Indiana University
This research addresses the topic of subjective time pressure, or the feeling that one has too much to do and not enough time in which to do it. Subjective time pressure is a social problem that has grown in the wake of women's influx into the labor market, prompting studies on its causes and consequences and debates on how to address the issue. This project uses a large cross-national dataset to consider the role played by both individual and national characteristics. The project will evaluate (1) the extent of cross-national variation in subjective time pressure, (2) the extent to which individual as well as national-level variation can each account for levels of time pressure, and (3) whether the effects of individual-level factors differ by national-level context. The research will include separate analyses by gender, and will test specific hypotheses generated by role theory, work-family research, and comparative studies.
BROADER IMPACTS: The broader impacts of this project address a social problem that has garnered growing attention. As people change how they spend their time, the need to understand life impacts grows more pressing. Such research bears policy relevance by evaluating direct and moderating effects of national policies and other national characteristics.
The results of this research broaden our understanding of subjective time pressure in two key ways. First, this research used micro and macro-level data from thirty countries to consider feelings of time pressure within a broader global context. Although much of the overall variation in time pressure within the thirty-country sample is due to variation in people’s individual life circumstances, this research uncovered significant variation at the national level that was not accounted for by individual-level roles. Part of this national variation in subjective time pressure was explained by dimensions of the national environment. In particular, greater national levels of economic inequality heightened the chances of experiencing time pressure. The second way that this study expands our understanding of time pressure is by considering subjective time pressure within the specific contexts of home and workplace. The research findings indicate that time pressure differs greatly across these two contexts. On average, women are more chronically pressed for time within the home, even when controlling for their roles at home and at work, whereas no gender inequity was found for time pressure at work. Work, family, education, and socio-economic status all differed considerably in their relationships with time pressure at home compared to time pressure at work. Finally, time pressure at home showed a stronger relationship to feelings of unhappiness, and was related to more types of stress, compared to time pressure at work. These two sets of research findings add new dimensions to our knowledge about time pressure. The findings show that both organizational context and national context are important considerations for examining subjective experiences, and individual roles have different repercussions depending on these contexts. While the findings inform specific hypotheses, they also show that the experience of time pressure is produced not just through individual lives and time constraints, but also by broader institutional arrangements. The current research has several broader impacts. Overall, time pressure at home emerged as a phenomenon of greater concern, due to the high prevalence of gender inequality across the thirty-country sample, and the greater relationships to stress and unhappiness. This is important knowledge that could potentially inform policies designed to minimize work/family conflict and promote individuals’ mental health. The finding that higher economic inequality at the national level is related to greater feelings of time pressure is also an important policy consideration. This research will be disseminated in the form of a doctoral dissertation, and will be developed into sociological articles for distribution to the wider social scientific community.
