Besides working as a full partner in the farm business, many farm women have full responsibility for home and family matters. A farm woman with an off-farm job faces very difficult demands in additional to being the traditional nurturer for the rest of the family. A study of 100 Idaho farm families found that as family strains and stressors unique to farming and ranching increased, so did family discord and distress. Increases in farm stresses and strains negatively affected family strengths and quality of life. Increases in family strengths was associated with perceived family quality of life among both farm husbands and wives.
Social support plays an important role for farm operation well-being.
Data from a North Carolina study of 670 farm operators collected during a period of economic and environmental crisis showed that perceived social support increased plans to remain in agriculture and increased the probability operators would remain in farming. One study of parents of 105 6th, 7th, and 8th graders showed that farm families had higher levels of family financial stress and depression than nonfarm families. Family financial stresses as reported by parents was strongly related adolescents' reports of depressive symptoms. A random sample of 299 farm husbands and 352 farm wives from nine Midwestern states showed that subjective perceptions of one's financial condition was more strongly related to personal well-being than the actual level of income. Thus the perception of the stressor event is more strongly related to stress levels than the vent itself.