While working mums and dads think about family matters as much as each other, these thoughts are more negative and stressful for women than men.
According to new research that will be presented at the 108th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, men have a much easier job of managing stress than women when it comes to thinking about children and marriage.
Scientists from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Bar-Ilan University in Israel collected data from families living in eight urban and suburban communities to collate their data.
It was found by researchers at the institute that working mothers engaged in “mental labour” for around 29 hours, with negative thoughts proving consistent.
Shira Offer, an assistant professor at Bar-Ilan University and lead author, said: “I assume that because mothers bear the major responsibility for childcare and family life, when they think about family matters, they tend to think about the less pleasant aspects of it.”
