Mastery in Women's Multiple Roles and Well-Being: Adult Daughters Providing Care to Impaired Parents

The current study focused on 296 adult daughter caregivers who were simultaneously providing care to an impaired parent, mothers to children living at home, wives, and employees. How mastery (perceived competence and control) in each of these 4 roles was related to well-being was examined. Women experienced higher levels of mastery in the employee role than in any other role. After controlling for household income and dispositional optimism, only employee mastery contributed unique variance to physical health, but mastery in each of the 4 roles contributed unique variance to either depression or life satisfaction. Results also suggest that women's satisfaction with life was related to an accumulation of mastery across roles. The study expands previous research by revealing that mastery in women's additional roles can supplement the benefits of mastery stemming from parent care.