7 Strategies for Recognizing and Reducing Role Strain
Do you wear so many hats that you struggle to switch between them? In a single day, you might switch between being a student, a friend, an employee, a parent, a lover, a volunteer - and more. Each of these roles comes with unique expectations and responsibilities, and switching between them is a lot for the brain to handle. When switching between these roles causes more stress than actually carrying out your responsibilities, you’re experiencing role strain.
According to sociologist W. Goode, role strain is the feeling of being stretched thin, struggling to fulfill all the obligations that come with our various roles. ¹
It's a common struggle, one that many of us face as we navigate the complexities of modern life.
In this article, we'll explore what role strain is, how it differs from role conflict, and effective strategies you can use to reduce role strain in your life.
What Is Role Strain?
The theory of role strain is derived from role theory, which asserts that our social interactions are influenced by the roles we occupy. Experts define role strain as the tension experienced when a scarcity of resources (e.g., time, skills, finances, and/or energy) impedes one's ability to meet role expectations and responsibilities.
You may experience role strain when you're pulled in too many directions at once. Imagine trying to keep up with work, family roles, and personal life but feeling there's never enough time or energy to do it all. It's like trying to fit too many puzzle pieces into a small space; something always gets left out. In this line of reasoning, sociological research suggests that role strain can, and often does, lead to burnout.
Role strain can leave you feeling particularly insufficient and unfulfilled, even when you’re “doing it all”. If you’re experiencing role strain, you might find it difficult to pause and enjoy the positive aspects of life or feel an authentic sense of accomplishment when you're caught up in a never-ending cycle of obligations.
According to the theory of human fulfillment in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, role strain effectively locks you out of achieving your full potential through self-actualization. Role strain effectively prevents you from experiencing the satisfaction of doing, being, and having enough.
Role Strain vs Role Conflict
Role strain and role conflict are closely related concepts that are often confused. So, let's take a look at the key differences between them. Role strain refers to the stress that arises when an individual lacks sufficient time, skills, finances, or energy to meet their role expectations. For instance, a medical resident might find it challenging to work effectively in a clinical setting due to new electronic health record systems that make accessing critical information difficult.
On the other hand, role conflict occurs when the demands of a single role are incompatible with those of another. For example, the same medical resident might have a busy schedule that interferes with their ability to fulfill their responsibilities as a parent, causing them to miss important family events due to long hours and being on call at the hospital.
Role Strain, Resentment & Burnout
Role strain can cause a range of problems if left unchecked. It can lead to a feeling of dissatisfaction at work, affect overall health and wellbeing, and even drain the energy from personal relationships. If these warning signs are ignored, role strain can lead to burnout, especially if you’re already exposed to a workplace with a culture of burnout.
If you’re experiencing burnout, you might feel:
A chronic sense of being overwhelmed
Emotional exhaustion and apathy
Inability to meet the demands of daily life
Studies show that understanding the role strain and conflict that contribute to burnout can help identify new intervention starting points. ² According to research, maintaining a work-life balance, social and family support, adequate rest, and regular physical activity can help improve career satisfaction and overall well-being while reducing the risk of burnout.
So that all sounds good, but how do you actually achieve worklife balance when every role you fill demands 100% of your energy? If this feels familiar, take these three steps to start managing the expectations for each role you perform in order to minimize conflict between your responsibilities and prevent burnout:
1. Identify role expectations
2. Prioritize them based on your values and responsibilities
3. Renegotiate the expectations to minimize conflict with other roles
Managing the mental load associated with role strain is just as essential for maintaining your overall well being as daily exercise - especially for women - though we often overlook these less visible stressors.
Concepts like the mental load, invisible labor, and emotional labor are typically unfamiliar to most people, but understanding them is essential to mental and physical health.
Role strain is typically a silent adversary, only becoming apparent when your responsibilities become too much to handle alone. However, by documenting the mental load associated with doing all the things, you can prevent role strain from leading to burnout and take action to re-balance your life before trouble arises.
Everyday Examples of Role Strain
So how does role strain show up in daily life? You can think of a role as a "script" that guides your behavior in a given situation. Even if you’re not aware of it, everyone has multiple social roles to fulfill, such as being a student, a friend, or an employee.
Striving to fulfill multiple roles can lead to a struggle in meeting the obligations of each. Role strain occurs when the expectations associated with your roles outweigh the resources you have to do so, making it challenging to meet expectations.
Here are a few examples of what role strain may look like in everyday life:
As a working parent, you may feel torn between your work responsibilities and your duties as a family caregiver. Not having time to attend your child's extracurricular activities might lead to stress and guilt.
If you are a part-time student, you may struggle to balance your time between academic commitments and your job responsibilities, leading to fatigue and burnout.
As a people manager, you may find it challenging to balance your superiors' demands with your subordinates' needs and requests, leading to frustration and being pulled in different directions.
If you are a caregiver, you may experience role strain as you try to balance the needs of nurturing others with your own personal care.
As a volunteer, you may struggle to balance your commitment to the organization with your financial limitations.
As a community member, you may feel the pressure to contribute to improving your neighborhood or town. Still, you may find it challenging to find the time or money to do so while juggling other social roles and responsibilities.
7 Effective Strategies to Reduce Role Strain
Managing multiple roles can be overwhelming and lead to role strain. However, there are effective strategies that can help reduce the negative impacts of role strain. Here are some of them:
1. Prioritize
One strategy is to prioritize tasks based on their urgency and importance. This can help you focus on the most pressing tasks and avoid feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work. To make the most of your time, use the Simplish App. Its simple task manager will give you structure and confidence to succeed in your professional and family roles, bringing peace to your everyday life.
2. Delegate
Let’s be honest: We cannot do it all. This is where principled task delegation comes into play! When you’re delegating tasks with the goal of reducing role strain, in particular, it’s important to delegate full responsibilities rather than individual tasks so you don’t end up with more management responsibility (e.g. shifting responsibility for maintaining the shared calendar to your colleague, rather than asking them to schedule the next meeting). Delegating can help you free up your time and energy for more critical tasks, reduce the overall workload, focus on a single role and minimize role strain.
3. Set Boundaries
Role strain often stems from feeling overwhelmed by the demands of others when you lack the time or energy to meet their needs. Setting boundaries is essential in managing this strain effectively, and it typically involves saying “no” in one way or another. By establishing clear limits on what you can and cannot do, you prevent yourself from taking on too much, and protect your well-being and your mental health from becoming overwhelmed.
4. Care for Yourself
Just like the safety instructions on airplanes, where you're advised to put your own air mask on before assisting others, it's essential to prioritize self-care before fulfilling your various roles. Taking breaks and practicing self-care is another effective strategy in alleviating role strain. By dedicating time to rest and recharge, you enhance your overall well-being and mitigate the adverse effects of stress and burnout.
5. Manage Your Time and Your Energy
At Simplish, we strongly believe it's not about doing everything but rather approaching what you do with balance. When you consider your most limited resources, it’s common to focus more on time and money than on energy. But overextending yourself energetically can negatively impact your health and make it difficult to make clear decisions in the long-run. Effectively managing your time can help you to organize your schedule. But managing your energy will help you to prioritize your tasks in a way that is true to your capacity. When all is said and done, considering both your time and your energy when planning ahead will help you to feel good while getting things done, clarify what’s important to you, and reduce role strain.
6. Compartmentalize
Compartmentalization is all about defining when and where certain roles apply. For example, you might choose to only focus on work during your office hours, keeping your home a work-free zone. This can help you to separate your professional life from your personal life, allowing you to prioritize roles like being a parent, partner, or home manager without the distractions of work tasks. By compartmentalizing, you ease the pressure of juggling multiple roles simultaneously, leading to a happier and healthier you.
7. Ask for Help
At times, the solution to a problem lies in accepting that you don't have an answer and reaching out to someone who might. Seeking support from others can also help in reducing role strain. Whether seeking help from colleagues or advice from a mentor, having a support system can make a significant difference in managing multiple roles.
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Goode, William J. “A Theory of Role Strain.” American Sociological Review 25, no. 4 (1960): 483–96. https://doi.org/10.2307/2092933.
Varpio L, Ray R, Dong T, Hutchinson J, Durning SJ. Expanding the Conversation on Burnout Through Conceptions of Role Strain and Role Conflict. J Grad Med Educ. 2018 Dec;10(6):620-623. doi: 10.4300/JGME-D-18-00117.1. PMID: 30619516; PMCID: PMC6314365.