The Conditional Mental Health Effects of Employment: Gender Ideology and Racial Context among Mothers

• In Event: Family Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 2: Black Families

Abstract

This study examines whether the association between employment and depressive symptoms among mothers is shaped by traditional gender attitudes and race. Using data from 2,326 mothers in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, we estimate OLS models including a three-way interaction among employment status, gender ideology, and race, by adjusting for prior depressive symptoms and sociodemographic factors. Results show that among unemployed Black mothers, higher levels of traditional gender attitudes are associated with higher depressive symptoms. This pattern does not appear among White and Hispanic mothers. These findings suggest that the relationship between employment, gender ideology, and mental health is racially conditioned. Rather than treating employment as uniformly protective, the results indicate that its mental health consequences depend on how gender norms operate within racialized social contexts.

Authors

• Su Min Park, Louisiana State University

• Hope Xu Yan, Louisiana State University