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Non-standard Work and Rural Low-Income Mothers: Making It Work

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Abstract

Work is an integral part of life in the United States and balancing work and family life can be a difficult task for many families made even harder to accomplish when a mother is low-income, living in a rural area, and working non-standard hours. Non-standard work hours include weekends, nights, rotating shifts, or split shifts. Using qualitative data from the longitudinal Rural Families Speak research project, this paper explored how rural low-income mothers who work non-standard schedules access and manage resources to try to balance the demands of work and family life. Interpreted through a family resource management lens, the results illuminate critical resources that allow families to manage work and family life while highlighting the demands the families often faced. Critical resources included accessing informal social support, managing work and family time, and seeking employment that supports work and family balance. Demands that threatened work and family balance included lack of flexibility in available resources and employment which make it difficult to balance work and family. Findings suggest the importance of developing community based programs to support both work and family as well educating employers on ways to support their employees.

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Notes

  1. This research was supported in part by USDA/CSREES/NRICGP Grants—2001-35401-10215, 2002-35401-11591, 2004-35401-14938. Data were collected in conjunction with the cooperative multi state research project NC-223/NC-1011 Rural Low-income families: Tracking Their Well-being and Functioning in the Context of Welfare Reform. Cooperating states are California, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

  2. Data are from CA, IN, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, MN, NE, NH, NY, OH, OR.

  3. All names are pseudonyms.

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Correspondence to Mary Jo Katras.

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Katras, M.J., Sharp, E.H., Dolan, E.M. et al. Non-standard Work and Rural Low-Income Mothers: Making It Work. J Fam Econ Iss 36, 84–96 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-014-9410-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-014-9410-7

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