Everyday Hassles and Family Stress Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Define the term “Daily Hassles” and explain how these may differ from major life events in reference to stress  Describe 2 different research methodologies that have been used to study daily hassles, and list the pro’s and con’s of each  Define “Adaptive Processes” and “Enduring Vulnerabilities  Explain how research findings in daily hassles literature can be used to develop interventions or prevention programs, or public policy changes, directed at families. Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Daily life involves negotiating stresses  Stresses in your life?  Common annoyances?  Anticipated and unanticipated Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Daily Hassles: “Irritating, frustrating, distressing demands and troubled relationships that grind on us day in and day out”  Methods  Survey research – rate frequency and severity of each hassle in past month  Criticism: doesn’t look at complexities of individual experience with daily hassles  Multidimensional nature of every day hassles  Caring for children or elderly, working, family relationships, etc Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Qualitative methods  Complex and sometimes contradictory nature of family members’ experiences  Kin work, marriage work, HH labor, child care, caring for elderly or sick, volunteer work often vary by gender. Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Precise temporal sequencing of daily stressors and subsequent interactions  Allows for within-person examination of day-to-day fluctuations in hassles and stress  Multiple Methods  Observations of parent/child interactions +  Daily time diaries of mood and workload  Self-collected saliva samples Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Vulnerability-stress-adaptation model Chance Occurrences Everyday Hassles Enduring Vulnerabilities Adaptive Processes Family Wellbeing Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Adaptive processes  Ways in which individuals and families cope with everyday hassles  Moderate association between hassles and family stress  Levels of stress partially determined by level, severity, and centrality of daily hassles family members encounter  Enduring vulnerabilities  Relatively stable intrapersonal characteristics ( child temperament, personality) and family background variables (structure and behavior of family of origin) Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Different meanings for men and women  Women experience more daily hassles than men  No difference in number of days men and women experience multiple hassles  Decreasing hassles in old age  Younger perceived hassles to be more severe, experience more overload  Arguments/ tension account for half of daily stressors by men and women Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Women worry more/ more hassles related to children  Gender gap in HH labor – women experience more HH labor stressors  Women do about twice as much housework as men  Women do less-optional housework, more time- consuming housework  Men do tasks that require less time and less regularity  Can “opt out” of tasks they don’t feel like doing  Women have less leisure time  More hours when add paid and unpaid work Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 ‘The Second Shift’ and other research  Men sharing more than in the past, but women still doing more HW than men  Overall, women work average of 1 extra month of 24 hour days LONGER than men work  Working mom’s have higher self-esteem, less depression  Working mom’s are tired more often and get sick more often than their husbands Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Emotional stressors  women experienced emotional decline after work, but tended to be more positive when at work  men’s mood when they did housework/ child care was more positive than women's when doing the same task  Men had more choice in involvement in childcare and housework than women Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Think pair share  Chores / stressors performed by male/ female in current relationship or in other (parents / step parents/ etc) relationship  ABC-X model  Suggestions for improvements Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Patterns of responses for workdays characterized by heavy loads or negative interactions with coworkers  1. increased marital or parent-child conflict  2. social withdrawal  May protect children from transmission of negative work experiences  If men withdraw from housework, women picked up the slack. The same was not true if women withdraw  Withdrawal and expressing anger does not necessarily mean a negative marriage – some wives in more satisfying marriages withdraw and express anger more than those in less-satisfying marriages  Husband encourages wife’s expression / communication open  Way of coping  Men in these families do more of the housework when the women withdraws. Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Enduring vulnerabilities  Individual differences in personality and emotional functioning contribute to every day hassles and adaptation to these hassles  Interventions  Gender equality in daily tasks –  time diary studies show inequality  More resources to help families  Child care, elderly care, corporate America more responsive to needs of families  Flexibility in workplace Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Family-responsive attitude in the workplace  Broad range of work-life programs that support family and personal needs  Adequate pay, benefits, and employment security  Work designed to provide employees with discretion and control in meeting work and life demands Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Workplace culture that values and supports work- life integration of all employees.  Gender equality in structures  Support for employees regardless of SES Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Families have too many hassles to handle on their own – even if men and women shared housework and childcare equally  Flexibility in workplace  Policies that enable family members to care for every day needs without jeopardizing career.  Readily available aids to outsource in-home tasks Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Move away from idea of breadwinner/ homemaker model as central to how we see families  Work-life programs that let employees control working time and support meeting family needs  Adequate pay, benefits, employment security  Workplace culture that values integration of work- life for all employees Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Explain how research findings in daily hassles literature can be used to develop interventions or prevention programs, or public policy changes, directed at families Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications