Notes about the UC Davis Study on Female Lawyers and Stress

• Respondent profile: Of 794 female law school graduates who were sent a mail-in questionnarie, 584 answered the survey (74 percent ). Median age of respondents was 35. Fifty-three percent graduated between 1969 and 1980 and 47 percent graduated between 1980 and 1985. Sixty-nine percent graduated before age 30, 27 percent between age 30 and 39 and 3 percent between age 40 and 52.

• Full-time verus part-time work: Ten percent worked less than 35 hours a week on the job (part time), and 42 percent worked more than 45 hours a week.

• Single versus married women: Single women worked more hours than married women, but married women did more domestic work. Forty-nine percent of married women spent more than 20 hours a week on domestic work while 41 percent spent more than 70 hours a week on all work. Although marriage added considerably to the total hours of work, researchers found no evidence that marriage added to perceived stress on the job.

• Number of work hours per week: Fifty-nine percent of associates and 54 percent of partners worked more than 45 hours a week. Sixty percent of women working in litigation law, 58 percent of corporate/business law workers, and 53 percent of real estate lawyers worked more than 45 hours a week.

• Stress: High stress at work was reported by 48 percent of respondents, with 63 percent of those working more than 45 hours a week reporting high stress.

• Balancing work and childbirth: Sixty percent of those reporting high stress said that it would be impossible or very difficult to have a child versus 26 percent of those in low stress jobs. Fifty percent of all respondents said it would be "somewhat" to "very difficult" to raise a child in their current position. Moreover, 27 percent had no knowledge of their employer's policies on maternity leave.

• Maternal age at birth: The majority of women tend to postpone childbirth until after graduation from law school. Fifty-four percent of births were to women who graduated from law school between 23 and 29 years of age. Eighty-eight percent of births occurred after graduation. Thirty-six percent of births to 30-34 year olds occurred after graduation.

• Spontaneous abortions: Long work hours significantly increases the risk of spontaneous abortion by women who worked long hours during the first trimester. Women working longer than 45 hours a week experienced spontaneous abortion three times as often, even after researchers adjusted for age, smoking, alcohol intake and previous miscarriage.

• Alcohol use: Having seven drinks a week increased the spontaneous abortion rate fivefold. Nature of employment and legal specialty also was associated with spontaneous abortion rate.

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