GENDER, MULTIPLE ROLES, ROLE MEANING, AND MENTAL-HEALTH

This paper examines gender differences in the consequences of combinin g spouse, parent, and worker roles for mental health. I suggest that w ork and family roles have different meanings for males and females, an d that differences in the meaning of these roles may be partially resp onsible for why the mental health advantages of holding multiple roles are fewer for women than for men. Based on qualitative analyses of fo llow-up, in-depth interviews with 40 employed married parents who part icipated in a community panel study of mental health, I find that sex differences in the perceived relationship between work and family role s may help account for sex differences in distress by contributing to male-female differences in both the extent and nature of work-parent c onflicts, attributions of responsibility for marital problems, feeling s of guilt, and self-evaluations as parents and spouses. By identifyin g gender differences in the meaning of roles among individuals who hav e the same multiple role configuration, and suggesting how these diffe rences can help explain sex differences in well-being, this research m ay expand existing theories about the mental health consequences of mu ltiple role involvements.