It's no secret that working moms wear many hats--caregiver, professional, friend, partner. And now, a new study from Cornell University proves what we all suspected: this constant switching of roles is stressful.
Professor Benjamin Cornwell, a sociology professor at Cornell University, studied how maintaining social relationships can increase stress, particularly for women. His findings were published in the June 2013 issue of Social Psychology Quarterly.
Cornwell examined 24-hour time diaries of 7,662 employed respondents (both male and female, across the country) from the 2010 American Time Use Survey to measure frequency of switching (moving from one social context to another) and stress levels. Switches were defined as role switches (for example, addressing another person at a meeting), setting switches (leaving a party to go home), and complete switches (transitioning between different roles and contexts).
Respondents were asked to provide detailed information about their activities from the previous day, accounting for each activity that lasted at least five minutes, reporting with whom and where they were. A computer randomly selected three of the listed activities, and respondents were asked how, on a scale of 0 to 6 (0 being not stressed and 6 very stressed), they felt during that activity.

Why Constantly Switching Roles Stresses You Out