There are many contributing factors to the experience of stress in modern society. These factors may among others be caused by the fast changes of society, the high demands, a person’s low rate of self-control and the that we are supposed to be available almost all the time. These factors combined with the different social roles of the individual increases the risk for the individual to experience stress. Except from the demands at work there are also demands after the working day when you have to spend time at home with the family. Focus in this thesis is to find out what may cause stress among full-time working parents. To get closer to the problem, I decided to carry out a case study and interviews with four persons at the work in which I am employed. The research wants to find out what causes stress by focusing on the conflict between the social roles that parents play in their every day life.

The thesis is assumed from the demand-control-social support model of Robert Karasek and Töres Theorell. This model describes the combination between the high rate of self-demands and low rate of self-control. Further the thesis is supported by theoretical views of Anthony Giddens perspective of modernity and the theories about multiple social roles of Mikael Nordenmark. The results of the interviews showed that it was mainly the lack of self-control and lack of structure in every day life that caused stress. All the interviews also claimed that stress is a part of modern society.