MOTHERS’ WORK ENGAGEMENT, WORK DEPENDENCY, AND THEIR CHILDREN’S BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS: THE LINKS

Abstract

An analysis of scientific research shows that scientists have sought links between mothers' involvement in work, dependence on work, and children's strengths and difficulties, but this topic has been little studied scientifically. The aim of the study is to reveal the links between children's strengths and difficulties and the characteristics of their mothers' participation in work and dependence on work. The author's questionnaire on women's involvement in work was used to assess mothers' involvement in work. Work addiction was assessed using the Dutch Work Addiction Scale (DUWAS-10) (Schaufeli & Taris, 2004)), while mothers assessed their children's strengths and difficulties using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) developed by R. Goodman (Goodman, 1997) and adapted into Lithuanian (Gintilienė, Girdzijauskienė, Černiauskaitė, Lesinskienė, Povilaitis, and Pūras, 2004). The study involved 162 working mothers raising children aged five to eleven. The research data was collected via an online survey. To achieve the aim of the study, the author created a questionnaire on women's involvement in work, which met the criteria of reliability and allowed for the assessment of the participants' work ability, stress experienced at work, and attitudes towards the importance of work. The following characteristics of working mothers' involvement in work, dependence on work, and links with sociodemographic characteristics were revealed: the study participants were characterized by a high level of dependence on work; the older the women and their children, the less importance they attach to work; the importance of work is rated higher by women with secondary and vocational education who belong to the lowest staff level; stress at work is more common among women in the highest positions; the older women are, the less stress they feel at work; the tendency to work excessively is more common among women in middle management. As women's dependence on work increases, their work capacity and stress levels increase, but their assessment of the importance of work decreases. The quantitative expression of the abilities and difficulties of children as reflected by their mothers corresponds to the established norms for this age group. Older mothers are more lenient in their assessment of their children's difficulties; the older the children, the less pronounced their hyperactivity; mothers with higher education see a stronger expression of their children's abilities; emotional symptoms are more often reflected by mothers of boys, while behavioral problems are more often reflected by mothers of girls. The more mothers value the importance of work, the less inclined they are to value their children's abilities; the greater the mothers' dependence on work and the stress experienced at work, the more strongly the child's difficulties are reflected.