Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Strategies used by black single mothers against stress

  • Published:
The Review of Black Political Economy

Abstract

In a recent study, coping strategies used by 318 black single mothers faced with conflicting role demands and stress were assessed. The women experienced intense stress, but stress levels were lower for women who were living with their extended kin. Conflicts existed between the role of mother and employee and between the women’s work and childrearing. For conflicts, women selected the least healthy of the three possible coping strategies. They attempted to meet the demands of their work and family, without trying to change the expectations of either. Stress was highest for women who met demands by restricting their own career or personal choices.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Pearce, D., and McAdoo, H.,Women and Children: Alone and In Poverty. National Advisory Council on Economic Opportunity. (Washington, D.C.: 1981).

    Google Scholar 

  2. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights,Unemployment and Underemployment Among Blacks, Hispanics, and Women, 1982.

  3. McAdoo, H.. “Factors Related to Stability in Upwardly Mobile Black Families,”Journal of Marriage and the Family 40(4), (1978): 761–776.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Harrison, A., and Minor, J., “Interrole Conflict, Coping Strategies, and Satisfaction Among Black Working Wives,”Journal of Marriage and the Family 40(4) (1978).

  5. McAdoo. H., “Societal Stress: The Black Family” inStress and the Family, vol. I.Coping with Normative Transitions, H.I. McCubbin and C.R. Figley, eds. (Larchmont, N.Y.: Brunner/Mazel, 1983).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Aschenbrenner, J.Lifelines: Black Families in Chicago (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975). Hill, R.,The Strengths of Black Families (New York: Emerson Hall Publishers. 1971); Stack, C.All Our Kin (New York: Harper & Row. 1974).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Holmes. T.H., and Rahe. R.H.. “The Social Readjustment Rating Scale,”Journal of Psychosomatic Research 11, (1967).

  8. McAdoo. H.. “Role of Black Women in Maintaining Stability and Mobility in Black Families.” inThe Black Woman: Current Research and Theory, L. Rose, ed. (Beverly Hills. Calif.: Sage Publications, 1980). Also See Aschenbrenner, op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Holmes and Rahe, op cit.

  10. Aschenbrenner, op cit. and McAdoo. “Role of Black Women.”

    Google Scholar 

  11. Belle, D., “Lives in Stress: A Context for Depression,” Stress & Family Project, Harvard School of Education, Grant no. MH28830, Mental Health Services Branch. NIMH, January 1980.

  12. Aldous, J.,Family Careers: Development Change in Families (New York: John Wiley. 1978.)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Hall, D.T.. “A Model of Coping with Role Conflict: The Role Behavior of College Educated Women.”Administrative Science Quarterly 4 (December 1972).

  14. Harrison and Minor, op. cit.

  15. McAdoo, H.,The Impact of Extended Family Variables Upon the Upward Mobility of Black Families, Final Report, OCD, DNEW grant no. 90-C-631, December 1977.

Download references

Authors

About this article

Cite this article

McAdoo, H.P. Strategies used by black single mothers against stress. The Review of Black Political Economy 14, 153–166 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02689883

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02689883

Keywords

Navigation