Title
Mixed-Methods Exploration of Christian Working Mothers' Personal Strivings
School/Department
Rosemead School of Psychology
Publication Date
Spring 2013
Abstract
The current study explored the motherhood strivings of 200 Christian professional mothers in the workforce and the strivings' relationship to positive affect, negative affect, satisfaction with life, interrole conflict, and the presence of psychological symptoms, in order to understand the influence of Christian subcultural factors on the experience of working Christian mothers. A mixed-methods study was conducted, including a content analysis informed by grounded theory methodology of the content of the motherhood strivings, and a quantitative analysis of how types of strivings are related to positive affect, negative affect, satisfaction with life, interrole conflict, and the presence of psychological symptoms. Qualitative analysis of the content of the motherhood themes resulted in two predominant themes: motherhood as living up to societal ideals and motherhood as embodiment of personal values. With respect to the quantitative findings, spiritual self-transcendence strivings were negatively correlated with interrole conflict. High-level, abstract strivings were positively correlated with the presence of interrole conflict, and negatively correlated with satisfaction with life. Strivings reflective of the intensive mothering ideology, specifically, the strivings that were reflective of the "entirely child centered" and "assume full responsibility" tenets of intensive mothering, were positively correlated with interrole conflict.
Keywords
Working mothers; Women--Religious aspects--Christianity
Publication Title
Journal of Psychology and Theology
Volume
41
Issue
1
First Page
48
Last Page
61
DOI of Published Version
10.1177/009164711304100104
Recommended Citation
Anderson, Tamara Lynn and Hall, M. Elizabeth Lewis, "Mixed-Methods Exploration of Christian Working Mothers' Personal Strivings" (2013). Faculty Articles & Research. 16.
https://digitalcommons.biola.edu/faculty-articles/16