Parental stress and life satisfaction: A comparative study of social services users and nonusers from a gender perspective.

The psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Parental Stress Scale (PSS) scale have not been verified on the Spanish population. Similarly, the literature on gender differences and parental stress is inconclusive, and there is little evidence of their relationship with life satisfaction. To analyze the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the PSS scale, (2) to examine possible gender differences, and (3) to study the relationship between parental stress (PS) and parental rewards (PR) and satisfaction with life (SWL) attending to the possible moderating effect of gender. These objectives were examined in samples comprising Social Services Users (SSU) (N = 525; 78.3% female; Mage = 38.3) and non-SSU users (N = 421; 41.1% male; Mage = 37.08). A CFA corroborated a two-factor structure: PS and PR. In the SSU sample, mothers showed higher PS and lower PR. However, PR was also higher in mothers from the non-SSU sample compared to fathers. PR and PS were directly related to SWL in the SSU sample. However, gender moderated the relationship between PR and SWL in the non-SSU sample in the case of mothers. The results are discussed considering gender roles and the characteristics of both samples.

Work-Family Guilt in Spanish Parents: Analysis of the Measurement, Antecedents and Outcomes from a Gender Perspective.

This research work had three objectives: (1) to analyze the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Work-Family Guilt Scale, (2) to examine its invariance according to gender, and (3) to study the relationship between work-family guilt (WFG) and the different proposed antecedent (e.g., hours spent working, social support, rumination, and personality) or consequential factors (e.g., life satisfaction), noting any gender differences. The incidental sample comprised 225 parents who were in paid work and had at least one child attending nursery school (49.1% women; age of total sample = 36.88 on average). Multiple-group and confirmatory factor analyses, correlations, multiple regression, and moderation analyses were carried out. The WFGS reflected the same factorial structure in men and women, with two main factors: work interfering with family guilt (WIFG) and family interfering with work guilt (FIWG). No gender differences were found. The discrepancy associated with perfectionism was the only variable that was found to be a predictor of FIWG. The major predictors of WIFG were brooding from rumination and the number of hours spent working. WIFG was also associated with lower life satisfaction in women. The implications of these results are discussed, stressing the need to promote work-family reconciliation policies.