Introduction
Within society, each working member is constantly making an effort to balance personal and professional obligations. It is paramount for adults to have a career for multiple reasons: to achieve economic independence, a sense of self worth and accomplishment, and importantly, to be able to provide for their families. However, due to stressful work environments, long working hours and ever-increasing expectations among many other factors, employees are experiencing a great imbalance in time dedicated to work versus family life, relationships and health. By taking a systems approach and looking at the bigger picture, one can see how stress developed within the workplace can affect not only the individual’s mental and physical health …show more content…
Firstly, a more detailed explanation of the consequences of stress in the workplace will be discussed, followed by the projections of this on the individual’s family life, and the health of his or her …show more content…
The principle of nonsummativity states that the family acts as a whole, so if one member experiences stress or work overload, there will be implications on the others. The reason for this can be that “more than one stressor at the same time strains resources and coping mechanisms that are effective in dealing with stress” (6), making the parent unable to control the effects that come with the underlying stressful situation. An example of this would be a mother spending longer hours at work and thus having reduced time for dinner preparation for her family. Since the change in societal expectations and the feminist movement that began in the 1960s, the number of women in the workforce has drastically increased. This is a positive change for civil rights, however, it has been associated with the consequence of “decreased enthusiasm for the discipline of home economics” (7). Women, the primary people responsible for feeding their families throughout history, have less time to plan and execute wholesome, nutritious meals, and resort to the appealing and convenient solution of purchasing pre-made foods and eating out at restaurants and chains. This exposes them and their families to diets higher in salt, sugar and saturated fat: all components responsible for increasing the risk of developing metabolic diseases. In Canada, there has been an 8.6% increase of adults and 9.1%
Within society, each working member is constantly making an effort to balance personal and professional obligations. It is paramount for adults to have a career for multiple reasons: to achieve economic independence, a sense of self worth and accomplishment, and importantly, to be able to provide for their families. However, due to stressful work environments, long working hours and ever-increasing expectations among many other factors, employees are experiencing a great imbalance in time dedicated to work versus family life, relationships and health. By taking a systems approach and looking at the bigger picture, one can see how stress developed within the workplace can affect not only the individual’s mental and physical health …show more content…
Firstly, a more detailed explanation of the consequences of stress in the workplace will be discussed, followed by the projections of this on the individual’s family life, and the health of his or her …show more content…
The principle of nonsummativity states that the family acts as a whole, so if one member experiences stress or work overload, there will be implications on the others. The reason for this can be that “more than one stressor at the same time strains resources and coping mechanisms that are effective in dealing with stress” (6), making the parent unable to control the effects that come with the underlying stressful situation. An example of this would be a mother spending longer hours at work and thus having reduced time for dinner preparation for her family. Since the change in societal expectations and the feminist movement that began in the 1960s, the number of women in the workforce has drastically increased. This is a positive change for civil rights, however, it has been associated with the consequence of “decreased enthusiasm for the discipline of home economics” (7). Women, the primary people responsible for feeding their families throughout history, have less time to plan and execute wholesome, nutritious meals, and resort to the appealing and convenient solution of purchasing pre-made foods and eating out at restaurants and chains. This exposes them and their families to diets higher in salt, sugar and saturated fat: all components responsible for increasing the risk of developing metabolic diseases. In Canada, there has been an 8.6% increase of adults and 9.1%