Codependency, gender equality, and sociodemographic variables as predictors of psychological well-being in homemakers

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to examine the gender equality, codependency, and sociodemographic variables as predictors of psychological well-being in homemakers.
METHODS: This descriptive and correlational study was conducted in three Ladies’ Mansions, which gave permission for the study, among 12 Ladies’ Mansions located in a central district of Ankara Province. The sample consisted of 263 homemakers who came to these mansions between March and November 2019. The data were collected using the “Personal Information Form,” the “Psychological Well-being Scale,” the “Gender Equality Scale,” and the “Codependency Assessment Tool.” Data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0 IBM software. Descriptive analysis methods were used to evaluate sociodemographic data, t-test, Mann–Whitney U test, and Kruskal–Wallis test were used for comparison between groups and Pearson’s correlation test was used to examine the correlation between dependent variables, and stepwise regression analysis was applied to understand which independent variables predicted the dependent variable.
RESULTS: Only 19.7% of the homemakers had a high level of psychological well-being, 12.9% had a high level of gender equality perception and 21.3% had a low level of codependency characteristic. Gender, codependency, duration of marriage, age, and marital status significantly predicted psychological well-being, whereas other variables did not have a significant effect. All the predictive variables together accounted for 52.0% of the total variance in the total score of the “Psychological Well-being Scale.”
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The psychological well-being of homemakers is affected by gender equality, codependency, marriage duration, and increasing age, so it is closely related to homemaker roles. For this reason, protecting and promoting the mental health of homemakers should be one of the priority issues in the field of community mental health, and the correlation between the sociocultural dimension and the mental health of housewives should be examined more.