Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #107906

Mary McElroy, PhD, Department of Kinesiology, Kansas State University, 1A Natatorium, Manhattan, KS 66506, 785-532-0711, mmcelro@ksu.edu

In recent years social work researchers have attempted to understand how work and family roles impact health. Although many studies include variables, such as work and family status, what has been absent is an evidenced-based approach to address whether multiple roles impact women of color differently than white females. Information regarding employment, health outcomes, and four scales of family-work spillover, adapted from Grzywacz & Marks (2000) were used to test the hypotheses that a) women of color experience higher rates of work to family spillover and family to work spillover than their white female counterparts and b) women of color experience higher levels of adverse health conditions related to stress (high blood pressure, obesity, depression.) Mean comparisons of 98 African-American women and 98 white women matched on age and employment status, collected as part of a national sample, resulted in the following: Women of color experienced higher amounts of home to job negative spillover and work to home negative spill-over but no differences were found between home to work and work to home positive spillover. Women of color reported higher levels of obesity and high blood pressure, however, they did not report higher levels of depression. These findings, although in need of replication, suggest that balancing family and work roles may be particularly problematic for women of color. They also suggest that public health social workers need to consider the impact of role expectations at home and at work when trying to understand the health consequences women face.

Learning Objectives:

• To understand the impact of work and family roles on women's health.
• To appreciate differences based on racial group membership
• To be able to use evidence-based data to guide social work practice

Keywords: Women's Health, Women's Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation