Women feel more guilty taking work home

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TORONTO, March 12 (UPI) -- In a study of U.S. employee communications, a researcher in Canada found women report more psychological distress when contacted outside the workplace.

Lead author Paul Glavin, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Toronto, analyzed data from a national survey of American workers that asked about work communications received outside the workplace by phone, e-mail, or text about work-related matters.

The study, published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, found women who were contacted frequently at home by supervisors, co-workers or clients reported higher levels of psychological distress, while men who received frequent work-related contact outside normal work hours were less affected.

"Initially, we thought women were more distressed by frequent work contact because it interfered with their family responsibilities more so than men," Glavin said in a statement.

"However, this wasn't the case. We found that women are able to juggle their work and family lives just as well as men, but they feel more guilty as a result of being contacted. This guilt seems to be at the heart of their distress."

Lead investigator and co-author Scott Schieman, a University of Toronto sociology professor, said guilt seems to play a pivotal role in distinguishing women's work-family experiences from men's.

"While women have increasingly taken on a central role as economic providers in today's dual-earner households, strong cultural norms may still shape ideas about family responsibilities," Schieman said.