Distress and the Traditional Female Role: A Comparison of Mexicans and Anglos

Among Anglos, married women have higher levels of psychological distress than married men. One explanation is the role-stress theory developed by Gove and his colleagues, which focuses on the stressful aspects of traditional female roles (such as housewife and child rearer) in a society that does not value women's traditional role in the home and does not provide and effective set of institutions for dealing with its demands. The implications of this theory for cross-cultural research are clear yet, to date, untested. One implication is that in societies that place more value on the family and on the woman's role in the home, the psychological distress levels of married men and women will be more similar. This implications of Gove's theory is tested in two cultures, one that places relatively more emphasis on individual achievement outside the home (Anglo culture) and one that places relatively more emphasis on the family and home (Mexican culture). As expected, the gap in psychological distress levels between marreid men and women is found to be much smaller in Mexican culture than in Anglo culture. However, the explanations for this finding are not as clear-cut as the role-stress argument imply.