Family Stress, Health And Job Performance Of Married Working Women
Family Stress, Health And Job Performance Of Married Working Women
Abstract
The study was designed to examine family stress, health and job performance of married working women in Dekina Education Zone of Kogi state. The study adopted descriptive survey. The population of the study comprised of 201 married working women. This consists of 201 female secondary school teachers in the 16 public secondary schools in Dekina Education Zone. A structured questionnaire titled “Family Stress, Health and Job Performance of Working Married Woman Questionnaire (FSHJPWMWQ)” was developed by the researcher which guided the study. 70 items were trail-tested on a sample of 20 married working women in Ida Education Zone of Kogi State. The data obtained were computed using Crobach Alpha method. This gave an overall score of 0.92. The five research questions were analyzed using mean and Standard Deviation. An overview of the overall results showed that types of stress that married working women suffer include; financial stress such as shortage of or limited income, emotional stress, home pressure, workplace and health stress.
Family stressors are caused by a number of factors such as; working long hours in the office, having a heavy workload at home, taking office work home and others. Equally, consequences of stress on the health of married working women include; emotional distress, socially withdrawn, burnout, depression and others. Consequences of stress on the job performance of married working women include; poor concentration in the office, difficulty in solving office problems, socially withdrawn in the workplace and others. Stress reduction strategies to help women cope with stressful situations includes; setting limits appropriately, working ahead of time to minimize threatening situation, saying no to requests that would create excessive stress and others.
Based on the findings of the study, the researcher among others recommends that Government should through ministry of education in synergy with public health workers and counselors, organize training for both the general public and stressors on types of stress; causes, consequences and stress reduction strategies to help stressors cope with stressful situations or conditions. Equally, counselors should be involved and empowered with both physical and psychological strategies such as biofeedback, including thoughts and actions to deal with married working women stressful situations to improve their health condition and enhance their job performance. Based on the findings of the study, limitations of the study were identified and suggestions for further studies were made.
Chapter One
Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
Family system is as old as human life on the earth. Family according to Panasenko (2013) refers to a group of persons, united by ties of marriage, blood, adoption, consisting of single households, interacting and intercommunicating with each other in their respective social roles in creating a common culture. Family is composed of two adults of different sex (husband and wife or father and mother) and one or more children. Jacobs and Gerson (2004) saw family institution as a social group characterized by common residence, economic co-operation and reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship and one or more children, owned or adopted by the adults. In the context of this study, family comprises of a husband and wife or wives tied together by marriage. They live together either as biological or social aspects for the purpose of raising children, caring or training them to fit into the society and replace them tomorrow.
Family has the biological aspect and the social aspect. Its biological aspect is due to the blood link and hereditary characteristics, and the social aspect stems from the family having its own pattern of behaviour that regulates relationship existing between its members, such relations are the ones which the society concerned has approved as right (Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), 2006). NERDC further stressed that family is made up of two types; nuclear and extended family.
The nuclear family consists of two adults and their offspring1 s. Boss (2002) defined nuclear family as a family consisting of two parents and their children, but not including aunts, uncles, grandparents and others. In this study, nuclear family comprises of parents with their children. It is a social unit that consists of a mother, a father, and their children. On the other hand, extended family comprises of parents, children, and relatives. It is a family as a unit embracing parents and children together with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and sometimes more distant relatives (Panasenko, 2013).
One of the primary functions of the family involves providing a framework for the production and reproduction of persons biologically or socially. As a social institution, family is present in all cultures and therefore is universal. It is usually the bedrock of society, and also the most important social institution. It is the legitimate institution through which every society replaces its dying members. By this singular function, it ensures that the society does not go into extinction. Family institution is charged with the main responsibility of reproducing and training the future generation of society members in order to give society continuity (Brown and Iyengar, 2008).
In the family, men and women perform different functions. According to
DeFrain and Asay (2007), functions of a man in the family include; being a leader, provider, protector and a teacher. A man provides means of supporting the family financially. He also contributes to the emotional, spiritual, mental and physical wellbeing of his family as well as protects his family against any threat. For Hawley and DeHann (2006), men who are active and responsible as fathers, provide numerous functions to their wives and children. They create greater opportunities for their children to learn positive social life that are beneficial to their own psychological and emotional wellbeing as they grow. Hawley and DeHann (2006) stressed that women’s role in the family development are characterized by a traditional gender division of labour which has by and large provided women with types of work that accorded them low economic value. Gender is a social construct that distinguished the role of male and female. Gender is not sex, but refers to the different roles men and women played in the society and the relative power they command (Ainley, Hillman and Hidi, 2002). According to the authors, whereas sex refers to the biological aspects of women and men (chromosomes, hormones), “gender” refers to those that are shaped by social forces or to the meaning that a society gives to biological differences. As stated by Gyllensten (2005), in many societies, women exclusively undertake the activities of infant care, shopping, farming and cooking whether single, married or working married.
Married working women are men partners in marriage in the paid labour force. O’Farrell (2009) sees married working women as married women who involve themselves in labour in order to earn wages. According to Obi (2003), women constitute more than one-third percent of the world’s labor force, and majority of them are married women. For the purpose of this study, married working women, refers to men partners in marriage who engage in various occupations in order to earn wages to support their families.
As countries become industrialized, more women obtain jobs in different areas.
According to O’Farrell (2009), married working women are making steady progress in entering nontraditional fields such as engineering and construction work, professions such as medicine and law, and elected and appointed political positions. Married working women hold paid jobs of greater diversity than before. According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (1999), married working women have entered the new high-technology industries. UNICEF further cited example that presently, 31 percent of all computer programmers, and 28 percent of all computer systems analysts and scientists worldwide were women and majority of them are married women. Married working women engage in various workplaces in paid labour and they perform various functions such as typesetting of documents, file arrangement, sending memos across, photocopy and others together with their responsibilities in the house such as, activities of infant care, nursing, water and wood fetching among others. In the bid to create an equilibrium or a balance between the two responsibilities in the workplace and home in order to maintain their marriage so that it will not disintegrate, tension and conflict may arise which can induce stress in the life of the women.
Stress is unavoidable in human existence. According to Alzono (2000) stress is referred to as a bodily state rather than an event in the environment otherwise known as stressor or stress trigger. Stress is what one feels when one has to handle more than a problem. Stress according to Oboegbulem (2007), refers to a feeling which occurs when an individual’s working or living condition make demands beyond the individuals capacity to handle physically or emotionally. Stress is a mental, emotional, or physical strain caused by anxiety or overwork. Blonna (2005) describes stress as a state of discomfort, tension or emotional pain which arises when an individual is faced with situation which presents a demand that is important for the individual to meet but for which his/her capacities and resources are inadequate; and cognitively, stress interferes with thinking, concentration and memory. In this context, stress refers to the state of mind in handling emotional pains in a giving home and office as they arise irrespective of gender.
There are different types of stress. Goldberger and Breznitz (2003) categorize stress into three different types: acute stress, episodic stress, and chronic stress. According to Goldberger and Breznitz, acute stress comes from demands and pressures of the recent past and anticipated demands and pressures of the near future. It is the most common type of stress as it is typically caused by daily demands and pressures. It is the type of stress that comes quickly and often unexpectedly; but does not last too long. The researchers identify the common symptoms of acute stress as emotional distress, anger or irritability, anxiety and depression. Acute stress that is suffered too often is called episodic stress (Goldberger and Breznitz, 2003).This type of stress is usually seen in people who make self-inflicted, unrealistic or unreasonable demands which get all clamoured up and bring too much stress in their attempt to accomplish the goals. Equally, Goldberger and Breznitz defined chronic stress as the type of stress that tends to occur on a regular basis. According to the researcher, this type of stress may leave the victim feeling drained, and can lead to burnout if it is not effectively managed. This is because, when the stress response is chronically triggered and the body is not brought back to a relaxed state before the next wave of stress hits, the body can stay triggered indefinitely (Willis, 2005). This can lead to the host of health issues that are generally associated with stress, including cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal issues, anxiety and depression.
The circumstances that cause stress are called stressors. Stressors vary in severity and duration and are caused by various factors. For example, the responsibility of caring for a sick parent may be an ongoing source of major stress, whereas getting stuck in a traffic jam may cause mild, short-term stress. Some events, such as the death of a loved one, are stressful for everyone. But in other situations, individuals may respond differently to the same event. What is a stressor for one person may not be stressful for another. For example, a student who is unprepared for a sociology test and anticipates a bad grade may feel stress, whereas a classmate who studies in advance may feel confident of a good grade. For an event or situation to be a stressor for a particular individual, the person must appraise the situation as threatening and lack the coping resources to deal with it effectively (Stephen & Sandra, 2009). Stress is part of everyday life that one faces including working married men and women both at their offices and families.
Family stress had to do with day to day events in the family and how an individual reacts to them. Family stressors are regarded as problems requiring solution or situations in which the family must adapt in order to maintain the functioning of the family system (Smith, 2012). Stress in the family can come from within, in which case it could be as a result of illness, or individual members wanting to satisfy personal needs than that of other members. Teasdale (2006) posited that family stress often arises among Nigerian women as they try to balance the multiple competing demands of their spouses, children, elderly parents, among others. In this present study, family stress refers to a state of distress, pressure or emotional pain which arises when an individual is faced with family demands.
Family stressors are caused by a number of factors. Pearson and Moomaw (2005) outlines the family stressors as, death of a loved one in the family, divorce or separation from a partner, pregnancy, changes in health of a family member or close friend, trouble with in-laws, children leaving home, childcare, remarriage of a family member, caring for other dependents, such as elderly relatives, family reunion and relationship breakdown. These may have impact on health and job performances of working married women.
The impact of family stress can be positive or negative. Impact, according to Womble (2003) is a strong effect, the powerful or dramatic effect that something or somebody has. Impact is the action of one object hitting another or the force with which one object hits another. Thus, positively used, family stress can be a motivator for an improved quality of life. Family stress can be negative, when it becomes destructive as a result of how an individual negatively perceived it and reacted to it (Blonna, 2005). Similarly, Williams, Stacey and Carl (2005) were of the view that family stress takes its toll on women’s physical and mental health. According to
Felsten and Wilcox (2002), family stress pervades the life of married working women, and may impact adversely their mental and physical health, and their ability to perform office work effectively.
Family stress seems to have impact on health and job performance of married working women. According to Gelow, Brown, Dowling and Torres (2009), Married working women who experience a high level of family stress for a long time, and who cope poorly with this stress may become irritable, socially withdrawn, and emotionally unstable. Dyson and Renk (2006) further stressed that they may also have difficulties in concentrating and solving problems both office and home problems. This stress situation may also lead to sickness such as, high blood pressure (HBP), stroke or psychological problems, like depression and anxiety. As stated by Dyson and Renk (2006), married working women under intense and prolonged family stress may start to suffer from extreme anxiety, depression, or other severe emotional problems.
Family stress can cause severe health problems and, in extreme case, can cause death. Members of the family who survive the catastrophes sometimes develop an anxiety disorder called post-traumatic stress disorder (Blonna, 2005). Anxiety disorders caused by family stress may include generalized anxiety disorder, phobias, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Conflicting demands of home can affect the work performance of married working women. As such, stressors at home can affect married working women ability to perform effectively at work and vice versa. For example, working long hours, or away from home, taking work home and having higher responsibility can all have a negative effect on a married working women work performance. In the same way, work performances of a married working woman can negatively be affected by a combination of factors such as childcare, financial or relationship problems, work place activities or unsatisfactory conditions in her work place which is in other words known as workplace stress.
Workplace stress results from the interaction of the worker and the conditions of work. According to Beehr and Newman (2008), workplace stress is the response people may have when presented with work demands and pressures that are not matched to their knowledge and abilities and which challenge their ability to cope. It involves stress that results from various interactions of workers and the environment of the work they perform their duties. Combining housework, childcare, shopping and cooking with an outside job and trying to do everything on time are the causes or sources of working married women being stressed up at workplace (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner and Schaufeli, 2001). In the family, most of home duties fall on shoulders of women and these women also engaged in paid employment. Consequently, the demands to balance work and family duties can progressively lead to poor health and decrease in their home and work performance. The situation calls for stress reduction strategies to enable women to cope with the two responsibilities saddled on their shoulder.
Stress reduction has to do with means of dealing with stress. It is a measure used to deal with challenging moments. According to Hussain, Kumar and Husain (2008) stress reduction refers to physical and psychological strategies designed to enable people to cope with stress and anxiety. Stress reduction involves controlling and reducing the tension that occurs in stressful situations by making emotional and physical changes. The degree of stress and the desire to make the change will determine the level of improvement (Lazarus, 2006). Stress reduction strategies have been shown to have a positive effect on reducing stress (Henry & Evans, 2008). In this present study, stress management refers to physical and psychological strategies such as thoughts and actions designed to deal with married working women stressful situations in order to improve their health condition and enhance their job performance.
Stress reduction strategies are grouped into two broad types such as problem and emotion focused strategies. The goal of both strategies is to control one’s stress level. In problem focused strategy, the stressor takes some actions such as time management and working ahead of time to modify, avoid, or minimize the threatening situation whereas in emotion-focused coping, he/she employs some strategies such as rethinking the situation in a positive way, relaxation, wishful thinking, social support and aerobic exercise such as running, walking, biking, and skiing to directly moderate or eliminate unpleasant situations (Stephen & Sandra, 2009). According to the researchers, emotion focused strategy is most useful as a short-term strategy. It can help to reduce one’s arousal level before engaging in problem-solving and taking
action.
Many people have a characteristic way of coping with stress based on their personality. People who cope well with stress tend to believe they can personally influence what happens to them (Eweniyi, 2009). Eweniyi further stressed that people who cope well with stress usually make more positive statements about themselves, resist frustration, remain optimistic, and persevere even under extremely adverse circumstances. People can learn to manage stress and live happier and healthier lives. According to Kaplan, Liu and Kaplan (2005), some tips to help keep stress at bay include; keeping a positive attitude, accepting that there are events that one cannot control, being assertive instead of aggressive, asserting your feelings, opinions, or beliefs instead of becoming angry. According to Guterman and Lee (2005), one’s body can fight stress better when he/she is fit, eat healthy, learn to manage time more effectively, set limits appropriately, learn to say no to requests that would create excessive stress, make time for hobbies, interests and relaxation and by having enough rest and sleep.
From the foregoing, it is evident that family stress is common globally among married working women. It is equally present in Nigeria, Kogi state inclusive in Dekina Education zone in particular where there are many married working women both in urban and rural areas. The prevalence of family stress among these working married women in the state may be attributed to the general level of poverty in the country and their quest to support their families. These married women not only engaged in paid employment but are also engaged in farming and other agricultural activities for financial and nutritional assistance. Effort to combine the family responsibilities and the workplace, induce stress in their life. This stressful condition presently, pervades and impact adversely on their mental and physical health, and their ability to perform office and home work effectively. Thus, the need for stress reduction strategies arises in order to deal with married working women stressful situations. These direct the attention of the researcher to investigate family stress, health and job performance of married working women in Dekina Education Zone of Kogi state.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Stress cannot be avoided. It is ubiquitous, parts and parcel of life. It is a mental, emotional, or physical strain caused by anxiety or overwork. In Dekina Education Zone, married women engage in paid employment in the workplace and they perform various functions such as typesetting of documents, file arrangement, sending memos across, photocopy and others. Also, at home they are saddled with so many responsibilities which include; child bearing, shopping, cooking training and caring for the children, husbands and other extended family.
Also, some of the married working women engage in farming and other agricultural activities like poultry, fishery and plantation. They engage in these activities for financial, nutritional, educational and social support for the family members. In order to balance these activities so as to avoid conflict with spouse and to be effective and efficient in the workplace, stress is bound to occur in the lives of these women which may affect their mental and physical wellbeing and even their job performance. Married working women under such intense and prolonged family stress may suffer from extreme anxiety, depression or other severe emotional problems. Hence, the need for stress reduction strategies to reduce the negative effect of family stress on the lives of these married working women in Dekina Education Zone of Kogi state. Based on this gap, the problem of this study put in question is: What is the impact of family stress on health and job performance of married working women in Dekina Education Zone of Kogi state?
1.3 Purpose of the study
The purpose of this study was to examine family stress, health and job performance of married working women in Dekina Education Zone of Kogi state.
Specifically, the study:
- Identify types of stress married working women suffer
- Ascertain the causes of stress/stressors in the lives of married working women
- Find out the consequences of stress on the health of married working women
- Find out the consequences of stress on the job performance of married working women
- Determine the stress reduction strategies to help women cope with stressful situations or conditions
1.4 Significance of the Study
The significance of this study is of both theoretical and practice benefit. Theoretically, the findings of the study are considered significant because, there is need for empirical information for explaining the concept of stress, its types, causes and its management strategies for a better understanding of the phenomenon. In particular, it is expected that the findings will help to explain the functionality of the theoretical postulations of the ABC stress theory on married working women.
According to the theory, the postmodern approaches avoid pathologizing clients, take a dim view of the diagnosis, avoid searching for underlying causes of problems, and place a high value on discovering clients’ strength and resources. Rather than endless talking about problems, the focus of the theory is on creating solutions in the present and the future. The understanding of this theory in Nigeria settings specifically, in Dekina Education Zone of Kogi state helped to ascertain the causes of stress/stressors, its consequences and strategies to help women cope with stressful situations or conditions.
Practically, the findings of this study is of immense benefits to couples, counsellors, sociologists, students and further researchers on the knowledge of family stress and stress reduction strategies and help for better bridging the gap between theory and practice.
The findings of this study will be used to assist couples gain better understanding of themselves and the prevailing circumstances around them. Couples can learn that success or failure of a marriage depends mainly upon the strength and flexibility of the relationship between the husband and wife and not in the presence or absence of their source of pressure. This will be achieved through organizing marriage counselling sections for the couples.
The findings of this study will enable intending couples and the public to realize that marriage is something more than erotic partnership that is a matter of home making, parenthood and economic cooperation. It would enable them know that when the erotic element has through ageing, senility, disease and other causes entirely disappeared, the family life must still go on. It would enable couples to be more aware of different source of stress to which families are susceptible and thus, learn coping and preventive strategies.
Counselors will benefit from this study immensely since the study sought to ascertain the causes and consequences of stress in the lives of married working women. The findings and recommendations of this study will provide them with measures for stress reduction strategies to help women cope with stressful situations.
Sociologists will find this work useful. This is because, a review of family stress, health and job performance of married working will equip the sociologists with necessary information needed in providing worthwhile stress reduction strategies to help women cope with stressful situations. This will be done by reviewing types, causes and consequences of stress on the health and job performance of married working women to enable them in providing useful stress reduction strategies.
Students will benefit from this study immensely; the findings and recommendations of this study will provide them with peaceful and stimulating learning environment. This is because, a parent with a relax mind will be in a better condition to assists his or her child academic activities. Students of such parents are likely to be provided with variety of teaching and learning activities that will help them to develop their potentials into what there are best fitted to become and thus, adjust and live effectively in the society.
Further researchers who may desire to carryout studies relating to the problems under study will equally benefit from this study because; it will provide them direction on the guidelines for their study and indeed serve as an additional reference material for further studies.
1.5 Scope of the Study
The scope of this study is delimited to Dekina Education Zone of Kogi state,
Nigeria involving married working women in secondary schools in the Education Zone. The content scope of the study will address the types of family stressors, causes of stress/stressors, consequences of stress/stressor on job performance, health, and stress reduction strategies among married working women in Dekina Education Zone of Kogi state
1.6 Research Questions
The following are the guiding research questions for this study;
- What types of stress do married working women suffer?
- What are the causes of stress/stressors of married working women? iii. What are the consequences of stress on the health of married working women?
- What are the consequences of stress on the job performance of married working women?
- What are the stress reduction strategies to help women cope with stressful situations or conditions?
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