Women Happier at Work than Home, Study Finds

Penn State researchers have found that women report being more stressed at home than at work.

According to the researchers, regular working hours might actually be helping people relax. Sarah Damaske at Penn State and colleagues measured cortisol levels in participants and found that the levels of the stress hormones dropped significantly at work, especially in women.

"Further contradicting conventional wisdom, we found that women as well as men have lower levels of stress at work than at home. In fact, women may get more renewal from work than men because unlike men, they report themselves happier at work than at home. It is men, not women, who report being happier at home than at work," said Damaske in a news release.

The study strengthens an idea proposed by sociologist Arlie Hochschild in her 1997 book, 'The Time Bind.'  Hochschild stirred up controversy by arguing that work had replaced home in the lives of several parents. People go to work and willingly spend long hours to sometimes de-stress themselves. Home, which was once thought to be a place to rest, has become a chaotic and stressful place.

According to Damaske, women who work consistently through their twenties and thirties report better physical and mental health at 45 years of age.

The study involved saliva samples from 122 people. The samples were taken six times a day for three days. Researchers looked for cortisol, which is a biological marker for stress, NPR reported.

 "We found a huge gender difference," said Sarah Damaske, a sociologist and women's studies professor at Penn State and one of the report authors, The Washington Post reported. "Women were happier at work than at home. And, men were only moderately happier at home than at work."

The study is published in the Journal of Science and Medicine.

The study provides a unique perspective into the work-home conflict. Researchers argue that instead of asking people to quit work to solve family issues, employers must give them flexible work hours. Paid sick days, paternity and maternity leaves along with the opportunity to work from home could reduce employee stress in the long term and help employers retain loyal workers than deal with constant turnover.