Psychological Consequences of Multiple Social Roles

This research relies on data from a survey conducted in 1981 to explore the potential negative and positive consequences of having multiple roles. The responses of 500 employed women to questions about self-esteem, satisfaction with careers, partners, and children, and perceptions of life stress and pleasure were examined. The number of roles held by respondents ranged from 1 to 5 (worker, partner, parent, volunteer, and student). The results indicated that higher self-esteem and greater job satisfaction were associated with holding more roles. However, neither marital nor parental satisfaction was consistently related to the number of roles held. Although the majority of working women reported their lives to be stressful, this finding was independent of the number of roles held, and women with more roles did not consistently report a greater number of stressful life domains. These findings suggest that, for employed women, having multiple roles may enhance psychological well-being.