The Resilience of Mothers and Their Job Satisfaction: The Differentiating Role of Single Motherhood

Abstract

From the perspective of the social functioning of a family, single mothers are amongst the most vulnerable social groups in terms of interconnected economic, social and psychological burdens (Van Lancker, Ghysels, & Cantillon, 2015). Women in the situation of lone motherhood are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of meeting too many requirements and an excess of daily tasks. The aim of the study was to clarify whether resilience as an attribute and resilient coping can be a significant resource of their job satisfaction, taking into account the role of single motherhood as a difficult situation. The study involved 435 mothers, among whom 204 (47%) were in a formal or informal relationship, and 231 (53%) were lone mothers. For the measurement of resilient coping, the Brief Resilience Coping Scale – BRCS was used (Piórowska, Basińska, Piórowski, & Janicka, 2017), trait resilience was measured by the Resiliency Assessment Scale (SPP-25) (Ogińska-Bulik & Juczyński, 2008) and job satisfaction was rated by The Satisfaction with Job Scale (Zalewska, 2003b). The analysis showed no significant differences between mothers in terms of the level of job satisfaction, resilient coping and resilience as an attribute – with the exception of one dimension, openness to new experiences and sense of humour, which in the group of lone mothers scored significantly lower than in the group of mothers in relationships. The results also showed a significant differentiating role of marital status and resilient coping as well as trait resilience on job satisfaction.