Weathering the storm alone or together: Examining the impact of COVID‐19 on sole and partnered working mothers

Abstract

Sole employed mothers and their families face numerous challenges. Yet, the unprecedented circumstances of the COVID‐19 pandemic may be adding additional risk to the already precarious day‐to‐day reality of this population. Thus, we examine the implications of this crisis for the mental health and job‐related well‐being of both sole and partnered working mothers. Participants were 206 mothers who continued to work during the pandemic. A moderated mediation model was analyzed. Work‐family conflict (WFC) during the pandemic differentially related to mothers’ parenting stress, based on romantic partnership status; when mothers were sole parents, the relationship between WFC and parenting stress was exacerbated. Moreover, this stress mediated the relationship between WFC and both poor mental health and decreased work engagement for sole employed mothers. Findings broaden our understanding of the implications of the COVID‐19 pandemic for sole and partnered employed mothers, and how this crisis may be increasing disparities between working sole‐parent and dual‐partner families.

Associations of Work-Family Conflict with Family-Specific, Work-Specific, and Well-Being-Related Variables in a Sample of Polish and Ukrainian Adults during the Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…As a consequence of a high strain on work-family conflict, a decrease in physical and mental health dimensions among women (including stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms) was reported in this study, as well as in previous research [ 19 , 23 , 24 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]. Both studies by Oakman et al [ 41 ] and Graham et al [ 39 ] showed that Australian working women reported significantly greater WFC and FWC, and concerns about job insecurity, stress, and neck/shoulder pain compared to men.…”

“…Compared to men, women were more responsible for childcare, schooling, and household tasks, working primarily from home and reducing their work hours [ 19 , 23 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ]. Overload in caregiving and overall workload in women was related to heightened WFC and FWC, as well as parenting stress, general perceived stress, concerns about job insecurity, general and neck/shoulder pain, stress, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and lower life satisfaction [ 19 , 23 , 24 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]. In particular, solely employed mothers were at higher risk of mental health adverse effects and job-related well-being than partnered working mothers [ 38 ].…”

“…We will examine the differences in WFC, FWC, well-being dimensions, and time pressure across countries, genders, relationship status, parenthood experience, caring for children under 12, and type of work (stationary vs. remote). We hypothesize that higher CWF and worse well-being will be presented in Poland than in Ukraine regarding the individualism-collectivism dimension [ 12 , 13 ], among teleworkers [ 20 , 21 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ], women [ 16 , 19 , 23 , 24 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ], coupled individuals, and those having children [ 16 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Inter-group differences in time pressure will be explored for the first time in this study.…”

Introduction to volume 2 – COVID‐19 and vulnerable populations

“…In the article by Dionisi et al (2023) the aim of this research was to begin to understand how the COVID‐19 crisis impacted the lives of working mothers which included examining their level of mental health and job‐related well‐being. The authors used the lens of conservation resources to examine how work‐family conflict may impact a mother's experiences of parenting depending on their romantic relationship status.…”

Perceived Organizational Support and Employee Well-Being During Crisis: A Study of the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Strains include adverse outcomes such as burnout, job stress, depression, and somatic complaints (Copranzano et al, 1997;Armstrong-Stassen, 2004;Richardson et al, 2008;Servat et al, 2020). Similarly, stressors include a range of challenges faced by employees in the workplace, such as role conflict, work overload, organizational politics (Kurtessis et al, 2017), and, in the COVID-19 context in particular, family-related challenges, such as balancing work and family care (Dionisi et al, 2022), and health-related challenges, such as contracting the virus (Hamouche, 2020) and accessing healthcare (Auerbach & Miller, 2020).…”