{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]],"date-time":"2026-09-02T18:13:29Z","timestamp":1788372809567,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]],"date-time":"2026-09-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788307200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Mental load has received increasing public attention, particularly following societal changes such as the COVID-19 pandemic and shifts toward greater gender equality. However, despite its societal relevance, it remains comparatively under-researched. Following a literature review on mental load, two cross-sectional online survey studies systematically examined the burden of invisible (mental load) versus visible household and caregiving work, the causes of this burden, and associations with personality traits and psychological symptoms (affect, anxiety, depressiveness). Participants were recruited online via university mailing lists, social media, and parent forums. In Study 1 (\n                    <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2009=\u2009368 women; M\u2009=\u200935.98 years, SD\u2009=\u20098.87), it was found that mothers (vs. women without children) perceived invisible tasks such as planning or organizing significantly more stressful and unequally distributed compared to visible tasks. Mental load was significantly negatively related to positive affect and significantly positively related to negative affect, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. In both studies, constantly thinking about tasks and the perception that tasks never appear to be completed were cited as the most common causes of mental load. The results of Study 2 (\n                    <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2009=\u20091891 mothers; M\u2009=\u200938.18 years, SD\u2009=\u20095.18) showed that mental load is positively related to neuroticism and conscientiousness, with the association of mental load and neuroticism moderated by being a single mother. Practical implications at the individual, couple, and societal levels are derived from these findings.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0356255","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]],"date-time":"2026-09-02T17:22:57Z","timestamp":1788369777000},"page":"e0356255","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Mental load in women and mothers: Causes of distress, personality traits, and psychopathology"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0201-9517","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Stefanie M.","family":"Jungmann","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stella F.","family":"Garbe Huedo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Karlotta A. S.","family":"Jacobs","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nina K.","family":"Pothorn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0356255.ref001","author":"OECD","year":"2021"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0356255.ref002","first-page":"67","article-title":"The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the care burden of women and families","volume":"16","author":"K Power","year":"2020","journal-title":"Sustain: Sci Pract Policy"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0356255.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"13","DOI":"10.1080\/13668803.2021.2002813","article-title":"The mental load: building a deeper theoretical understanding of how cognitive and emotional labor over load women and mothers","volume":"25","author":"L Dean","year":"2021","journal-title":"Commun Work Family"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0356255.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"184","DOI":"10.1177\/0361684319825581","article-title":"Mothers and mental labor: a phenomenological focus group study of family-related thinking work","volume":"43","author":"LG Robertson","year":"2019","journal-title":"Psychol Women Quarterly"},{"key":"pone.0356255.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"609","DOI":"10.1177\/0003122419859007","article-title":"The cognitive dimension of household labor","volume":"84","author":"A Daminger","year":"2019","journal-title":"Am Sociol Rev"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0356255.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"916","DOI":"10.1111\/socf.12126","article-title":"The costs of thinking about work and family: mental labor, work\u2013family spillover, and gender inequality among parents in dual\u2010earner families","volume":"29","author":"S Offer","year":"2014","journal-title":"Sociol Forum"},{"key":"pone.0356255.ref007","volume-title":"International perspectives on psychological science. 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