapoport, 1976; Rice, 1979).
Both of these forms of marital relationship
differ significantly from the traditional marital
relationship in which the husband was the sole or
primary source of financial support for the
family, while the wife was responsible for the
housekeeping and child care tasks. Previous
researchers have, however, disagreed about the
amount of stress that participants in dual-career
marriages experience as a result of their variant
lifestyle.
This study examined whether stress in wives
in dual-career marriages increases as a function
of multiple role demands (role overload). In so
doing, this study has contributed findings
meaningful to both the theory of stress and more
specifically to the understanding of dilemmas
inherent in an emerging lifestyle, the dual-career
marriage. The variables of interest in this study
were situational stress as manifested by
responsibility for multiple role demands (career,
wife and mother), stress response as manifested in
both physiological and emotional measures of
stress, and finally an interactional definition of
stress as manifested by a self-report measure of
subjectively experienced stress.
2
Background of the Problem
Dual-career marriages did not receive special
attention until the mid to late 1960fs when
Fogarty and the Rapoports studied women in top
jobs (1968). Since that time the concept of
"dual-career" has implied that each spouse has a
job that is salient, requires a high degree of
commitment, and has a continuous developmental
sequence (Rapoport & Rapoport, 1971). Subsequent
research uncovered numerous characteristics of
dual-career families that differentiate them from
traditional families. They tend to be more self-
reliant and self-sufficient because both spouses
are highly qualified individuals who hold similar
values (Burke & Weir, 1976). In contrast to their
traditional counterparts that first have children
and then may or may not choose to have the wife
enter the labor force, dual-career couples usually
do not have children until the wife is firmly
established in her career (Rapoport & Rapoport,
1971). Also, dual-career couples typically have
higher than normal combined family incomes,
placing more discretionary income at their
disposal.
3
Dual-career couples, however, pay a price for
these benefits, for another characteristic of the
dual-career couples is the increased amount of
stress or strain placed on the couple. Rapoport
and Rapoport (1969) proposed at least five areas
of potential stress that can result from a dual
career marriage; 1) role overload dilemmas, 2)
personal norm dilemmas, 3) dilemmas of identity,
4) social network dilemmas, and 5) role cycling
dilemmas.
Hall and Hall (1979) suggested that the basic
dilemma of a two-career couple is how to combine
individual fulfillment and freedom on the one
hand, with responsibility to one's mate (and or
family) on the other. The conflict that is
usually experienced requires the resolution of
competing demands and the maintenance of a system
of priorities among multiple roles (i.e., spouse,
worker, parent, etc.). Hall and Hall (1979) found
that the major sources of stress for dual-career
couples involved change, conflict resolution, and
role overload.
Other researchers have proposed additional
stresses and strains to be inherent in the dual
career family. Poloma and Garland (1971) and
4
Johnson and Johnson (1977) found that few families
are able to redistribute domestic responsibilities
evenly between spouses. Others (Heckman, Bryson,
& Bryson 1977) have found that the wife often
assumes the major responsibility for domestic
chores. This disparity or inequality in domestic
responsibilities appears to be even more of a
problem in light of Johnson and Johnson*s (1977)
conclusion that many dual-career wives seem
unwilling to purchase convenience items or
services that could lessen their domestic burden.
Thus, a good portion of the literature
concludes that the dual-career lifestyle produces
a great deal of strain for both the husband and
wife, and that the woman's level of strain appears
to be greater than the man's. Given these
findings, one would expect to find clear evidence
in the literature for manifestations of stress in
women who are in dual-career marriages. This is
not the case. Instead, some researchers conclude
that dual-career wives may actually experience low
to normal levels of stress.
Yogev (1982) found that professional married
women with children reported working over 107
hours per week in their combined roles. These
same women also reported they were less overloaded'
than did married women without children (who
reported working about 78 hours per week). Yogev
concluded that the working women with children
tended to deny that they were overworked and thus
did not feel overloaded or overworked. Crosby
(1983) found that married parents are more content
with their jobs than are single people and that
multiple roles increase people's general sense of
well-being and makes them happier with all their
roles. Gump (1972) concluded that dual-career
wives may have more psychological coping resources
and thus not experience as much stress in spite of
their role overload.
Statement of the Problem
To help explain the apparently contradictory
findings in the literature, the present study
has sought to develop a method of analysis that
accurately assessed wives' actual and perceived
level of stress and explained the variance in
each. Wives' actual level of stress was measured
by both emotional and physiological measures.
Wives' perceived level of stress was measured by a
single self-report item (Yogev, 1982). The
amount of emotional and physiological stress a
6
women experience was hypothesized to be a function
of the number of roles for which they were
responsible. In addition to the number of roles
for which they were responsible, wives' self-
reported stress responses were also hypothesized
to be a function of their tendency to answer
questions in a socially desirable manner.
Purpose of the Study
Since the number of dual-career marriages
appear to be increasing, it is important for
social scientists to determine if the strains that
are inherent in the dual-career marriage truly
produce increased levels of stress in the wives.
A definitive finding in either direction will have
implications for how couples may be counseled
should they seek psychotherapy or marriage
counseling and for the advice given to couples in
lay periodicals.
Overview of the Study
The purpose of the present study was to
determine if stress in dual-career wives is
increased as a result of multiple role demands
(role overload). Dual-career wives with children
(three roles - wife, mother, and career) were
compared to dual-career wives without children
7
(two roles -wife and career). The study also
sought to determine if social desirability
affected the tendency of dual-career wives to
under-report their subjectively experienced level
of stress.
Three measures of stress were employed in
this study. The first two utilized measures
that were not confounded by factors such as social
desirability or an inadequate operational
definition of stress. The first measure was the
determinant "m" (inanimate movement) on the
Rorschach Inkblot Test, using the Comprehensive
System (Exner, 1974). This measure of stress was
used because subj ects would not know when they
were giving responses indicative of stress. Thus,
the use of inanimate movement (m) as an
operational definition of emotional stress,
avoided the complication of using a measure of
stress confounded by social desirability.
The second measure of stress was a sample of
catecholamines (CA) and their metabolites present
in urine samples. Catecholamines (CA) are a group
of neurotransmitters widely recognized for their
sympathomimetic properties. Since 1911, it has
been demonstrated by numerous researchers (Cannon
8
& de la Paz, 1911; Selye, 1936; Richter, 1957)
that when the body is stressed, the sympathetic
nervous system is typically activated, releasing
increased amounts of CA and their metabolites into
the bodies system. Thus, the presence of CA in
the general system is a very reliable index of
stress.
The third measure of stress was the item
first used by Yogev (1982), a single self-report
item that indicated the frequency of feeling
overloaded or overworked as reported by the
subj ects.
The design of this study was correlational
employing path analytic techniques. Data analysis
was accomplished using a simultaneous equations
model and null hypotheses were tested using
asymptotic "t" ratios.
Research Questions
The research questions for this study were:
1) Does physiological stress in dual-career wives
increase as a function of the number of roles for
which they are responsible?
2) Does emotional stress in dual-career wives
increase as a function of the number of roles for
which they are responsible?
9
3) Does the level of self-reported stress for
dual-career wives decrease as a function of both
the number of roles for which they are
responsible, and their tendency to answer
questions in a socially desirable manner?
Theoretical Framework
According to Holroyd and Lazarus (1982),
contemporary stress research emerged in the
1940's from the need to understand the body's
changes and breakdowns in response to extreme
environmental stressors. Situations that brought
this need to the attention of researchers included
military combat, concentration camp internment,
bereavement, and traumatic injury. Investigators
at that time observed that the stress responses of
individuals (psychosis, anxiety reactions,
bleeding ulcers, and hypertension) could be as
dramatic as the condition that caused the stress
response. By conceptualizing these responses as
consequences of the construct, "stress,"
investigators began the study of principles that
transcended any of the original situations (e.g.,
military combat). Subsequent stress theory
research has hypothesized about sources of stress,
mechanisms of stress production, and factors that
10
mediate the stress response. Since the 194~CTrIf7
three competing models of stress theory have
emerged and received the most support. They are
"stimulus" oriented theories of stress, "response"
oriented theories of stress, and "interactional"
theories of stress.
Major proponents of the stimulus operational
definition of stress include Holmes and Rahe
(1967), and Dohrenwend and Dohrenwend (1974), all
of whom focused on critical life events and their
relationship to subsequent health events. These
theorists view stress as a potential that resides
within the stimulus properties of the environment.
In contrast, Ilfeld (1982) used the term "marital
stressors" to describe the conditions of daily
marital life that are generally considered
problematic or undesirable, such as nonfulfillment
of role obligations. In this respect, Ilfeld
defined stressors in a manner quite different from
the definitions used by previous life events
investigators who focused on a series of discrete
events. Ilfeld instead conceptualized the
stressors as arising out of ongoing circumstances.
The major contributor to the study of stress
"response" oriented theory has been Hans Selye
11
(1956). Selye*s (1982) definition of stress is,
"... the nonspecific (that is, common) result of
any demand upon the body, be the effect was mental
or somatic'1 (p. 7). Selye (1956) called this
response system the general adaptation syndrome
(GAS). Selye (1956) outlined three stages of the
GAS: 1) alarm and mobilization, 2) resistance, and
3) exhaustion and disintegration. According to
Derogatis (1982), literally hundreds of
psychological self-report measures of stress have
been developed although many of these, such as the
Beck Depression Inventory (Beck & Beamsdorfer,
1974), do not measure stress directly. Research
has also linked the GAS with numerous biochemical
and metabolic changes (Selye, 1982), such as the
release of the hormones called catecholamines.
The third major group of theorists espouse
an "interactional" theory of stress. Theorists in
this group have a phenomenological orientation and
are critical of unelaborated stimulus and response
theories for dismissing the important variable of
the person or individual differences in
understanding the phenomenon of stress. According
to Holroyd and Lazarus (1982), stress is best
understood in terms of two integral processes:
12
appraisal and coping. Appraisal refers to the
evaluative process regarding the organism*s
status. That is, do we perceive ourselves as
being in any threat? Whereas, coping refers to
the organism's ability to manage environmental
and internal demands and conflicts. An important
aspect of the interactional theory of stress, is
that it places a great deal of emphasis on the
individuals' recognition that they do not feel
adequately prepared to cope with some stressor.
Disagreement in the literature about whether
the dual-career wife experiences high levels of
stress may be due to two factors: 1) Use of two
different definitions of stress has contributed to
confusing findings. One of the definitions has
relied on the stimulus model of stress for
defining stressors such as role overload (Rapoport
& Rapoport, 1969) and assuming they were stress
provoking. The second definition of stress used
in dual-career research has utilized an
interactional definition of stress (Yogev, 1982)
and relied on reports of subjectively experienced
stress; and 2) the tendency of dual-career wives
to under-report or deny the level of subjective
stress they are experiencing (Yogev, 1982). In
13
contrast, this study sought to utilize the stress
response model to determine if women who
experience role overload also manifest a stress
response. The study also sought to test the
interactional model of stress by replicating
Yogev*s (1982) self-report item.
Hypotheses
The hypotheses for this study were as
follows:
Hypothesis 1
The level of the physiological stress
response manifested by wives in dual-career
marriages will vary as a function of the
number of roles for which they are
responsible (wives who are responsible for
two roles will demonstrate lower indices of
stress than wives who are responsible for
three roles).
Support. Rapoport and Rapoport (1969) and
Hall and Hall (1979) have identified numerous
sources of strain experienced by women in dual
career marriages, including role overload (dealing
with the demands of conflicting roles). Selye has
hypothesized that excessive and/or prolonged
demands upon the body activate a stress response
14
called the General Adaptation Syndrome (activation
of the sympathetic nervous system). Lake and
Ziegler (1985) have described how activation of
the sympathetic nervous system can produce
increased levels of catecholamines in urine
samples.
Hypothesis 2
The level of the emotional stress
response manifested by wives in dual-career
marriages will vary as a function of the
number of roles for which they are
responsible (wives who are responsible for
two roles will demonstrate lower indices of
stress than wives who are responsible for
three roles).
Support. Rapoport and Rapoport (1969) and
Hall and Hall (1979) have identified numerous
sources of strain that women in dual-career
marriages experience, including role overload
(dealing with the demands of conflicting roles).
Exner (1986) has shown that "m" (inanimate
movement) responses on the Rorschach are
associated with the exposure to situational
stressors.
15
Hypothesis 3.A
The level of the self-reported stress
response manifested by wives in dual-career
marriages will be negatively related to the
number of roles for which they are
responsible (wives who are responsible for
two roles will report higher levels of stress
than wives who are responsible for three
roles).
Hypothesis 3.B
The level of the self-reported stress
response manifested by wives in dual-career
marriages will be negatively related to their
score on a measure of social desirability
(wives who have high scores on the Social
Desirability Scale will report lower levels
of stress than wives who have low scores on
the Social Desirability Scale).
Support. Rapoport and Rapoport (1969) and
Hall and Hall (1979) have identified numerous
sources of strain that women in dual-career
marriages experience, including role overload
(dealing with the demands of conflicting roles).
Yogev (1982) has concluded that women in dual
career marriages who experience role overload
16
(three roles) tend to deny that they are
overworked. Shaevitz (1984) has observed that
women in dual-career marriages tend to deny the
existence of problems for fear they will look
"bad" or not normal. Crowne and Marlowe (1964)
observed that some individuals have a need to
conform to stereotypes of what is good in order to
receive approval from others and this orientation,
called social desirability, can affect an
individuals response set to some test items.
Definition of Terms
Catecholamines: A group of neurotransmitters
that operate within the parasympathetic branch of
the autonomic nervous system and are associated
with an individual's response to stress-provoking
stimuli.
Dual-Career Family: A dual-career family is
one in which both heads of household pursue
careers and at the same time maintain a family
life together. In the present study participants
were considered to be working in a career rather
than a job if they had achieved at least a
baccalaureate degree and had worked roughly full
time since graduating from college, except for
17
_________i
brief leaves for child care following a pregnancy,
or for furthering their education.
Role Overload: The strain associated with
having multiple role committments. One source of
strain is the work load associated with having
multiple role committments. Another source of
strain relates to the need to accomodate
conflicting role demands. In this study, role
overload was defined as having three versus two
primary life roles (wife-mother-career versus
wife-career).
Self-Reported Stress: A subjective
evaluation of the amount of stress one is
experiencing. In this study, self-reported stress
was measured by asking subjects (one item) how
often they felt overloaded or overworked because
of their jobs and other responsibilities.
Social Desirability: A response set to
survey items that is motivated by a need to
conform to stereotypes of what is good in order to
receive approval from others. In this study,
social desirability was measured by the Social
Desirability Scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1964).
Stress Response: An individual's response,
be it physiological or emotional, to the amount of
18
strain he or she is currently experiencing. In
this study physiological stress response was
measured by the level of urinary catecholamine
excretion. Emotional stress response was measured
by the number of situational stress responses
produced on the Rorschach (a projective inkblot
test).
Outline of Remainder of Dissertation
Chapter II will review the literature
relevant to this study. Chapter III will describe
the procedures, instruments, and method of
analysis used in this study. Chapter IV will
describe the results. Chapter V will summarize
the study, state the conclusions drawn from the
results, integrate the findings with other
pertinent research, and make recommendations for
future studies in this area.
19
CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
This section will focus on research germane
to the topic of dual-career marriages with special
attention given to the study of stress experienced
by women in dual-career marriages. The first
portion of this chapter will address some of the
seminal and most prominent research studies in the
field of dual-career marriages. The second
portion will address research specific to the
concept of stress in the dual-career marriage.
The third portion will address the concept of
stress specific to women in the dual-career
research, and the fourth section will focus on the
concept of social desirability in dual-career
marriages.
The Evolution of Research on the
Dual-Career Family
The dual-career family was originally defined
as a family in which both heads of household
pursue careers and at the same time maintain a
family life together (Rapoport & Rapoport, 1969).
The initial research in this area, conducted by
the Rapoport's, was stimulated by a larger
interest in the relationship between work and
20
family life (Rapoport & Rapoport, 1965) and
specific interest in factors affecting highly
qualified women*s participation in the work place
(Fogarty, Rapoport, & Rapoport, 1968).
Studies which proved to be precursors to the
Rapoport*s initial research in this area (Fogarty,
Rapoport & Rapoport, 1968; Dahlstrom & Liljestrom,
1967; Myrdal & Klein, 1956; Rossi, 1964; Nye &
Hoffman, 1963; Yudkin & Holme, 1963) were
essentially interested in changes occurring in sex
roles. This precursor research, however, failed
to study the relationship between men's and
women's career and family roles and particularly
how these roles were interrelated. Thus, the
Rapoport's (1969) initial study of this variant
family structure focused on the dynamics of the
dual-career lifestyle rather than the changes
occuring in sex roles.
The initial research in the field of dual
career marriages (Rapoport & Rapoport, 1969-71;
Epstein, 1971; Holmstrom, 1973) relied heavily on
intensive case studies and semi-structured
interview techniques (Rapoport & Rapoport, 1980).
In this respect this initial research was
qualitative and served the purpose of describing
21
the experience of this lifestyle and building
theory about it.
The Rapoport's (1969) initial article in this
area was an outgrowth of previous data collection
from a larger study of "Women in Top Jobs"
(Fogarty, Rapoport, & Rapoport, 1968). In the
Rapoport*s article they defined the dual-career
family as one in which both husband and wife
pursue careers (jobs that are highly salient
personally, that have a developmental sequence,
and that require a high degree of commitment) and
at the same time establish a family life.
In their study, the Rapoport's relied
exclusively on interview data from sixteen
families. Thirteen of the families continued to
live the dual-career lifestyle and three had wives
who had broken off their career commitments. The
families were interviewed by a team of
interviewers, one male and one female. The
interviews were taped and transcribed with each
couple interviewed several times. Usually one or
two interviews were conducted with the husband and
wife together followed by separate interviews with
each spouse alone with the same sex interviewer
(husband with male interviewer). These interviews
22
were summarized in a case write-up which was then
shared with the couple to determine the validity
of the interviewer's impressions. Corrections
were made for gross omissions and distortions.
Where there was a difference in perception, a
statement was written that would encompass the
different possibilities. Each interview was at
least one hour long. Couples chosen represented a
range of occupations for the women but all had at
least one child still living at home. The
Rapoport*s conclusions were tentative but remained
close to the data, from a phenomenological
standpoint, in describing the pressures and
solutions attendant to these couples.
In their analysis, the Rapoport*s observed
five sources of "stress'* or dilemmas that appeared
unique to the dual-career lifestyle: overload
dilemmas, personal norm dilemmas, dilemmas of
identity, social network dilemmas, and role
cycling dilemmas. While this seminal study
provided much useful data for theory building and
conceptualized the sources of strain in a dual
career marriage, little attention was given to
conclusively determining whether these couples
23
actually experienced increased levels of stress as
a result of their heightened levels of strain.
The Rapoport1s initial study was followed
closely by another set of linked studies (Poloma,
1972; Garland, 1972) that utilized questionnaire
data but whose main purpose was still the
description of this phenomenon. In sum, this
first generation of research sought to develop a
body of descriptive data about the early
determinants, supports, constraints, strains,
gains, tradeoffs, and tension lines inherent in
this lifestyle.
The next generation of research on the dual
career family (Bailyn, 1970; Bebbington, 1973;
Rapoport et al., 1974) somewhat overlapped the
first generation of studies in time but began to
use more rigorous methodology by obtaining cross-
sectional samples and beginning to test
hypotheses.
Bailyn (1970) studied the relationship
between marital satisfaction and husband*s and
wive's career and family orientations. Her study
found that most dual-career couples experience
adequate levels of marital satisfaction. One
particular combination of attributes, however, was
24
associated with lowered levels of marital
satisfaction, that of a wife who attempted to
integrate career and family roles while married to
a husband who was very career oriented.
Bebbington (1973), using the same data base
as Bailyn, examined background factors that may
contribute to an individual's choice of this
apparently stressful lifestyle. He found that the
wives in these marriages typically had family
histories that contained relatively high levels of
stress.
Rapoport et al. (1974), addressed the issue
of life "enjoyment" for couples that pursued
symmetrical and nonsymmetrical family structures.
They found a positive relationship between family
structure and perceived enjoyment. Thus, despite
the disturbances of this lifestyle, participants
tended to enjoy it.
Summary of Findings
Dual career research has evolved from the
status of being a secondary interest in a larger
study concerning changes in sex roles to the in-
depth study of this unique but emerging marital
pattern. It has been found that participants in
dual-career marriages experience dilemmas or
25
strains unique to this marital pattern. In
addition, this lifestyle has been found to provide
participants with adequate levels of marital
satisfaction and enjoyment. Only one combination
of spouses was found to have lowered levels of
satisfaction, that of wives who attempted to
balance career and family roles equally while
married to a husband who was very career oriented.
Wives in dual-career marriages were also likely to
have a history of relatively high levels of stress
in their families of origin.
Thus, since the mid-1970's, there has been a
proliferation of dual-career research. In
general, this new generation of research has
been more focused (Rapoport, 1980), either testing
a particular hypothesis or exploring the depth of
a specific concept. Many of these studies have
concentrated on the strains inherent in this
lifestyle.
Research on Stress in the
Dual-Career Marriage
Much of the literature has implied that
stress is an inherent part of the dual-career
lifestyle (Skinner, 1980). The purpose of this
section of the literature review is to delineate
26
sources of-strain and manifestations of stress
identified in the literature that are unique to
the dual-career marriage,
Rapoport and Rapoport (1978) have noted that
stress in the dual-career marriage has been
conceptualized by various researchers in different
ways. These concepts include dilemmas in areas
such as overload, social networking, and sex-role
identity as well as problems and barriers such as
domestic isolation, sex-role prejudice, and role
cycling. In addition, Bebbington (1973) has
classified strains as primarily falling into one
of two classes: internal (arising within the
family or individual) and external (resulting from
conflict between the needs of the dual-career
lifestyle and external constraints). These two
methods of conceptualizing stress within the dual
career marriage will be blended together to form a
structure for organizing the review in this area.
Internal Strain
Overload issues. These issues can be
subsumed under two more specific forms of
overload: work overload and role overload.
Previous researchers have demonstrated that
work overload is a common source of strain for
27
dual career families (Epstein, 1971; Garland,
1972; Heckman, Bryson, & Bryson, 1977; Holmstrom,
1973; Poloma, 1972; Rapoport & Rapoport, 1976; St.
John-Parsons, 1978). When each individual is
engaged in an active work role and active family
roles, the total volume of activities is
considerably increased over that which a
conventional family experiences. This concept
focuses on the sheer work load associated with
multiple roles. Men in traditional marriages have
wives who provide domestic "back-up," but in the
dual-career marriage neither the husband or the
wife have a spouse who can dedicate his or her
full attention to domestic and child care
responsibilities. The couple is instead
responsible for multiple role tasks. Thus, a
dilemma develops regarding which tasks to do first
and which to let go, a dilemma that appears
especially significant for the wife.
The Rapoport's (1969) found that the
experience of overload was affected by at least
four factors: 1) The degree to which having
children was important (couples with children
experienced a marked increase in role
responsibilities); 2) The degree to which the
28
couple aspired to a high standard of-Ilv"ing
(couples with high standards of living placed more
pressure on themselves to have a neat and orderly
household); 3) The degree to which role
responsibilities were reapportioned (the ability
to delegate or share responsibilities was
associated with less strain); and 4) The degree to
which physical overload of tasks and their
apportionment is adumbrated by a social-
psychological overload (for those couples with
children, the women especially expressed the
strain of multiple commitments or conflicting
demands). As one woman expressed it, there is a
"little corner of my mind somewhere that is
thinking and worrying about the management of the
children" (p. 12).
The overload dilemma was conceptualized by
the Rapoports (1969) as a stressor. When the
strain became too great, leisure and recreational
activities were often sacrificed so that the
couple could maintain a high commitment to their
careers, family, and each other.
In contrast, role overload is the result of
strain due to the dissonance created by demands
from roles that are mutually exclusive. Thus,
29
role conflict occurs when an individual needs to
meet the demands of disparate but highly salient
roles (Seiber, 1974). Southall (1959) has used
the term "role proliferation" to describe this
kind of situation, wherein the individual
encounters and seeks to fulfill several disparate
and disassociated roles simultaneously. By
definition this requires commitment to two or more
roles that constantly pose competitive concerns
and demands on the individual. Thus, the concept
of role overload includes all the strains
attendant to the concept of work overload combined
with the strains associated with trying to meet
the demands of conflicting role demands.
Dilemmas of identity. These are dilemmas
that are experienced at an internal level
regarding what it means to be masculine or
feminine. That is, people are likely to
experience dissonance between their own
intellectual definition of their role and
internalized stereotypic definitions of what it
means to be "masculine" or "feminine". Heckman,
Bryson, and Bryson (1977) and Holmstrom (1973)
determined that the internalized "shoulds"
regarding traditional sex role behavior were in
30
conflict with the more androgynous roles typical
of the dual-career lifestyle, resulting in an
internal sense of dissonance, tension, and strain.
Role-cycling dilemmas. Stress due to role-
cycling is the result of conflicting demands
between multiple roles, but demands that follow a
developmental sequence. The Rapoport's (1969)
found two basic sources of role-cycling strain:
conflicts between the occupational roles of the
husband and wife and their family roles, and
conflicts between the occupational role of the
husband and the occupational role of the wife.
Put differently, the dual-career couple faces two
sets of unique conflicts. They are career-family
cycling dilemmas and dual-career cycling dilemmas.
The career-family cycling dilemmas were
particularly relevant to the women in their study.
It seemed to the Rapoports that the wives
experienced the brunt of the strain associated
with conflicts between career and family role
demands.
Bebbington (1973) has noted that role-
cycling, unlike other sources of strain, has a
developmental pattern. Both career and family
roles have transition points at which there is a
31
restructuring of demands, and the need for this
restructuring in turn becomes a source of
normative stress.
Family characteristics. Holmstrom (1973) has
noted that child-rearing apart from relatives or
other such extended support systems was common and
thus also proved a source of strain. Each couple
with children needs to make arrangements for
satisfactory child care which is likely to induce
feelings of guilt and intrepidation for both
spouses.
External Strains
Personal norm dilemmas. According to the
Rapoports (1969), discrepancies between personal
norms and social norms are another source of
stress for the dual-career couple. Traditionally,
the woman1s primary role has been that of wife,
mother, and homemaker. Men, on the other hand
have primarily been responsible for providing
financial security. Thus, when both husband and
wife take on new sex-roles they are living a
variant lifestyle that is not readily accepted by
significant others (i.e., employers, family, and
friends). As a result, significant others may not
32
_________ i
be supportive of this lifestyle and may instead
invoke sanctions.
Rapoport and Rapoport (1976) concluded that
internalized values from early socialization are
still strong and are likely to re-surface in times
of stress such as at the birth of a child or
during a significant career transition. Thus,
fluctuations in an individual’s personal value
system can result from external stressors.
Indeed, one of the early findings of Epstein
(1971) was that dual-career individuals
experienced a great deal of guilt because they
were not conforming to the socially approved work-
family structure.
Occupational structure. Other researchers
have explored some of the constraints that are
present in the work place. Holmstrom (1973) noted
that many professions pressured individuals into
geographic mobility which was inconsistent with
the needs of a dual-career marital pattern.
Papanek (1973) and Hunt and Hunt (1977) discussed
the stress that dual-career couples experience
when one partner is in a "two-person" career,
which depends heavily on an auxiliary support
partner to assist the career of the other. And
33
finally Handy (1978) in a study of executive men
found that the dual-career relationship was
infrequent and considered a detriment in such
time consuming occupations (executive).
Bailyn (1970) found that an all-consuming
attitude toward career was associated with lowered
marital satisfaction. Ridley (1973), in turn,
found that over involvement in one's career can
result in strain on the marriage. He found that
marital adjustment was optimized when the husband
had a medium level of job involvement and the wife
had a low level of job involvement.
Occupational practices such as discriminatory
sex-role attitudes and anti-nepotism rules have
also been found to heighten the stress experienced
by participants in the dual-career lifestyle
(Holmstrom, 1973; Rosen, Jerdee, & Prestwich,
1975).
Social network dilemmas. As mentioned
previously, one of the frequent byproducts of
overload is the necessity to severely curtail
social activities. %Friends and family members may
place more demands on the dual-career couple than
the couple feels capable of responding to. Also,
because the dual-career couple is living a variant
34
_________________ t
lifestyle, they may not feel accepted~by couples
in traditional marriages and thus avoid many
social and extended family activities.
St. John-Parsons (1978) observed that none of
the dual-career families he studied maintained
extensive social relationships. Kin relationships
appeared to deteriorate when dual-career couples
could not meet the expected social obligations of
their families. This was a particularly telling
consequence for the men in his study. Thus,
pressure from family and friends has been
considered an additional source of strain.
Summary of Findings
The literature has shown that participants in
dual-career marriages experience a number of
unique sources of strain. The couples are likely
to be overloaded both in the total amount of work
they do and in the number of conflicting role
demands they experience. Overload was also found
to be affected by whether or not the couple had
children, the degree to which the couple aspired
to a high standard of living, the degree to which
the role responsibilities were reapportioned, and
the degree to which participants were able
delegate the responsibilities associated with a
35
particular role. The process of sex-role
redefinition as well as the need to integrate
frequently discrepant personal and social norms
for sex-role behavior were also found to be a
source of strain for participants in the dual
career marriage.
Relationships with family and friends proved
to be another venue for potential strain. Couples
with children who lived great distances from close
relatives lacked the extended support system often
present in an extended family. Conversely,
couples who lived close to extended family found
their family relationships (especially with the
husband's family) to become strained because of
the couples inability to meet the time
requirements of family demands. Lack-of-time also
affected the couples' relationships with friends.
The result is that the dual-career couples are
likely to become more insular or to throw
themselves into their careers as a way to meet
their social support needs. Unfortunately, both
husbands and wives have also found sanctions in
the work place for their variant lifestyle. Wives
are likely to experience the affects of sex-role
prejudice and anti-nepotism rules. Men are also
36
likely to receive sanctions for not placing their
own career above their wife's career in issues
such as relocation and when employed in time
consuming occupations such as corporate
executives, that are in effect two-person careers.
The Concept of Stress as it is
Specifically Related to
Wives in Dual-Career Marriages
Much research has implied that both the
husband and wife in a dual-career marriage
experience elevated levels of strain not
experienced by participants in more traditional
marital patterns. This section will address
research on strains unique to the wives in dual
career marriages with particular attention given
to research on "role overload" and on perceived
stress. This section will conclude with a
critique of the literature in this area.
Previous research on dual-career families has
concluded that conflicts between professional and
parental roles are especially stressful for the
female spouse (Bryson & Bryson, 1978; Heckman,
Bryson & Bryson, 1977; Holahan & Gilbert, 1979;
and Johnson & Johnson, 1976). For example, two-
thirds of the professional women sampled by
37
Johnson and Johnson (1976) attributed their role
conflict to guilt and fatigue resulting from their
maternal role. Gilbert, Holahan, and Manning
(1981) have found that women who employ "role
expansion" rather than "role redefinition"
strategies reported higher degrees of role
conflict and in the long run became more harried
and less happy.
Bernard (1974) found that only women were
faced with the need to integrate work and domestic
roles. In particular, the demands of child-
rearing and finding satisfactory child-care
arrangements have been found to be primarily the
responsibility of the wife (Bryson, Bryson, &
Johnson, 1978; Gove & Geerken, 1977; Holmstrom,
1973; Orden & Bradburn, 1969; Rapoport & Rapoport,
1971; St. John-Parson, 1978). Holahan and
Gilbert (1979) found that the dual-career life
style brought a different set of stresses to
career-mothers than to working-mothers who
typically hold a lower commitment to the work role
than to the maternal role. In contrast, Movius
(1976) has found a child-free lifestyle to be a
career-facilitating strategy for women in dual
career marriages.
38
Duncan and Perucci (1 976) found-the typically
egalitarian orientation toward decision-making in
the dual-career marriage was absent when moves due
to job relocation were necessary. This change in
decision-making was found to be especially
stressful for the wives studied.
Prior to 1982, all of the literature reviewed
had concluded that wives in dual-career marriages
experienced stress because of the demonstrated
high levels of strain inherent in this lifestyle.
Yogev (1982) examined in depth the amount of
strain wives in dual-career marriages experience
as contrasted with their level of role overload
and perceived level of stress. In her study she
surveyed 164 women on the faculty of a large
university. Sixty-eight percent of the women in
the original sample returned their questionnaire.
Subjects answered questions about their
responsibilities at home, and about the time they
spend on their professions, their households, and
their families. They were also asked to report
whether they felt overworked, to what degree they
felt overworked, and their attitudes toward
different aspects of a working woman's life (e.g.,
39
can she be a good wife, a good mother, and
feminine while pursuing her career).
Yogev (1982) found that married women with
children at home spent considerably less time
working on career related activities (47.92 hours
per week (HPW)) than any of the other groups of
women (unmarried no children - 58.07 HPW; married
no children - 60.86 HPW; and unmarried with
children - 56.85 HPW). Yogev also found that the
professional women she studied worked 90.45 hours
per week. Thus, they worked the equivalent of
more than two full-time jobs on the average.
However, when the data were examined for the
different combinations of marriage and children
groups, the married women with children reported
the highest number of hours worked in combined
roles per week (107.57). Given that there are
only 168 hours in a week this group of women had
only 4.42 HPW on the average to do everything else
after taking care of housework (23.35 HPW), child
care (36.31 HPW), and sleep (56 HPW). In
contrast, the group of women that demonstrated the
lowest number of hours per week worked in combined
roles were married women without children (78.43
HPW). Unmarried women without children worked
40
81.93 HPW and unmarried women with children worked
90.00 HPW in their combined roles. Thus, women
with the multiple roles of wife, mother, and
professional demonstrated the highest number of
hours worked per week. To get a measure of their
subjective perception of their work load, the
women were asked, "How often do you feel
overloaded or overworked because of your job and
other responsibilities." Yogev hypothesized that
conventional wisdom would lead one to believe that
women with three roles (wife, mother, and
professional) would report the highest level of
felt overload. This was not case. In fact,
married women with children (who reported working
107 HPW in their combined roles) reported lower
indices of overload than did married women without
children. Yogev also found that all subjects, but
especially women with children, had very high
ideals about combining career and family. Yogev
concluded that career women with children are
likely to deny the amount of strain they
experience, for if women do not admit that they
are overworked they will not need to take measures
that will alleviate this pressure.
41
The major limitation in Yogev1s study was
that she did not seek to determine if there were
statistically significant differences between the
groups on the variables studied. For instance,
while women with three roles (wife, mother, and
professional) reported lower indices of
subjectively experienced stress (feeling
overworked or overwhelmed) than did women with
fewer roles who worked less hours, Yogev did not
indicate if this difference was statistically
significant or within the range of random
variance.
Summary of Findings
Research has shown that conflicts between
professional and parental roles are especially
stressful for the wife because she, more so than
the husband, is likely to experience feelings of
guilt and fatigue as a result of the families'
variant lifestyle. In addition, wives who attempt
to cope with conflicting role demands by utilizing
role expansion rather than role redefinition are
likely to experience higher degrees of role
conflict.
Women, much more so than men, have been found
to have to cope with the demands of work and
42
domestic roles. The stresses attendant-to this
lifestyle have been found to be quite different
for the dual-career mother than the dual-worker
mother, because the dual-worker mother has a lower
level of commitment to her job and thus less role
conflict.
Women who had become accustomed to an
egalitarian orientation to decision-making between
husband and wife early in their relationship, have
been found to be stressed by a return to decision
making strategies typical of more traditional
marriages.
Women who combine the roles of wife, mother,
and professional have been found to spend
considerably less time on their careers than women
without either a spouse or children. In addition,
women with the combined roles of wife, mother, and
professional, spend the highest number of hours
per week working at their combined roles (107.57),
leaving only 4.42 hours per week to do everything
else after taking care of housework, child care,
job, and sleep. In spite of these findings, women
with the combined roles of wife, mother, and
professional have not reported that they feel
especially overworked or overloaded. In fact they
43
report lower indices of stress response than women
responsible for fewer roles (e.g., wife and
professional).
Most of the literature to date has used some
indices of strain to define stress as experienced
by women in dual-career marriages. Only one study
reviewed has used any other type of definition:
Yogev (1982) used an interactional or subjective
measure of strain, i.e., the perception of being
overworked or overloaded. Thus, while much- of the
literature has implied that women who choose this
lifestyle experience elevated levels of strain,
there ares still no clear research data to support
this assertion.
As Yogev (1982) has noted, women who
experience work and/or role overload in dual
career marriages may deny their actual level of
subjectively experienced stress. This may be due
to feelings of guilt and lack of support for their
variant lifestyle. Thus, social desirability (the
need to appear good in the eyes of others) may be
associated with wives1 low levels of reported
stress.
44
The Relationship Between Social Desirability
and Measures of Stress
Previous researchers have concluded that both
husbands and wives in dual-career marriages are
prone to deny problems in their relationship
(Poloma, 1972; Hopkins & White, 1978). Rice
(1979) concluded that denial of problems occurred
as a mechanism to reduce cognitive dissonance
surrounding the conflicting demands of job and
family and to avoid having to deal directly with
perceived inequities.
Crowne and Marlowe (1964) observed that some
individuals have a need to conform to stereotypes
of what is good in order to receive approval from
others. They argued that survey research will be
affected by these individuals* need to respond to
survey items in culturally sanctioned ways instead
of presenting themselves in a more truthful, but
possibly unfavorable, manner. In order to
identify persons with this type of response set,
Marlowe and Crowne developed the Social
Desirability Scale (1964).
Swearingen and Cohen (1985), in a study of
junior high school students, found a positive
relationship between the number of positive life
45
change events adolescents experience and-their
score on a measure of social desirability. In
addition, Tousignant, Denis, and Lachapelle
(1974) found that patient responses to inventories
of personal problems (the Health Opinion Survey)
could be affected by social desirability.
Another related study by Lehrer and Woolfolk
(1982) found a significant but negative
relationship between indices of somatic,
behavioral, and cognitive anxiety and a measure of
social desirability. While the constructs of
stress and anxiety are not directly comparable,
this study yielded further support for a possible
relationship between stress and social
desirability.
The major work to date regarding the effect
of social desirability on measures of self-
reported stress was conducted by Krause (1985).
Krause studied 300 married women utilizing
interview techniques (Center for Epidemiologic
Studies Depression Scale), checklists (undesirable
life events), and survey data (Rotter's Internal-
External Locus of Control Scale, an abbreviated
version of the Social Desirability Scale, and
demographic variables). The basic premise in
46
Krause rs study was that cuIturalTy sanctioned ways
of responding to checklists of undesirable
stressful life events and depressive symptoms are
very obvious and that, rather than responding to
these items in an accurate manner, persons with a
high need for approval by others will instead give
answers that tend to place them in a favorable
light.
Krause found that before controlling for the
effects of social desirability, there were no
statistically significant interaction effects
between locus of control beliefs and stress.
Once social desirability was controlled for in the
regression equation, however, the magnitude of the
interaction effects increased and reached a level
of statistical significance. Thus, Krause
concluded that social desirability response set
bias may be a problem in stress-related research.
This finding seems particularly relevant in light
of other research that has found admission of
psychological distress to be generally viewed as
socially undesirable (Phillips & Clancy, 1972;
Dohrenwend, 1966).
The internal validity of this study was
limited by the small number of variables
47
controlled for in the regression equations and-tRe
lack of specificity in some of the variables of
interest. Furthermore, because the study was
correlational, potential sources of invalidity not
controlled for in this type of study included
selection, mortality, and interaction between
selection and maturation. These are not, however,
considered to be serious limitations because most
sociological research is limited by these same
potential sources of invalidity.
Summary of Findings
According to research findings, participants
in dual-career marriages have been found to deny
problems in their relationships. This appears to
function both as a coping mechanism to reduce
cognitive dissonance surrounding conflicts between
family and job demands and as a way to avoid
dealing with perceived inequities in the marital
relationship. Other researchers have found that
individuals who have a need to conform to
stereotypes of what is good are prone to employ a
response set in answering survey type questions
that yield socially desirable but not necessarily
accurate answers. The phenomenon of social
desirability affecting survey results has been
48
found to operate in adolescents who have
experienced positive life change events; in
patients1 responses to inventories of personal
problems; and in surveys of somatic, behavioral,
and cognitive anxiety.
Conclusion
Researchers have delineated the many strains
that are present in the dual-career marriage, and
much has been written about the extreme levels of
strain present in the lives of wives in dual
career marriages. These strains appear to be
especially acute for wives who pursue a career and
are also mothers of young children. In spite of
these reported high levels of strain, research to
date has not shown that women in dual-career
marriages report increased amounts of stress as
the number of roles they are responsible for
increases. What then produces these apparently
contradictory findings?
Other researchers have observed that women
are prone to deny problems in their marriage and
family life. Thus, results from a scale that
obviously measures what could be perceived as a
problem (feeling overworked or overwhelmed) are
prone to contamination by factors such as social
49
desirability. This seems to be especially true
for subjects who are members of what has been
consistently described as a highly defensive
population (dual-career couples).
To date there has not been a study of the
level of stress response experienced by women in
dual-career marriages that has controlled for the
confounding factor of social desirability. The
current study has proposed a methodology designed
to control for social desirability while looking
at a variety of measures of stress response
including, emotional, physiological, and self-
report indices.
50
CHAPTER III
METHOD
This study sought to explain contradictory
findings in the literature about the amount of
stress that women in dual-career marriages
experience. To accomplish this, a method of
analysis was designed and employed that examined
the relationship between role overload and several
indices of stress.
Design
The design chosen for this study was
correlational employing path analytic techniques
and a simultaneous equation model to describe the
interrelationships among the two independent
variables, role overload or number of roles (a
dichotomous variable) and level of social
desirability (a continuous variable); and the
three dependent variables (each of which was a
continuous variable) an emotional measure of
stress, a physical measure of stress, and a single
question about perceived level of stress. The
independent variable (role overload) was
considered exogenous and the three dependent
variables and remaining independent variable
(social desirability) were considered endogenous.
51
Path Analysis
Path analytic techniques were employed to
explain the interrelationships of the variables
studied. According to Wright (1960), the method
of path analysis "is based on the construction of
a qualitative diagram in which every included
variable, measured or hypothetical, is represented
(by arrows) either as completely determined by
certain others (which may be presented as
similarly determined) or as an ultimate factor"
(p. 190). Stating it differently, path analysis
is a method for diagramming the direct and
indirect effects of variables hypothesized as
causes of variables treated as effects. A diagram
of the planned path analysis for this study may be
found in Figure 1.
Statistical Analysis
In this analysis, social desirability was
treated as both an independent variable (equation
number 2) but was also assumed to be affected by
the other independent variable, Role Overload.
When an independent variable in one equation
(Social Desirability) is assumed to be affected by
another independent variable (Role Overload) in
another equation, the two variables create
52
Figure 1
Diagram of the Planned Path Analysis
Role
Overload
Measure of
Stress (Y1)
A
Social
Desirability (SD)
(RO)
b1
b2 b4
b3
Emotional Perceived
Level of
Stress (Y2)
A
Physical
Measure of
Stress (Y3)
A
Error Error
Three regression equations were predicted
from this model. They were:
1) Y1 = b01 + bl(RO) + Error
2) Y2 = b02 + b2(RO) + b3(SD) + Error
3) Y3 = b03 + b4(RO) + Error
53
residual terms that are correlated with eacfi
other. In this special case, the most accurate
method of estimation is three stage least squares
(Theil, 1971).
Thus, the parameters of the simultaneous
equation model were estimated by the method of
three-stage least-squares. Parameters of the
model were tested using asymptotic "t" ratios.
The data analysis was accomplished using the SAS
PROC SYSLIN program (SAS, 1984) at the University
of Southern California computing center.
Those parameters that were based on the
comparison of results from the dichotomous
independent variable, Role Overload (b1, b2, and
b4), received further confirming analyses. These
analyses included a studentized pooled variance
estimate of difference between means (Appendix E),
a test for equal variances (Appendix G), and a
test for the power of the comparisons that were
made (Appendix H). Because the fourth parameter
(b3) relied on the comparison of two continous
variables, an additional estimate of the strength
of the relationship was computed using a Pearson
Correlation Coefficient (Appendix J).
54
Null Hypotheses
The specific hypotheses stated and tested in
the null form were the following:
Hypothesis 1
The level of the physiological stress
response manifested by wives in dual
career marriages, and measured by the
level of urinary catecholamines, will
not vary as a function of the number of
roles for which they are responsible (b3
= 0).
Hypothesis 2
The level of the emotional stress
response manifested by wives in dual
career marriages, and measured by the
inanimate movement responses on the
Rorschach, will not vary as a function
of the number of roles for which they
are responsible (b1 = 0)*
Hypothesis 3A
The level of the self-reported stress
response manifested by wives in dual
career marriages will not vary as a
function of the number of roles for
which they are responsible (b2 = 0)*
55
Hypothesis 3B
The level of the self-reported stress
response manifested by wives in dual
career marriages will not vary as a
function of their score on a measure of
social desirability (b3 = 0).
Subj ects
Forty married women between the ages of
twenty-five and forty-five years of age, currently
employed in a full-time job, were recruited for
participation. To be considered for
participation, all subjects had to be considered
as strongly identified with their job.
Participants were considered strongly identified
with their job if they had achieved at least a
baccalaureate degree.
Participants were divided into two groups.
Participants with one or more natural children
younger than thirteen years of age at home were
considered to be responsible for three roles:
career, wife, and mother. Participants without
children were considered to be responsible for two
roles: career and wife. Potential subjects with
children thirteen years of age or older were
excluded from participation. Recruitment
56
continued until twenty subjects were found for
each of the two groups.
Part of the recruitment process included an
offer to participants to help in research relevant
to their life style (dual-career marriage).
Participants were also promised feedback about
their specific results. No further information
was given about the purpose of the study.
Due to the difficulty of obtaining sufficient
numbers of subjects willing to give multiple urine
samples/ complete an administration of the
Rorschach/ and complete a short questionnaire/ the
total number of subjects sampled was limited to
forty.
A network sampling procedure was used to
obtain the subject pool. That is, individuals
known to the experimenter who met the criteria for
participation in the study were contacted and
asked to participate in the study. When they were
contacted, subjects were asked if they knew of any
one else meeting the criteria who might also be
interested in participating in the study.
Data from two of the women (one from each of
the comparison groups) were excluded from the
analysis due to confounding medical reasons. One
57
subject had been found~to have an under-active
adrenal gland. The other subject was experiencing
a chronic bout with kidney stones. Both
conditions were believed to hold strong potential
for affecting the physiological measure in a way
not related to the construct under study, stress.
A complete listing of demographic data for
the two comparison groups (women with children and
women without children), may be found in Appendix
K. The following is a summary of these data.
Women without children were at the median in
terms of the following characteristics: they were
28 years old with a husband who was 35 years old.
Both husband and wife had attained a bachelor*s
degree and produced a combined yearly income of
$50,000 to $60,000. Women with children were at
the median in terms of the following
characteristics: they were 37 years old, with a
husband who was also 37 years old. Both husband
and wife were working on their master*s degree and
had a combined yearly income of $70,000 - $80,000.
On the average they had two children, the youngest
being one year old, and the women had taken two
leaves of absence (one year for each child)
following their pregnancies.
58
Measures
One psychological test of stress, one
psychological test of social desirability, one
physiological measure of stress, and one brief
questionnaire designed by the experimenter were
used for this study.
Rorschach
The psychological measure of stress was the
presence of inanimate movement responses in
subject responses to the Rorschach (a projective
inkblot test), using the Comprehensive System
(Exner, 1974). Estimates of temporal consistency
for the determinant inanimate movement (m) range
from .26 to .49 (Exner, 1986). In addition,
numerous researchers (Shalit, 1965; Armbruster,
Mill & Exner, 1974; Exner, Armbruster, Walker, &
Cooper, 1975; Camp, 1977) have demonstrated that
the Rorschach has good construct validity as a
measure of situational stress.
Presence of Catecholamines
The physiological measure of stress was the
presence of catecholamines (CA) in urine samples.
According to Lake and Ziegler (1985), studies of
long-term stress have typically relied on the
examination of urinary CA levels. These samples
59
show a slower rate ofchange than do blood samples
in levels of CA. The collection of urine samples
is relatively easy and nonintrusive. In addition,
a physician's supervision is not required for
urine sampling and samples can be collected over a
long period of time without pain, fear, or great
inconvenience. Researchers (Forsman, 1984;
Gruchow, 1976; Lundberg, 1980; Patkai,1970) have
found that urine samples of CA produce relatively
high levels of consistency under controlled
experimental conditions. When assessing the
effects of long-term stress, it is important to
control for the effect of diurnal patterns or
circadian rhythms on CA excretion. To accomplish
this it is recommended (Lake & Ziegler, 1985) that
CA be assessed at the same time of day for all
participants and that each participant provide
more than one urine sample to control for effects
of unusual elevations or depressions in CA
excretion resulting from unusual situational
stress. The CA of greatest interest in this study
was epinephrine (E). According to Lake and
Ziegler (1985), epinephrine (E) is the CA that
has received the greatest attention in the
assessment of psychological stress and its effect
60
on urinary CA excretions. Thus, the final measure
of physical stress was the average of an
individual's two samples of urinary E excretion.
Social Desirability Scale
Social desirability was measured by the
Social Desirability Scale (see Appendix A)
developed by Crowne and Marlowe (1964). According
to Robinson and Shaver (1973), this scale attempts
to identify individuals who describe themselves in
favorable, socially desirable terms. The authors
report internal consistency (Kuder-Richardson) at
the .88 level. The authors also report temporal
consistency over a one-month period to fall at the
.88 level.
Questionnaire
Subjects were also asked to complete a brief
questionnaire that verified that they met the
selection criteria for this study, that provided
demographic data, and that asked one question
about their perceived level of stress (Yogev,
1982). A copy of this questionnaire can be found
in Appendix B.
Perceived level of stress was measured by a
single item for two reasons* The first reason for
using only one item was to replicate Yogev's
61
previous research that used only one seIf-report
item regarding perceived level of stress.
Second, it was not considered necessary to ask
subjects more than one question about their
perceived level of stress. It was believed that
their report of feeling overworked or overwhelmed
would not change regardless of how many or the
variety of questions they might be asked.
Follow-Up Survey
Following the collection of their last urine
sample subjects were queried about their ingestion
of substances, and participation in activities
found to be associated with increased urinary
catecholamine excretion that are not associated
with the variable being studied, stress due to
role overload. A copy of this survey may be found
in Appendix D.
Procedure
After subjects expressed interest in
participation in the study and were found to meet
the selection criteria, they were scheduled for a
testing appointment. During their appointment
they were asked to complete the initial
questionnaire (Appendix A and B) and the
Rorschach was administered. At the conclusion of
62
the appointment, subjects were given specific
instructions on how to obtain a urine sample
(Appendix C).
The Rorschach consists of a series of ten
colored and shaded cards that resemble ink blots.
Subjects were handed the cards one at a time and
simply asked "What might this be?" Answers were
recorded verbatim. After responding to all ten
cards, the subjects' responses were examined for
the presence of inanimate movement (m) responses.
The criteria for scoring a response as inanimate
movement were taken from The Comprehensive System
(Exner, 1985).
Summary
In summary, the design of this study was
correlational, employing path analytic techniques
to study the interrelationships among two
independent variables, role overload and social
desirability; and three dependent variables,
emotional stress, physiological stress, and
perceived stress.
63
CHAPTER IV
RESULTS
The primary focus of this study was the
examination of the relationship between role
strain (two versus three roles) and three
different indices of stress response:
physiological, emotional, and self-report. The
study also sought to examine the relationship
between self-reported stress and response set
(social desirability). For the sake of clarity,
this chapter will state the findings of the three-
stage least-sguares analysis, restate the
experimental hypotheses, and declare whether they
were accepted or rejected. The results of all of
the hypotheses will be interpreted and discussed
in terms of how the hypotheses relate to each
other.
Additional summary statistics may be found in
Appendix E through J. These results include: t-
tests for difference between means (Appendix E),
descriptive statistics (Appendix F), tests for
equal variances (Appendix G), tests for the power
of comparisons (Appendix H), results from the
Follow-Up Survey (Appendix I), and Pearson
product moment correlation coefficients between
64
the variables, Social Desirability and Self-
Reported Stress (Appendix J).
This study sought to examine simultaneously
four hypothesized relationships. Each hypothesis
was associated with a path in Figure 1 (b1, b2,
b3, and b4). Table 1 lists the estimates of the
magnitude of these relationships. Note that only
one of these estimates reached significance, that
being the relationship between Role Overload and
Self-Reported Stress.
Hypotheses
Hypothesis 1
The level of the physiological stress
response manifested by wives in dual-career
marriages will vary as a function of the
number of roles for which they are
responsible (wives who are responsible for
two roles will demonstrate lower indices of
stress than wives who are responsible for
three roles).
Findings. This hypothesis was not supported.
Women with children recorded higher, by 1.16
points (see Appendix F), levels of urinary
epinephrine than women without children. This
difference was not, however, found to be
65
Table 1
Magnitude of the Hypothesized Relationships
Between Role Overload and the Four Dependent
Variables — Three Measures of Stress Response and
the Measure of Social Desirability*
Variables
Parameter Standard
Estimate Error
T
Ratio
Role Overload and
Emotional Stress
Response (b1) -0.52632 0.42469 -0.124
Role Overload and
Self-Reported
Stress (b2) 1.41951 0.38803 3.658*
Social Desirability
and Self-Reported
Stress (b3) -0.00980 0.03851 -0.254
Role Overload and
Physiological Stress
Response (b4) 1.15789 2.06779 0.560
* p <.001 level.
66
significant. A test for equal variances found no
significant difference between sample variances
(see Appendix G). The power analysis found that
the sample size used in this study was not large
enough to discern whether there was or was not a
significant difference between the two groups (see
Appendix H). Therefore, the results are
inconclusive about whether women’s level of
physiological stress response significantly
differs as a function of the number of roles for
which the women are responsible. It is important
to note, however, that the difference found
between the two groups (1.16) is small and may not
be meaningful.
Examination of the results from the Follow-Up
Survey (see Appendix I) revealed no meaningful
differences between the two comparison groups on
any of the variables that could have spuriously
increased urinary catecholamine excretion. This
finding suggests that the two groups were
substantially similar in their consumption of
substances, and in their participation in
activities that could have affected the
physiological meassure of stress.
67
Interpretation, Estimates of subject"s'
physiological stress response were not
statistically or meaningfully related to their
level of role overload. This study found no
meaningful relationship between the stimulus
definition of stress and the response definition
of stress. This finding lends support to the
conclusion that stimulus and response definitions
of stress, at low to moderate levels, are not
related phenomena.
Selye (1956) hypothesized that excessive
and/or prolonged demands upon the body activate a
stress response. However, the level of strain
associated with increased role overload as defined
in this study may not have been sufficient to
produce a meaningfully different level of
physiological stress response for the two
comparison groups (women with children and women
without children).
Hypothesis 2
The level of the emotional stress response
manifested by wives in dual-career marriages
will vary as a function of the number of
roles for which they are responsible (wives
who are responsible for two roles will
68
demonstrate lower indices of stress than
wives who are responsible for three roles).
Findings. This hypothesis was not supported.
Women with children recorded lower, by .05 points
(see Appendix F) , levels of inanimate movement
responses on the Rorschach than women without
children. This difference was not, however, found
to be significant. The test for equal variances
found no significant difference between the two
estimates of variance (see Appendix G). The power
test found that the sample size used in this study
was not large enough to discern if there was or
was not a significant difference between the two
groups (see Appendix H). Therefore, the results
are inconclusive about whether women*s level of
emotional stress response does or does not differ
as a function of the number of roles for which
they are responsible. It is important to note,
however, that the difference found between the two
groups (.05) is small and may not be meaningful.
Interpretation. Estimates of subjects
emotional stress response were not statistically
or meaningfully related to their level of role
overload. This study found no meaningful
relationship between the stimulus definition of
69
stress and the response definition of stress.
This finding lends support to the conclusion that
stimulus and response definitions of stress, at
low to moderate levels, are not related phenomena,
given the method of assessment used in this study
("m" on the Rorschach).
Exner (1986) found the level of temporal
consistency for the determinant "m" (inanimate
movement), to be very low (.26 to .49). Thus, it
would have been necessary for the relationship
between role overload and emotional stress
response to have been very large or powerful to
have been discernable. The level of strain
associated with increased role overload as defined
in this study may not have been sufficient to
produce a meaningfully different level of
emotional stress response for the two comparison
groups (women with children and women without
children).
Hypothesis 3.A
The level of the self-reported stress
response manifested by wives in dual-career
marriages will be negatively related to the
number of roles for which they are
responsible (wives who are responsible for
70
two roles will report higher levels of-stress
than wives who are responsible for three
roles)•
Findings. This hypothesis was not supported
in the direction predicted. Women with children
reported higher, by 1.42 points (see Appendix F),
levels of self-reported stress on a single item
measure than women without children. This
difference produced significant results. The test
for equal variances found no significant
difference between the two estimates of variance
(see Appendix G). The power test found that the
sample size used in this study was large enough to
discern a significant difference between the two
groups (see Appendix H). Therefore, the results
did not support the hypothesis but do yield
statistically meaningful data that indicate that
wives* level of self-reported stress is positively
associated with their level of role overload (two
versus three roles).
Interpretation. Estimates of subjects*,
self-reported stress were significantly
related to their level of role overload. This
study found a significant and positive
relationship between the stimulus definition of
71
stress (strain) and the interactionar-d^fXnTtXon
of stress (self-report). This finding suggests
that the stimulus and interactional definitions of
stress, used in this study, are related phenomena.
In addition, this study did not support
previous research. For example, Yogev (1982)
concluded that as the amount of strain experienced
by women in dual-career marriages increases, they
will tend to under-report their level of
subjectively experienced stress. This study,
instead, found that women who experience increased
levels of role overload report significantly
higher levels of subjectively experienced stress.
It may be that admitting the amount of strain
associated with the dual-career life style has
become more acceptable over the past six to seven
years *
Hypothesis 3.B
The level of the self-reported stress
response manifested by wives in dual-career
marriages will be negatively related to their
score on a measure of social desirability
(wives who have high scores on the Social
Desirability Scale will report lower levels
72
of stress than wives who have low scores on
the Social Desirability Scale).
Findings. This hypothesis was not supported.
Social Desirability was not significantly related
to any of the variables studied (Appendix F and
J). In summary, social desirability was found to
have little or no meaningful effect on the
subject's overall response to a measure of self-
reported stress.
Interpretation. Estimates of subjects'
self-reported stress were not significantly or
meaningfully related to their score on a measure
of social desirability. Thus, this study did not
support previous research. For example Yogev
(1982) concluded that responses to a question
about subjectively experienced stress, by women in
dual-career marriages, would be affected by their
need to appear socially desirable. Instead, this
study found no meaningful relationship between
self-reported stress and a response set affected
by social desirability. It may be that women who
have chosen the dual-career life style have become
more accepting about the costs associated with
this marital pattern.
73
Summary
None of the hypotheses in this study were
accepted. Self-reported level of stress, however,
showed a statistically significant difference for
the two comparison groups (dual-career wives with
children and those without children). In
addition, wives1 level of self-reported stress
was not significantly related to social
desirability.
While wives with children did produce a
higher level of physiological stress response than
those without children, the difference did not
reach significance. It is important to note that
the power of the test was not strong enough to
ascertain whether the small difference obtained
between the two groups' level of physiological
stress response was significant. It is also
possible to assert, however, that even if the
sample size had been large enough to test for
small differences, the result of finding
significance for a small difference between the
two groups may not be meaningful. Thus, while the
wives' level of self-reported stress reached
significance in a positive direction (i.e., the
more roles the higher the level of self-reported
74
stress) and this same trend was noted in the
physiological measure, the difference between the
two groups on the physiological measure was not of
the same magnitude as that found in the self-
reported measure.
The examination of the difference between the
two comparison groups level of emotional stress
response (the Rorschach) did not produce
statistically significant or meaningful results.
It was not possible to conclude there was no
difference between the two groups on this index
of stress nor was it possible to conclude that a
difference of the magnitude found in this study
was meaningful.
In summary, a statistical analysis of the
data did not produce results supportive of any of
the proposed hypotheses. One significant finding,
however, was that dual-career wives with children
report significantly higher levels of stress than
women without children.
The next chapter will summarize Chapters I
through IV and relate these findings to the
literature. Chapter V will also discuss the
implication these findings have for the counseling
75
professional and make suggestions for future
research in this area.
76
CHAPTER V
DISCUSSION
An increasing number of married women have
been entering the work force since 1940.
Whitehurst (1977) reported that in 1940, 36.4
percent of the women in the labor force were
married. By 1972 that figure had jumped
dramatically to 63 percent. Thus, the dual-worker
family in which both spouses are employed full
time while seeking to develop and maintain a
family life, is emerging as a more common form of
marital relationship. The dual-career marriage,
in which both spouses pursue careers and at the
same time seek to develop and maintain family
life, is a variant of the dual-worker family.
Both of these forms of marital relationship differ
significantly from the traditional marital
relationship where the husband was the sole or
primary source of financial support for the
family, while the wife was responsible for the
housekeeping and child care tasks. Previous
researchers have disagreed about the amount of
stress that participants in dual-career marriages
experience as a result of their variant lifestyle.
77
A good portion of the literature concluded
that the dual-career lifestyle produces a great
deal of strain for both the husband and wife, and
that the woman's level of strain appears to be
greater than the man's (Rapoport & Rapoport, 1969;
Poloma & Garland, 1971; Johnson & Johnson, 1977;
Heckman, Bryson, & Bryson, 1977; Hall & Hall
1979). Given these findings, one would expect to
find clear evidence in the literature for
manifestations of stress in women who are in dual
career marriages. This is not the case. Instead,
some researchers have concluded that dual-career
wives may actually experience low to normal levels
of stress.
Yogev (1982) found that professional married
women with children reported working over 107
hours per week in their combined roles. These
same women also reported they were less overloaded
than did married women without children (who
reported working about 78 hours per week). Yogev
concluded that the working women with children
tended to deny that they were overworked and thus
did not feel overloaded or overworked. Crosby
(1983) found that married parents are more content
with their jobs than are single people and that
78
multiple roles increase people's general sense of-
well-being and makes them happier with all their
roles. Gump (1972) concluded that dual-career
wives may have more psychological coping resources
and thus not experience as much stress as women
with fewer role demands in spite of their role
overload.
To help explain the apparently contradictory
findings in the literature, the present study
has sought to develop a method of analysis that
accurately assessed wives' actual and perceived
level of stress and explained the variance in
each. Wives' actual level of stress was measured
by both emotional and physiological measures.
Wives' perceived level of stress was measured by a
single self-report item (Yogev, 1982). The
amount of emotional and physiological stress women
experience was hypothesized to be a function of
the number of roles for which they were
responsible. It was also hypothesized that wives'
response to a question regarding their level of
subjectively experienced stress would be
inversely related to their score on a measure of
social desirability.
79
Since the number of dual-career marriages
appears to be increasing, it is important for
social scientists to determine if the strains that
are inherent in the dual-career marriage truly
produce increased levels of stress in the wives.
A significant finding in either direction will
have implications for how couples choose to
structure the demands of this variant life style.
Method
Subj ects
Forty married women between the ages of
twenty-five and forty-five years of age and
currently employed in a full-time job were
recruited for participation. Subjects were drawn
from diverse occupational backgrounds but from a
relatively close geographic region (two counties
in southern California). To be considered for
participation, all subjects had to have at least a
baccalaureate degree. Participants were divided
into two groups. Participants with one or more
natural children younger than thirteen years of
age at home were considered to be responsible for
three roles: career, wife, and mother.
Participants without children were considered to
be responsible for two roles: career and wife.
80
Potential subj ects with chi"ldren thTrteen years of
age or older were excluded from participation.
A network sampling procedure was used to
obtain the subject pool. That is, individuals
known to the experimenter (or to individuals who
voluteered to help the experimenter), who met the
selection criteria were contacted and asked to
participate in the study. When contacted,
subjects were asked if they knew of any one else
who met the criteria who also might be interested
in participating in the study. Recruitment
continued until twenty subjects were found for
each of the two groups. Data from two of the
subjects (one from each of the comparison groups)
were excluded prior to the data analysis due to
confounding medical reasons, leaving a total of
thirty-eight subjects whose data were analyzed.
Measures
Participants in the study were administered
the Rorschach (Exner, 1974), the Social
Desirability Scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1964), and
the Yogev (1982) question regarding perceived
level of stress, "How often do you feel overloaded
and overworked because of your job and other
responsibilities?" Following this administration,
81
they were requested to provide two urine samples:
one on an assigned Thursday evening and the second
on the following Friday morning upon rising.
Subjects' responses to the Rorschach were
scored for the presence of inanimate movement,
which served as the index of emotional stress
response. Using a radioenzymatic assay technique,
subjects urine samples were analyzed for the
presence of epinephrine (a neurotransmitter
associated with sympathetic nervous system
activation). The amount of epinephrine present in
evening and morning urine samples was then added
together to obtain a total epinephrine score.
Epinephrine served as the physiological index of
stress response.
Results
Path analytic techniques were employed to
explain the hypothesized interrelationships among
the variables studied. Four hypotheses were
predicted from this model. Following are the
results as they relate to each of these
hypotheses.
Hypothesis 1 proposed that the level of the
physiological stress response manifested by wives
in dual-career marriages will vary as a function
82
of the number of roles for which they are
responsible (wives who are responsible for two
roles will demonstrate lower indices of stress
than wives who are responsible for three roles).
This hypothesis was not supported.
Hypothesis 2 proposed that the level of the
emotional stress response manifested by wives in
dual-career marriages, will vary as a function of
the number of roles for which they are responsible
(wives who are responsible for two roles will
demonstrate lower indices of stress than wives who
are responsible for three roles). This hypothesis
was not supported.
Hypothesis 3.A proposed that the level of the
self-reported stress response manifested by wives
in dual-career marriages will be negatively
related to the number of roles for which they are
responsible (wives who are responsible for two
roles will report higher levels of stress than
wives who are responsible for three roles). This
hypothesis was not supported for the direction
predicted.
Hypothesis 3.B proposed that the level of the
self-reported stress response manifested by wives
in dual-career marriages will be negatively
83
related to their score on a measure of socfaTI
desirability (wives who have high scores on the
Social Desirability Scale will report lower levels
of stress than wives who have low scores on the
Social Desirability Scale. This hypothesis was
not supported.
None of the hypotheses in this study were
supported. While wives with children produced a
higher level of physiological (urinary epinephrine
excretions) stress response than those without
children, this difference was not significant.
Also, an examination of the level of emotional
stress response (the Rorschach), for the two
comparison groups, did not produce statistically
meaningful results.
Self-reported level of stress showed a
statistically significant difference for the two
comparison groups (dual-career wives with children
reported higher levels of stress than those
without children). This result, however, was not
in the direction predicted (it had been predicted
that dual-career wives with children would report
lower levels of stress than wives without
children). In addition, wives* level of self-
reported stress was not significantly related to
84
IsociTa 1 des'iraBiTiTEy; nor was soci~al-desira bi~lTfy
found to be significantly related to number of
children (an index of Role Overload).
Follow-up analysis found that the dependent
variable, self-reported stress, was not
significantly related to either of the other two
dependent variables, emotional and physiological
stress response (see Appendix L). Thus, while the
stimulus (strain) and interactional (self-report)
definitions of stress were found to be
significantly related, none of the other
comparisons of stress definitions produced
significant realtionships. This finding suggests
that stress rsponse theory may be a phenomenon
that is unrelated to either of the other two
common definitions of stress (stimulus and
interactional).
Discussion
While the results disconfirmed all the
hypotheses in this study, they still contribute
meaningful data to the body of knowledge related
to the dual-career marriage, stress theory, and
counseling in general. Following is a discussion
of how these findings relate to these areas and
suggestions for future research.
85
Yogev (1982) found that dual-career wives
with children reported lower levels of stress than
wives without children (an average rating of 2,95
versus 3.08 respectively). Yogev concluded that
this may have been the result of a defensive style
that would not allow her subjects to admit their
higher levels of stress. Unfortunately, Yogev's
article did not indicate if this difference was
statistically significant or within the range of
random variance.
Results from this study did not replicate
Yogevs' (1982) findings. Dual-career wives with
children in this study reported significantly
higher levels of stress than wives without
children (an average rating of 4.26 versus 2.84
respectively). Yogevs' study took place at least
six years ago; consequently, it is possible that
in the interim, admitting feelings of being
overworked and overwhelmed has become more
acceptable for women who attempt to juggle the
demands of career and parenting responsibilities.
Women's attitudes and level of guilt may also be
changing, allowing them to be more realistic about
the demands of their lifestyle. As a result, they
may be less defensive and more inclined to
86
honestly state the level of the demands placed on
them. This interpretation was supported by the
finding that social desirability showed a very
weak relationship with the level of self-reported
stress response and was not significantly related
to wives' level of Role Overload.
Tliese findings also lend tentative support to
Crosby's (1983) conclusion that multiple roles
increase people's general sense of well-being.
Put differently, while dual-career wives with
children have greater role demands and report
feeling stressed (overworked and overwhelmed),
they may also benefit from payoffs associated with
these multiple roles that ultimately mitigate the
stressful effect of what would otherwise be
considered stress provoking stimuli.
Much of the literature on dual-career
marriages has focused on the inherently stressful
effect of overload issues on participants, and
even more attention has been given to how role
overload is stress producing for the wife. In
particular, several articles that address
therapeutic concerns unique to the dual-career
marriage emphasize the need for the therapist to
be sensitive to the inherently stressful nature of
87
"this ITfe style (GoXdenberg & Golden berg, 1~98~4~;
Price-Bonham & Murphy, 1980; Rice, 1979; and
Yogev, 1983). In spite of these assertions, this
study found that increased roles were not
associated with a meaningful increase in stress
response. If the findings of this study are
representative of dual-career wives in general,
then it militates against counselors automatically
assuming that dual-career wives with children will
experience higher levels of stress response than
those without children. In fact, wives with
children may experience roughly the same level of
stress response as dual-career wives without
children, even when they report higher levels of
subjectively experienced stress.
Several conclusions regarding stress theory
can be drawn from this research. In this study
four different operational or theoretical
definitions of stress were used: stimulus
stress, (Holmes & Rahe, 1967; Dohrenwend &
Dohrenwend, 1974), perceived level of stress
(Holroyd & Lazarus, 1982), emotional stress
response, and physiological stress response
(Selye, 1956). Only two of the four variables
studied showed a significant relationship with
each other, i.e., stimulus stress and perceived
level of stress. This finding would lend some
support for a tentative conclusion that stimulus
stress (role overload) and perceived (reported)
level of stress are related phenomena. Neither of
the indices of stress response theory, however,
were significantly related to each other nor to
any of the other definitions of stress, suggesting
that a stress response may be an entirely
different phenomenon than either stimulus or
perceived stress. If the phenomenon of stress
response is found in future research to be
unrelated to either stimulus or perceived models
of stress, then this finding has significant
implications for counseling theory in general and
counseling with dual-career couples in particular.
The major implication is that even though a person
reports increased levels of strain and/or
perceived levels of stress, these increased levels
may not have any detrimental effect, either
physiological or emotional.
A great deal is made these days in lay
periodicals and by well-meaning professionals
about the detrimental effect stress has on our
bodies. Both often advocate the need for
89
individuals in high stress occupations or
lifestyles to participate in stress reduction
programs, assuming that a causative relationship
exists between stimulus stress (strain), perceived
stress, and the body’s response to both. They
imply that if we experience too much strain or
feel stressed our bodies will be affected
detrimentally. Instead, the findings of this
study militate against the conclusion that strain
or perceived stress are necessarily related to
changes in the physiological disposition of an
individual. In fact, in this study individuals
with substantially higher levels of strain and
perceived stress did not demonstrate meaningfully
different levels of physiological or emotional
response to stress. This finding would at least
suggest that we maintain a healthy level of
skepticism about the need for stress reduction for
everyone believed to be experiencing strain or
perceived stress. It seems quite possible that
some individuals respond in a more adaptive way to
stress than others and that an individual's
ability to cope with stressors may be a more
important predictor of need for stress reduction
90
training than his or her level of strain or
perceived level of stress overload.
In conclusion, increased role strain may not
have the detrimental effect it has been presumed
to have on dual-career women. Much of the
previous literature on wives in dual-career
marriages has presupposed that these women
experience heightened levels of stress (presumably
of a detrimental nature); thus, this study calls
into question much of this literature. In fact,
the rewards associated with multiple role demands
may far outweigh the problems. These results also
lend support to the caution that close attention
be paid to how the construct stress is defined in
future research and that researchers not assume
that just because groups of individuals experience
increase levels of strain, they will necessarily
experience an attendant increase in stress
response, be it either physiological or emotional.
A more complete understanding of the dynamics
of stress in dual-career women will, of course,
require further study. First, it would be helpful
to ascertain if stress response is totally
unrelated to stimulus and perceived levels of
stress. This would require greater power in the
91
procedures and sample sizes being usecL Two ways
to improve the power of these measures would be to
use fifteen-hour, continuous collections of urine
samples and/or to increase sample size
substantially to approximately 250 to 300 subjects
for each comparison group. The second area of
focus could involve further study of perceived
(reported) level of stress as it relates to Role
Overload. For example, one may wish to determine
which of the following sources of perceived strain
contribute most to subjectively experienced
stress: role conflicts, work overload, role
redefinition, role responsibility, and/or role
prioritization.
92
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Appendix A
Social Desirability Scale
Appendix A
Listed below are a number of statements concerning personal
attitudes and traits. Read each item and decide whether the
statement is true (T) or False (F) as it applies to you
personally.
_____ 1. Before voting I thoroughly investigate the
qualifications of all the candidates.
_____ 2. I never hesitate to go out of my way to help
someone in trouble.
_____ 3. It is sometimes hard for me to go on with my work
if I am not encouraged.
. 4. I have never intensely disliked anyone.
_____ 5. On occasion I have had doubts about my ability to
succeed in life.
_____ 6. I, sometimes feel resentful if I don't get my way.
_____ 7. I am always careful about my manner of dress.
_____ 8. My table manners at home are as good as when I eat
out in a restaurant.
_____ 9. If I could get into a movie without paying for it
and be sure I was not seen, I would probably do
it.
10. On a few occasions, I have given up doing
something because I thought too little of my
ability.
_____ 11. I like to gossip at times.
_____ 12. There have been times when I felt like rebelling
against people in authority even though I knew
they were right.
____ 13. No matter who I'm talking to, I'm always a good
listener.
_____ 14. I can remembering "playing sick" to get out of
something.
15. There have been occasions when I took advantage of
someone.
16. I'm always willing to admit it when I make a
mistake.
17. I always try to practice what I preach.
18. I don't find it particularly difficult to get
along with loud mouthed, obnoxious people.
19. I sometimes try to get even, rather than forgive
an forget.
20. When I don't know something I don't at all mind
admitting it.
21. I am always courteous, even to people who are
disagreeable.
22. At times I have really insisted on having things
my own way.
23. There have been occasions when I felt like
smashing things.
24. I would never think of letting someone else be
punished for my wrongdoings.
25. I never resent being asked to return a favor.
26. I have never been irked when people expressed
ideas very different from my own.
27. I never make a long trip without checking the
safety of my car.
28. There have been times when I was quite jealous of
the good fortune of others.
29. I have almost never felt the urge to tell someone
off.
30. I am sometimes irritated by people who ask favors
of me.
31. I have never felt that I was punished without
cause.
32.
33.
I sometimes think when people have misfortune they
only got what they deserved.
I have never deliberately said something that hurt
someone's feelings.
Appendix B
Questionnaire
Appendix B
1 . What is your current occupation?
Other occupations since completing your edcuation:
_____________________ Dates:______________
_____________________ Dates:______________
_____________________ Dates:______________
Dates:
What is your husband's occupation?
2. What is your present age?
25 or under
26 to 35
36 to 45
46 to 55
over 55
Husband's age?
25 or under
26 to 35
36 to 45
46 to 55
over 55
3. What is the highest educational level you have attained
and the highest level your husband has attained?
Self Husband
High school or less __
Associate of Arts Degree (2 yr) __
Bachelor's Degree __
Working on Master's Degree __
Master's Degree __
Working on Doctoral Degree_______ __
Doctoral Degree__________________ __
4. What is your combined yearly income (spouse and self)?
$20,000 or less
$20,001 to $30,000
$30,001 to $40,000
$40,001 to $50,000
$50,001 to $60,000
$60,001 to $70,000
$70,001 to $80,000
$80,001 to $90,000
over $90,001
5. What is your present marital status?
divorced
married
separated
6. How many children do you have who are currently living at
home?
7. What is the age of your youngest child still living at
home?
8. Since graduating from college how many leaves of absence
have you taken from your career? _______________
9. How long and what was the purpose for each of your
leaves? Length Purpose
______months _________________________________
______months _________________________________
______months ________________________________
______months _________________________________
______months______________________________________
months
10. How often do you feel overloaded or overworked because of
your job and other responsibilities? Please circle the
number which is closest to your answer.
1 2 3 4 5
Seldom
(once a month
or less)
(once a week)
Regularly
(almost
every day)
Appendix C
Instructions for Urine Samples
109
Appendix D
Follow-Up Survey
111
Appendix D
FOLLOW-UP SURVEY
Code Number:
1) How many cups of coffee did you
drink yesterday? ____________
2) How many cups of tea did you
drink yesterday? ___________
3) How many bananas did you eat
yesterday? _________
4) How many soft drinks that have caffeine
in them did you drink yesterday? _______
5) How much and what kind of exercise did
you do yesterday?
Type Time of Day Length
minutes
minutes
minutes
minutes
6) What was the time of day when you gave your night urine
sample? ______________
7) What was the time of day when you gave your morning urine
sample? ______________
8) are you currently taking any kind of prescription
medication or vitamins? _______Yes No
If yes, please indicate the type and amount below>
Type Amount
If you would like to receive feedback on your results please
sign your name and phone number below.
Signature: _______________________
Date: _______________
Phone:
Appendix E
Studentized Pooled Variance Estimate of the
Difference Between Mean Stress and Social
Desirability Values for Women with Children and
Women without Children
113
Appendix E
Studentized Pooled Variance Estimate of the
Difference Between Mean Stress and Social
Desirability Values for Women With Children and
Women Without Children
Indices of
Stress
t
Value df
2-Tail
Prob.
Total Epinephrine -0.56 36 0.579
Rorschach 0.12 36 0.902
Self-Reported -3.71 36 0.001
Indices of
Social Desir.
t
Value df
2-Tail
Prob.
S.D. Scale 0.10 36 0.924
114
Appendix F
Descritpive Statistics for Subjects' Responses to
the Three Indices of Stress and One Measure of
Social Desirability
1 15
Appendix F
Descriptive Statistics for Subjects1 Responses to
the Three Indices of Stress and One Measure of
Social Desirability
Measure Mean S.D. Median
Standard
Error Range
Epinephrine
Women with
children. 7.42 6.1 6 6 1 .413 0-21
Women without
children. 6.26 6.58 5 1 .510 0-26
Rorschach
Women with
children. 1 .79 1 .08 1 0.344 0-4
Women without
children. 1.84 1 .08 2 0.249 0-6
Self-Reported
Stress
Women with
children. 4.26 .93 5 0.21 4 2-5
Women without
children. 2.84 1.39 3 0.31 8 1 -5
Social
Desirability
Women with
children. 1 4.26 4.62 1 5 1 .059 2-20
Women without
children. 14.42 5.43 1 5 1 .246 3-25
116
Appendix G
A Test for Equal Variances of the Distribution of
Scores for the Two Comparison Groups on Each of
the Four Variables Measured
117
Appendix G
A Test for Equal Variances of the Distribution of
Scores for the Two Comparison Groups (Women with
Children and Women Without Children) on Each of
the Four Variables Measured*
Measure
t
Value
2-Tail
Prob.
Indices of
Stress
Total Epinephrine -0.18 0.859
Rorschach 0.15 0.885
Self-Reported 1 .30 0.202
Indices of
Social Desirability
Soc. Des. Scale 0.10 0.924
* Brown and Forsythe (1974).
Note: df=36.
118
Appendix H
Power Analysis for the Two Comparison Groups,
Women with Children and Women without Children
119
Appendix H
Power Analysis for the Two Comparison Groups
(Women with Children and Women without Children)'*'
Smallest
Measure Difference**
Necessary
Sample Size***
For a
Value of
Epinephrine
Women with
children. 9 682 1.16
Women without
children. 9 779 1.16
Rorschach
Women with
children. 1 .25 2,867 .10
Women without
children. 1 .75 5,491 .10
Self-Reported
Stress
Women with
children. 1 .25 24 1 .4
Women without
children. 1 .75 1 1 1 .4
Social Desirability
Women with
children. 5.50 1 29 2.0
Women without
children. 6.00 1 78 2.0
* Chapmans' (1950) test is a method for
controlling power when comparing two means
without assuming equal variance. In this
application a power estimate of .80 and p=.05
was used.
120
Appendix H continued.
** This value represented the smallest difference
one could test for to determine whether there
was no significant difference between the mean
values for the two comparison groups,
*** Based on the power analysis, one would need a
sample size approximating that indicated in this
table to discern whether there was no
significant difference for the value indicated.
121
Appendix I
Descriptive Statistics for the Follow-Up Survey
122
Appendix I
Descriptive Statistics for the Follow-Up Survey*
Measure Mean S.D. Median Ranqe
Food and Beverages
With Stimulants
Women with
children. 3.35 2.60 2 0-1 0
Women without
children. 3.06 2.26 2 0-7
Number of Times
Exercised
Women with
children. .25 .43 0 0-1
Women without
children. .38 .50 0 0-1
Lenqth of Exercise
Women with
children. 31 .0 12.45 30 20-50
Women without
children. 26.7 5.16 30 20-30
* This survey inquired about the number of items
consumed or activities participated in, that could
increase urinary catecholamine excretion.
123
Appendix J
Strength of the Relationship Between Social
Desirability, Self-Reported Stress, and Number
of Children
124
Appendix J
Strength of the Relationship Between Social
Desirability, Self-Reported Stress, and Number of
Children
Pearson Product-Moment Correlation
_________Coefficients for:_________________
Self-Reported Number of
Soc. Des. Stress Children
Soc. Des.
Self-Rep.
Stress
Number of
Children
r=1.0000
r=-.0563
p= .369
r=1.0000
r= .0548
p= .372
r=-.0563
p= .369
r=1.0000
125
Appendix K
Demographic Data for the Two Comparison Groups,
Women with Children and Women without Children
126
Appendix K
Demographic Data for the Two Comparison Groups, Women without Children and
Women with Children.
Women Without
Children N=1 9
Median Mean S.D.
Women with
Children N=1 9
Median Mean S.D.
Age
Wife
Husband
28
35
31 .6
35.9
6.04
8.15
37
37
36.8
36.8
4.56
4.29
Education
Wife
Husband
3 (Bachelors)
3 (Bachelors)
3.8
3.9
1 .26
1 .41
4 (Working on MA)
4 (Working on MA)
4.1
4.2
1.13
1 .78
Income
Combined 5 ($50-$60 K) 6.0 2.03 7 ($70-$80 K) 6.9 1 .70
Wives' Leaves
Number
Length of
longest
leave.
0
0 (months)
.1
.1
.23
.46
2
12(months)
1.7
14.4
.93
14.91
Children
Number
Age of youngest
2
4 (years)
2.0
5.3
.58
3.56
Appendix L
Strength of the Relationship Between the
Rorschach, Self-Reported Stress, and Total
Epinephrine
128
Appendix L
Strength of the Relationship Between the
Rorschach, Self-Reported Stress, and Total
Epinephrine
Pearson Product-Moment Correlation
Coefficients for:
Self-Reported Total
Rorschach______ Stress______ Epinephrine
Rorschach r=1 .0000
Self-Rep.
Stress r= .1 81 4 r=1 .0000
P=
.2758
Total
Epinephr. r= .0070 r= .0854 r=1.0000 :
P=
.9668
P=
.61 03
129

Asset Metadata

Creator Norris, Frederic W (author)

Core Title Physiological, emotional, and self-reported indices of stress response for women in dual-career marriages

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Education (Counseling Psychology)

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag OAI-PMH Harvest,Psychology, clinical,women's studies

Language English

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c26-522675

Unique identifier UC11245056

Identifier usctheses-c26-522675 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier DP25177.pdf

Dmrecord 522675

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Norris, Frederic W.

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA