Gender, Parenthood, and Anger

Ross, Catherine E.; Willigen, Marieke Van

doi:10.2307/353718

Cited by 234 publications

(134 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Indeed, several studies have shown that, compared to nonparents, parents report feeling more anger (Ross & Van Willingen, 1996;Simon & Nath, 2004), and caring for children was ranked as one of the most negative-affect-eliciting activities (second to working; Kahneman et al, 2004). In sum, parenthood may reduce well-being by heightening negative emotions-especially worry, anxiety, and anger.…”

Section: Why Children Might Lead To Less Happinessmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The pains and pleasures of parenting: When, why, and how is parenthood associated with more or less well-being?

Nelson¹,

Kushlev²,

Lyubomirsky³

2014

Psychological Bulletin

478

461

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The pains and pleasures of parenting: When, why, and how is parenthood associated with more or less well-being? The relationship between parenthood and well-being has become a hot topic among scholars, media, and general public alike. The research, however, has been mixed-some studies indicate that parents are happier than nonparents, whereas others suggest the reverse. We suggest that the question of whether parents are more or less happy than their childless peers is not the most meaningful one. To reconcile the conflicting literature and expand understanding of the emotional experience of parenthood, we present a model of parents' well-being that describes why and how parents experience more or less happiness than nonparents (i.e., mediators of the link between parenthood and well-being). We then apply this model to explain when parents are more likely to experience more or less happiness (i.e., moderators of parents' well-being, such as parent age or child temperament). Supporting our model, we review 3 primary methodological approaches: studies comparing parents and nonparents, studies examining changes in well-being across the transition to parenthood, and studies comparing parents' experiences while with their children to their other daily activities. Our review suggests that the relationship between parenthood and well-being is highly complex. We propose that parents are unhappy to the extent that they encounter relatively greater negative emotions, magnified financial problems, more sleep disturbance, and troubled marriages. By contrast, when parents experience greater meaning in life, satisfaction of their basic needs, greater positive emotions, and enhanced social roles, they are met with happiness and joy.

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Section: Why Children Might Lead To Less Happinessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In sum, it appears that parenthood is consistently linked to greater well-being among men but not among women in part because fathers experience relatively more positive emotion (e.g., Larson et al, 1994;Nelson et al, 2013) and mothers experience more negative emotion (e.g., Ross & Van Willingen, 1996;Zuzanek & Mannell, 1993).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The pains and pleasures of parenting: When, why, and how is parenthood associated with more or less well-being?

Nelson¹,

Kushlev²,

Lyubomirsky³

2014

Psychological Bulletin

478

461

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“…Research growing out of the social structure and individual perspective also supports this approach, showing that gender inequities in feelings of control (Cassidy and Davies 2003;Mirowsky 1992, 2002;Ross and Wright 1998) and anger (Ross and Van Willigen 1996), selfreported health (Schnittker 2007), attributions for success (Fox and Ferri 1992), care work (e.g., Sarkisian and Gerstel 2004), housework (e.g., Bianchi et al 2000;Kroska 2004), pay (e.g., Bobbitt-Zeher 2007;Prokos and Padavic 2005), and the ability to leave a severely violent partner (Anderson 2007) can be traced, in part, to women's weaker structural position in the workplace and family and to gender gaps in human capital, such as education, work experience, and field of study. Sarkisian and Gerstel's (1994) research on the gender gap in parental care is illustrative.…”

Section: Structural Perspectivementioning

confidence: 97%

The Social Psychology of Gender Inequality

Kroska

2014

Handbook of the Social Psychology of Inequality

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Despite progress toward gender equality in several areas, gender inequality persists in the United States and throughout the world, and it persists across multiple institutions: education, employment, family, politics, and law. Despite a vast literature documenting these inequalities, questions remain about how they are created and maintained. Social psychology is uniquely positioned to explain those processes. The discipline includes a rich body of theories, including several multilevel theories, which give analysts the ideal tools for illuminating the production and reproduction of inequality across multiple contexts. I begin this chapter by briefly reviewing evidence of gender inequality, focusing on the United States. I then summarize social psychological theories that can be used to explain this inequality, highlighting the theoretical claims, findings, and limitations central to each account. I conclude with a discussion of the areas that warrant further attention. Gender Inequality in the United StatesAlthough women today receive a larger share of post-secondary degrees than men in the U.S., women are far less likely than men to receive degrees in the typically lucrative areas of science, math, and engineering (SME). The gap is especially pronounced in engineering and computer and information science, where women receive only 18 % of the bachelor degrees in both fields (National Center for Education Statistics 2011). This educational segregation creates similar forms of segregation in the labor market, where women are a minority in most SME sub-fields ( Women also earn less than men. In 2011, women's earnings were 77% of men's among full-time year-round workers ages 15 and over (U. S. Census Bureau 2012), a gap that is only a few percentage points smaller than it was in the mid-1990s when the decline in the gap began to slow substantially (Blau and Kahn 2006; U.S. Census Bureau 2012). Gaps persist within age and educational categories as well. For example, in 2011, women's earnings were 74% of men's among full-time year-round workers 25 and over with a bachelor's degree (U.S. Census Bureau A. Kroska ()

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“…Among mothers, each additional child appears to increase anger (Ross & Van Willigen, 1996) and to decrease subjective well-being (Kohler et al, 2005). Yet, it is possible that the relationship between the number of children and parents' mental health is nonlinear because there may be an optimal family size associated with the highest level of well-being.…”

Section: Diversity Among Parentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Existing research suggests two views regarding gender differences in psychological well-being of parents: the parental role and the gendered role perspectives. The parental role perspective (Scott & Alwin, 1989) holds that mothers of young children experience more distress than fathers because the maternal role is more demanding and stressful (Ross & Van Willigen, 1996;Umberson, 1996). Yet, as children grow up and become self-sufficient adults, the parenting roles of mothers and fathers may gradually converge because women are no longer involved in labor-intensive and time-consuming childcare.…”

Section: Are Middle-aged Mothers and Fathers Different?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological Implications of Motherhood and Fatherhood in Midlife: Evidence From Sibling Models

Pudrovska

2008

J of Marriage and Family

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Using a sample comprising full, twin, half-, step-, and adopted siblings, I examine psychological consequences of motherhood and fatherhood in midlife. My analysis includes between-family models that treat siblings as independent observations, and within-family models accounting for unobserved shared genetic and environmental endowments that may confound the relationship between parenthood and well-being. Further, I examine whether the psychological impact of parenthood varies based on siblings' genetic similarity. The findings reveal that parenthood has similar psychological implications for middle-aged mothers and fathers. The main differences arise from specific structural contexts of parenthood. The association between parenthood and mental health at midlife partly reflects shared and nonshared genetic influences.In contrast, shared early-life environment does not explain the psychological impact of parenthood.

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Gender, Parenthood, and Anger

Cited by 234 publications

References 34 publications

The pains and pleasures of parenting: When, why, and how is parenthood associated with more or less well-being?

The pains and pleasures of parenting: When, why, and how is parenthood associated with more or less well-being?

The Social Psychology of Gender Inequality

Psychological Implications of Motherhood and Fatherhood in Midlife: Evidence From Sibling Models

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