DO EMPLOYED AND NONEMPLOYED KOREAN MOTHERS EXPERIENCE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING IN RELATION TO THEIR GENDER-ROLE ATTITUDES AND ROLE QUALITIES

A sample of 558 Korean mothers completed a questionnaire survey where social structural variables, gender role attitudes, and role qualities were examined as predictors of psychological well-being. Results show ed that employed mothers did not differ in their psychological well-be ing according to their children's gender while nonemployed mothers wit h at least one son showed greater psychological well-being than those without a son. Demonstrating the importance of congruency between wome n's attitudes toward gender role and their current roles, employed mot hers with more liberal gender role attitudes showed greater well-being while nonemployed mothers with more traditional attitudes showed high er levels of well-being Last, although all role qualities were positiv ely related to mothers' well-being in both groups, the significance of wife role quality in determining mothers' well-being was salient in e mployed group.