Home-making responsibilities and health in working woman.

Objective. To analyze the relationship between the distribution of home-mak ing responsibilities and perceived mental and physical health in working wo men. Material and methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted between Se ptember 1994 and Octuber 1995, in Caracas,Venezuela. A total of 260 univers ity teachers were surveyed on homemaking management and activities. Statist ical analysis consisted of central tendency measures, analysis of variance and hierarchical multiple regression. Results. Considering the distribution of home-making responsibilities, it was found that women participated more in home-making management and planning and that they received support from their partner in those tasks related to home-making. Those women who perce ived higher overload in hometasks reported also higher levels of anxiety, d epression and a lower self-esteem. Conclusions. These results indicate the negative effects of household labor on mental health in working women.