Working status and anxiety levels of urban educated women in Calcutta

Abstract

The primary objective of the present study was to assess the impact of out-of-home employment on anxiety levels of mothers. A study group of working mothers resident in Calcutta (India) was compared with a socioeconomically similar group of non-working mothers with respect to their anxiety level, measured by the Anxiety Scale Questionnaire, in terms of the total anxiety score and its various personality components. The possible relationships between anxiety score and age of these mothers as well as their children were studied. Non-working mothers showed higher anxiety levels than their working counterparts with respect to the total anxiety score as well as its components, although the differences were statistically non-significant. The anxiety scores of non-working mothers showed increasing values with increasing age of children. This trend was absent among the working mothers. The age of these mothers was not related to their anxiety level.