Role conflict among urban single black mothers.
Item
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Title
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Role conflict among urban single black mothers.
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Identifier
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AAI9315452
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identifier
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9315452
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Creator
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Carr, Ellen Lillard.
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Contributor
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Adviser: William Kornblum
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Date
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1993
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies | Sociology, Individual and Family Studies | Women's Studies
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Abstract
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The research examines black single mothers' responses to the pressures of simultaneously performing multiple, and sometimes competing, demands of parenting without a male partner. The results of this study suggest that a strong majority of this sample reported lower rates of perceived role conflict than those reflected in surveys of white women. In the light of respondents' individual "context of struggle" and the current state of unrest prevailing in municipalities like N.Y.C. and Providence Rhode Island, this particular disclosure comes as an unanticipated finding. While it is true that most black single mothers are less conflicted, a fair percentage of these women are often disturbed by a combination of high levels of role conflict and high levels of depression. In fact, sixty-five percent (65%) of that portion of single mothers who did feel some depression also tend to experience considerable frustration.;A review of the data reveals that conflicts which mothers experience can be visualized through two variables: (1) perception of their roles (Role Definition); and (2) Self Evaluation of their Role Performance. In statistical tests where age is treated as an independent variable, scores of significance rose sharply for mothers over thirty-five (35) years old. In this age category, ninety percent (90%) of older women who poorly appraised their maternal roles also experienced a great deal of depression. However, age is not the only pertinent factor necessary for becoming a "good mother" and an adequate coper. Indeed, the sample's conflicts did not occur so much as an outcome of combining dual and triple duties, but rather stem from unhealthy and/or negative attitudes toward their maternal obligations. What appears to be most essential in understanding this matter, then, is not grounded so much in the reality of role strain itself, as in each black single mother's cognition and immediate reaction to multiple distractions and the constant and ongoing distress which she encounters on a daily and lifelong basis.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
