Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy
Open Access

Cognitive Emotional Regulation among Working and Non-Working Women: A Comparative Study

Aswathy JB^* and Seena M Mathai ^*Correspondence: Aswathy JB, Department of Psychology, Union Christian College Aluva, Kerala, India, Email:

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Introduction

Cognitive psychology is the scientific research of human knowledge, that is, the perception, learning, remembering, thinking, reasoning and understanding of all our mental abilities. The word "cognition" comes from the latin word "cognoser" or "knowing". Basically, cognitive psychology is the study of how individuals acquire and apply knowledge or information. It is closely related to interdisciplinary cognitive science and is influenced by artificial intelligence, computer science, philosophy, anthropology, linguistics, biology, physics and neuroscience. Cognitive psychology has new technologies in psychology in its modern form. Cognitive psychology is based on two hypotheses: The human knowledge can be fully revealed in a scientific way, at least in principle, that is, individual parts of mental processes can be identified and understood, and internal psychological processes can be explained, In terms of rules or algorithms in information processing models. There has been a lot of discussion recently on these estimates.

Cognitive emotional regulation among working and non-working women

“The 21^st Century will be the century of girls and women”, declared UN Women executive director Michelle Bachelet at the 39^th annual commencement 2011 of LaGuardia community college, New York. Multiple women from past centuries have changed the world in many different ways and have also paved the way for women to enjoy many benefits in the future. Modern women of today's era are much different than historical women. The modern woman is consumed with multiple obligations, duties, and responsibilities on a daily basis sometimes all at once. Now women are finally stepping out of their historical role of only mother and housewife. The modern woman has a much different and better lifestyle with many different choices. Modernization, technology, and medical advancements allow all modern women to be much more intelligent, stronger, selfsufficient and important than ever before in history. Women now account for a larger portion of breakthroughs in science, government, and politics. A woman's opinions and thoughts are valued and considered more by men during this century because women are educated and more informed about the world. Across the developed world, women who stay home are increasingly seen as old-fashioned and an economic burden to society. If their husbands are rich, they are frequently berated for being lazy; if they are immigrants, for keeping children from learning the language and ways of their host country. Their daily chores of cleaning, cooking or raising their children have always been ignored by national accounts. (If a man marries his housekeeper and stops paying her for her work, GDP goes down. If a woman stops nursing and buys formula for her baby, GDP goes up.) In a debate that counts women catching up with men in education and the labour market in terms of raising productivity and economic growth, stay-at-home moms are valued less than ever.

Emotions are a normal part of everyday life. “Emotion”, a complex experience of consciousness, bodily sensation and behavior that reflects the personal significance of a thing, an event, or a state of affairs. “Emotional regulation refers to the process by which individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express their feelings. Emotional regulation can be automatic or controlled, conscious or unconscious and may have effects at one or more points in the emotion producing process [1]. Cognitive emotion regulation is understood as “an individual's thoughts after having experienced a negative event” [2] and is distinct from related constructs, such as coping, which refers to processes happening over longer periods of time [3] or other types of emotion regulation strategies, such as behavioral ones, that are related to specific actions.

According to psychological stress theories, coping is the main mediator between stressful events and outcomes. Coping is defined as “an individual’s efforts (both behavioral and cognitive) to manage demands (condition of harm, threat or challenge) that are appraised (or perceived) as exceeding or taxing his or her resources”. Garnefski, et al. [2], argued that all coping efforts can be classified broadly as emotion regulation, which refers to a wide range of biological, social, behavioral and conscious and unconscious cognitive process.

The role of women in the society is constantly questioned and for centuries women have struggled to find their place in a world that is predominantly male-oriented. In this world both working and non-working women experience anxiety, depression and stress, etc. commonly even though they rarely try to get medical or psychological help. Studies prove that there will be a significant difference between working and non-working women with reference to anxiety, depression and stress [4]. If so they definitely need or use some form of cognitive emotion regulation.

Women are the backbone of the society. She plays a vital role in the economic development of the country and her contribution is as equal as their male counterparts. Without active participation of women in various national, social, economic and political activities, the progress of the country will be stagnant. Today’s families are increasingly reliant upon working mothers as breadwinners or co-breadwinners. The past four decades have brought about dramatic changes in how women and men navigate their workplace responsibilities, care giving needs and personal lives. Traditionally, Indian women had been home makers but in the 21^st Century, due to higher education, better awareness and increasing financial demands of family, women also go out and choose careers. Although Indian women have started working outside their homes, but still there are several issues and challenges that working women face today [5].

Challenges the working women face are gender bias, balancing personal and professional life, mental physical harassment, negligible personal space and the main issues are Insufficient maternity leave is a major issue that is faced by a working mother. This affects their performance at work as well as their personnel lives. Lack of proper family support is another issue for working women. The household work is still considered as a duty of women only. They resist women for working late in the office which affects the performance of the women and their promotion. Poor security is another issue for working women at workplace. Women working in corporate sectors and other private organizations mostly face the various crimes at their workplace because of lack of security provided to them. Unequal pay is another issue for working women. It has been observed that women are paid low salaries as compared to male employees. Although women prove themselves more efficient than male employees, most of the time they are not paid equally. This creates depression in them which also affects her personnel life. Due to dual roles to perform, working women cannot give proper time to their children in their various activities and school functions. This also creates stress in women. Despite of her full dedication towards her profession, still their job priority is considered as secondary in the family and society. In today’s time also, it is expected that women’s primary duty is only to handle their family and children. This creates de-motivation towards career development. If working women have to go for business tour or any training programs for their career development, then they have to take permission from the husband and family members. They also have to do proper arrangements for their children.

Women who are not working can be called as house-wives. Indian house-wives are the sun around which revolves the domestic planetary system. Worldwide, the time that women and men dedicate to housework is wildly disproportionate. Women are those who do the unpaid work like cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, and taking care of children and old people. Although this housework is both indispensable and unavoidable for a functioning society, it tends to be less socially and economically valued than paid work. The asymmetry in the distribution of housework is one of the greatest sources of inequality between men and women. Because it is women who are spending more time on these unpaid tasks, they therefore have less time to study, develop academically, or work outside the home. Non-working women or house-wives are physically exerted throughout the day. They do not have any schedules.

From the time they wake up until they go to bed, they have to be active in order to fulfill their family’s needs. From personal care to nutrition, the house-wife takes on all the work. The responsibility of caring for a dependent family member rests on the mother. Here is barely any time for procrastination or leisure. Social loneliness is another kind of loneliness housewives face every day. Housewives are economically dependent. This is one of the major crises faced by Indian women. They have been doing unpaid labor since ages. Housewives in India commit suicide and the number has been increasing daily. Arranged and early marriage, low social status, domestic violence, and economic dependence are some of the causes. In addition to this, unaffectionate marriages and dowryrelated issues also cause depression, which may lead women to end their lives.

Female sex, older age at onset, and low education level seem to increase the risk of cognitive impairment [6]. Cognitive coping strategies were found to play an important role in the relationship between the experience of negative life events and the reporting of symptoms of depression and anxiety. A new questionnaire, named the cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire, has been constructed, measuring nine cognitive coping strategies people tend to use after having experienced negative life events [7] proposed nine cognitive emotion regulation strategies self-blame, rumination, catastrophizing, other-blame, acceptance, positive refocusing, refocus on planning, putting into perspective, and positive reappraisal. The first four strategies are considered maladaptive, and the latter five adaptive. Cognitive emotional regulation plays an important role in problem solving of working and no-working women.

Cognitive emotional regulation questionnaire addresses the selfregulatory, conscious, and cognitive components of emotion regulation by distinguishing between nine different strategies: Self-blame the causal attribution of negative events to one. Other-blame the causal attribution of adverse events to others. Rumination over thinking emotions and thoughts associated with negative events. Catastrophizing explicitly emphasizing the consequences of the negative events. Putting into perspective negative event by considering the impact over time. Positive refocusing keeping attention on pleasant thoughts after the occurrence of negative events. Positive reappraisal finding the silver lining by creating a positive meaning to negatives events. Acceptance and not changing a negative situation or the emotions caused. Refocus thinking about what steps are to take and how to handle the negative event.

Methodology

Sample

The total number of sample is 90. For the present study the most sample are collected from Kerala. The age range is between 30-55 and it includes only women. The numbers of samples were taken both from working women and no-working women are equal 45. For the present study use, purposive sampling method. The whole data taken for the sample are from those who formally educated.

Instruments

For the present study here use one psychological scale. The cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire developed by Nadia Garnefski and Vivian Kraaij (Leiden university department of clinical psychology) is a 36-item self-report measure designed to assess the cognitive emotion regulation strategies (or cognitive coping strategies) someone uses after having experienced negative events or situations. Contrary to other coping questionnaires that do not explicitly differentiate between an individual's thoughts and his or her actual actions, the present questionnaire refers exclusively to an individual's thoughts after having experienced a negative event. The instrument assesses nine item dimensions: Self-blame, acceptance, refocusing on planning, positive refocusing, rumination, positive and catastrophizing. Responses are given on a 5-point likert scale ranging from 1 “(almost) never” to 5 “(almost) always.”

Statistical techniques

For the present study Mean and Standard deviation used as to measure central tendency. ANOVA was used for finding the significant difference between working and non-working women in variables.

Results

The data obtained from the respondent were scored appropriately and analyses to draw meaningful inferences on the obtained data. The obtained result and interpretation of the results are presented in coming secession (Table 1).

Table 1: Descriptive data on cognitive emotional regulation among working and non-working women.

The aim and objective of the study is to finds out whether there is any difference in the coping skills among working women and non-working women. The samples have been taken from the area of Ernakulum district, Kerala

From the first table it can be seen that both working and nonworking women use “self-blame”, the negative variable in an average level. They use positive variables such as “acceptance”, “positive reappraisal”, “refocus on planning” and “positive refocusing”, and negative variables such as “rumination”, “putting into perspective” and “catastrophising” in an average level as coping strategies to cope with the adverse problems. Both the working and non-working women use negative variable “other blames” in an above average level.

Both the working and non-working women use average positive coping strategies in below average level to solve problems that they face. But interesting finding is that working-non working also use negative coping strategies to solve the problems in an average level.

Table 2 shows that the significant of difference is seen in the sub-variables “putting into perspective” and “catastrophising” between the working and non-working women. Significant difference is also seen in the sub variables “negative coping” and “positive coping” between two of them. All variables are found to be high in working women.

Table 2: ANOVA result on working and non-working women.

The working women use the more negative coping variables such as “catastrophing” and “putting into perspective” compared to non-working women. From the result it can be seen that both the working women and non-working women use the negative variable “self-blame in an average level. In them The negative variable” “rumination” and the positive variable “positive reappraisal” used in almost equal level for reducing problems that they face or use them as a good coping skill.

Discussion

From the first table it can be seen that both working and nonworking women use “self-blame”, the negative variable, in an average level. Self-blame is one of the most toxic forms of emotional abuse. It amplifies our perceived inadequacies, whether real or imagined, and paralyzes us before we can even begin to move forward. Self-blame is the attribution that the consequences one experiences are a direct result of one’s actions or character. In the context of behavioral medicine, this may be either beneficial or harmful depending on if it leads to positive behavior change or increased negative affectivity and lack of behavior change [8]. Studies shows that Women currently involved with violent partners reported the highest rates of characterological and behavioral self-blame [9] and the associations between self-lame and anxiety and depression symptoms is also high [10].

They use positive variables such as “acceptance”, “positive reappraisal”, “refocus on planning” and “positive refocusing”, and negative variables such as “rumination”, “putting into perspective” and “catastrophising” in an average level as coping strategies to cope with the adverse problems.

Individuals using cognitive strategies such as planning and positive reappraisal which are theoretically considered as more adaptive than other strategies such as other blaming and catastrophizing, which are generally considered as dysfunctional [11]. Studies show that cognitive emotion regulation, with females reporting more rumination and catastrophizing than males [12]. Individual’s positive functioning, we found that positive reappraisal and refocus on planning were the cognitive strategies more strongly associated with higher levels of both subjective and psychological well-being. Rumination, catastrophizing and self-blame were linked to lower well-being, while positive refocusing, putting into perspective, and acceptance showed few significant effects. Positive reappraisal is a cognitive process which involves the attempt to focus on the positive aspects of an adverse event, for instance by reinterpreting the situation in terms of personal growth [13,14]. It is found that individuals habitually using positive reappraisal reported to experience higher levels of positive effect, as well as increased levels of personal growth, purpose in life, environmental mastery, positive relations with others, and selfacceptance and positive reappraisal may be especially linked to perceiving oneself as realizing personal potential, as well as to a kind and positive attitude towards the self, accepting one’s good and bad qualities. Studies shows that women appear to be more likely than men to respond to negative events with rumination, focusing on inner negative feelings rather than taking action to cope with their distress [15]. Planning is generally conceived as a form of problem focused coping, as it includes thoughts about what steps to take and how best to handle a problem [16,17]. That refocus on planning was related to the experience of more positive affect and less negative effect, as well as to higher levels in several aspects of psychological well-being, including personal growth, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and autonomy. Moreover, planning (and problem focused coping in general) has been linked to a feeling of personal control over stressors. Acceptance might actually reflect a degree of hopelessness and resignation to negative experiences [18]. Concerning positive refocusing (i.e., thinking about positive things in order to think less about the emotion-related event), it has been suggested that this strategy should be considered as a form of mental disengagement, as it re-directs attention away from the emotionrelated problems. This may be a helpful response in the short term, but hinder adaptive coping in the long term both the working and non-working women use negative variable “other blames” in an above average level.

There are innumerable challenges and issues women face whether a working or a non-working women, that concern physical and mental health. The problem like education, improper health facilities, gender discrimination, gender pay gap, unequal rights, rape harassment, dowry related violence, domestic violence child marriage, etc. Such situations cause physical, mental, psychological and emotional distress in them. To solve this problem, they use different adaptive as well as maladaptive techniques or coping skills. In the study significant of difference is seen in the sub-variables “putting into perspective” and “catastrophising” between the working and non-working women. Significant difference is also seen in the sub-variables “negative coping” and “positive coping” between two of them. All variables are found to be high in working women. Other than non-working women, working women face additional problems from their sector. The ‘does it all’ generation of females is feeling the strain, with working women far more stressed. Women aged between 35-55 who are likely to be juggling many roles including mother, career for elderly parents, homemaker and sometimes breadwinner-experience significantly higher stress. Role ambiguities, conflict, overload and under load making the condition adverse [19]. The analysis shows that stress levels are high for working women when compared with housewives [20]. Work and family are two important parts of a person's life and both are closely related [21]. Since an increasing number of women are entering the work force and pursuing careers, they have to balance the competing demands of both workplace and family life. Working women are working for longer hours and taking more work at home [22]. This situation results in a greater amount of stress for working women. These situations produce stress, anxiety, depression, and such kind of mental health issues. To overcome this working women use “negative coping” and “positive coping” equally than non-working women.

The working women use more negative coping variables such as “catastrophing” and “putting into perspective” compared to non-working women. From the result it can be seen that both the working women and non-working women use negative variable “self-blame in an average level. Although a positive coping mechanism is a good way of overcoming a problem, many people choose negative coping mechanisms instead. This is because, while they don't offer long-term solutions to problems, negative coping mechanisms do produce an immediate effect, one that reduces our stress in the short term. Sadly, using a negative coping mechanism only masks the stress and difficult emotions for a short period of time. They actually cause the dysfunction to increase over time by maintaining and strengthening it [23-30].

In them the negative variable “rumination” and positive variable “positive reappraisal” used in almost equal level for reducing problem that they face or use it as a good coping skill. Studies found that rates of rumination higher in women than in men. These results are consistent with qualitative reviews of the rumination literature [31]. The reason behind the rumination may be because they value relationship and thus devote great deal of time and mental energy to processing the often ambiguous content of them. And they get lost obsessing about issue without taking action [32]. Positive reappraisal is an important cognitive strategy with wide-ranging improvements in psychological well-being. Positive reappraisal is related to positive emotion but not consistently with negative emotion, and continues to be beneficial over time that has experienced a stressor [33].

Conclusion

From the study it can be seen that both working and nonworking women use “self-blame”, the negative variable in an average level. They use positive variables such as “Acceptance”, “Positive reappraisal”, “refocus on planning” and “positive refocusing”, and negative variables such as “rumination”, “putting into perspective” and “catastrophising” in an average level as coping strategies to cope with the adverse problems. Both the working and non-working women use negative variable “other blames” in an above average level. Both the working and non-working women use average positive coping strategies in below average level to solve problems that they face. But interesting finding is that working non-working also use negative coping strategies to solve the problem in an average level. In the study the significant difference is seen in the sub-variables “Putting into perspective” and “catastrophising” between the working and non-working women. Significant difference is also seen in the sub variables “negative coping” and “positive coping” between two of them. All variables are found to be high in working women. The working women use the more negative coping variables such as “catastrophing” and “putting into perspective” compared to non-working women. From the result it can be seen that both the working women and non-working women use negative variable “self-blame” in an average level. In them the negative variable “rumination” and positive variable “positive reappraisal” used in almost equal level for reducing problem that they face or use it as a good coping skill.

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