Abstract

Women as an important stratum of society play a fundamental role in the creation, establishment and strengthening of families. So, paying attention to their mental health as the family guides has direct effects on the mental health of children, families and consequently the whole of society. Thus, the present study was performed to investigate the moderating effect of the economic situation on the relationship between problem solving skills and mental health in two groups of working women and housewives referring to Welfare Centers in the city of Karaj. Based on Morgan’s sampling table, 199 working women and 192 housewives (totally 391) were selected by simple random sampling method. Then, Cassidy and Long (1996) Problem-Solving Style Questionnaire and Goldberg (1989) General Health Questionnaire were administered on the sample group, and data were analyzed using SPSS software (ver. 17). The results showed that the economy had an independent contribution in predicting the mental health of working women, but it was not capable to act as a moderating variable in relationship between problem-solving skill and mental health of working women. In addition, according to the results obtained from the housewife population, not only the economy does not have an independent contribution in the prediction of their mental health, but also it cannot act as a moderating variable in this relationship. But the problem-solving skill alone explains 23.8% of the variance of mental health in the sample population. In other words, problem-solving ability was effective in increasing the level of mental health. But the impact of economy as a moderating variable in the relationship between problem-solving skill and mental health of housewives and working women was not significant.

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