Shelley MacDermid and Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes

This project is a partnership with Professor Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes of the School of Social Work at Boston College. We are interviewing employed moms and dads, and their middle-school-aged children to answer the following questions:

• What do employed mothers and fathers see as the content and meaning of the work they do to promote the well-being of their families and contribute to the greater good of society?

• What are the relationships between different social settings (workplaces, residential communities, children's schools) and parents' perceptions of the work they do to promote the well-being of their families and contribute to the greater good of society? How do mothers and fathers view the different roles and responsibilities associated with being working parents?

• What strategies and tactics do parents of middle school age children use to manage their work and family responsibilities? What resources, such as benefits at the workplace or programs at their children's schools, do mothers and fathers use? On a day-to-day basis, what do working parents do to take care of their families?

Funding: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

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