A new study looks at what happens when parental and professional identities collide
Parents are always questioning whether they’re being a good parent, and there’s so much societal pressure about the ‘right’ way to parent. All these pressures put so much burden on us that shame becomes a prevalent emotion
For working parents, every day is a juggling act. You’re trying to keep an eye on an important deadline here and a piano recital there—without letting anything drop.
Trying to do it all can provoke complicated emotions. New research from Cynthia Wang, a clinical professor of management and organizations at the Kellogg School, finds that working parents are vulnerable to fears that they aren’t focusing enough on child-rearing. While that may not be a surprising finding to most working parents, the research goes on to show that these worries can trigger feelings of shame that lead to reduced productivity at work.
[This article has been republished, with permission, from Kellogg Insight, the faculty research & ideas magazine of Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University]