ReviewSex roles2023
Gendered Mental Labor: A Systematic Literature Review on the Cognitive Dimension of Unpaid Work Within the Household and Childcare.
Review in Sex roles, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Quantifying within-household tuberculosis transmission: a systematic review and prospective cohort study.International journal of epidemiology · 2026Pooled it
- The effectiveness of mobile app-based interventions to improve parental mental health: a meta-analysis.BMC psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Guardians of Memory, Dignity, and Family Cohesion: The Enduring Protective Role Underpinning Suicide-Bereaved Mothers' Psychosocial Needs and Engagement with Mental Health Care.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2026Article
- Child asthma and parental mental health: exploring associations by parental sex.The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma · 2026Article
- Domain-Specific Paradox of Physical Activity and Depression Among Patients With Cardiovascular Disease or Related Conditions.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2026Article
- Mental load in women and mothers: Causes of distress, personality traits, and psychopathology.PloS one · 2026Article
- Role of gender, age and rurality in benzodiazepine consumption in Catalonia, 2018-2022: a retrospective longitudinal drug utilisation study.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- The CARING intervention for neuro-oncology family caregivers: Randomized controlled trial feasibility, eSNAP/caregiver navigation engagement, and acceptability.Neuro-oncology practice · 2025Article
- Lifestyle medicine pillars for women's heart health.American journal of preventive cardiology · 2025Article
- Parental Burnout: A Progressive Condition Potentially Compromising Family Well-Being-A Narrative Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Young Women's Silence and Voice in the Context of Male-Perpetrated Violence.Violence against women · 2025Article
- Taking on the Invisible Third Shift: The Unequal Division of Cognitive Labor and Women's Work Outcomes.Psychology of women quarterly · 2025Article
- Cognitive household labor: gender disparities and consequences for maternal mental health and wellbeing.Archives of women's mental health · 2025Article
- The explanatory role of psychological distress in the link between role blurring and relationship satisfaction: A dyadic study.Journal of marital and family therapy · 2025Article
- Unobtrusive measurement of cognitive load and physiological signals in uncontrolled environments.Scientific data · 2024Article
- Unleashing the potential of metaphors: a categorization system for exploring return to work after maternity.Archives of women's mental health · 2024Article
- Supporting Our Physician Parents (SOPPort): A pilot program for parental wellness at the Massachusetts General Hospital.Journal of clinical and translational science · 2023Article
- Caregiver Characteristics and Barriers to Resource Use: Findings From a Rural State Caregiver Survey.Gerontology & geriatric medicineArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
With this literature review, we provide a systematic overview on and working definition of mental labor in the context of unpaid work-an inherent cognitive component of daily routines primarily related to domestic or childcare tasks. Our methodology followed PRISMA guidelines, and 31 full-text articles were included. Articles were peer-reviewed and published in social science, sociological, and psychological journals. The studies applied quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches including, interviews, online surveys, observations of family routines, time estimates, and experiments. The samples covered a wide age range, consisting mostly of U.S. American or European middle-class women and men (married or in a relationship). Predominantly, the articles show that women perform the larger proportion of mental labor, especially when it comes to childcare and parenting decisions. Further, women experience more related negative consequences, such as stress, lower life and relationship satisfaction, and negative impact on their careers. We offer an integrative theoretical perspective to explain the gendered distribution of mental labor and cognitive load. We consider theoretical and practical implications of these findings for reducing gender inequality in mental labor in the context of unpaid work within the household and childcare.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.