Many of us blame our jobs as the main source of stress in our lives, but new research might actually discount this for women.
According to the study conducted by three researchers at Penn State University, women were found be happier and less stressed at work than they are at home. Meanwhile, men were found to be less stressed at work than at home.
To determine stress levels, the researchers measured the cortisol levels — a major biological marker of stress — of 122 workers of varying socioeconomic backgrounds while at work and at home, during the working week and on the weekend.
Regardless of of socio-economic status, gender or whether they had kids or not, all women had significantly lower levels of stress at work. In addition to testing the saliva swabs six times a day, researchers also asked participants how they felt throughout the study, and found women said they were significantly more likely to be happier at work.
The study also found that although both women and men had lower levels of stress in their bodies at work than at home, men reported feeling happier at home than at work.
“We found a big gender difference,” said Lead author of the study, Sarah Damske. “Women were much happier at work than at home. And men were only moderately happier at home than at work.”
For working mothers, that extra stress could be explained by the gender imbalance for what has become known as the “second shift” — meaning that work provides a clear reward for working hours, while they’re also still expected to take on more domestic responsibilities than men do without compensation.
“Part of this might be where women are leaving work and then cooking dinner and doing the dishes,” Damaske said. “Even though men are doing more than they did 30 years ago, it’s still not an even distribution.”
But while that could explain the difference in levels of satisfaction for working mothers, women who don’t have children still reported to have higher levels of stress at home. Damaske suggests this might be because women who were at home with children saw this offset by mood-enhancing benefits.
And the reason for the uneven distribution for workplace happiness for men could be explained by the fact that women may have more cultural freedom to quit a job they don’t like than men, meaning that the women who were at work actually enjoyed their workplace, while men remained in unsatisfying working environments that meant their home-life was more appealing.
According to Damaske, the solution to reducing stress in our lives isn’t actually working less. Instead, she suggests companies should adopt more flexible work approaches.
“Telecommuting, paid sick days, paternity and maternity leaves, are all policies that make it easier for workers to retain the health benefits of employment and for companies to retain the financial benefits of having loyal employees rather than having to deal with constant job turnover.”