职场女性要工作还是要孩子?

That suggests workplace pressures may indeed be having an impact. Also, Gen-Xers, born between 1965 and 1978, shouldered a heavier burden of student loans after college, compared with preceding generations, and as young adults they experienced several boom-and-bust cycles, as well as a severe housing slump. All of these factors may have made starting a family and providing such basics as housing and education seem more difficult.

这表明工作压力可能的确有影响。与前几代人相比，生于1965年至1978年的X世代还肩负着毕业后偿还学生贷款的沉重负担，这些年轻人经历了几次经济兴衰的周期，还有一次严重的房地产危机。所有这些因素都让成家和提供住房与教育这些基本条件显得更困难。

"Searching for a balance between work demands and personal obligations leaves them overworked, overstressed and overstretched," the study says.

这项研究称，在工作要求和个人义务之间寻找平衡让他们工作过重、压力过大、疲劳过度。

As a result of the pressures, however, Gen Xers are also more resilient, researchers say. They set lofty goals for themselves; of those surveyed, 75% of Gen-X women surveyed and 72% of Gen-X men describe themselves as ambitious. But many are frustrated in their career ambitions by older baby boomers ahead of them in the management pipeline, many of whom can't afford to retire. Nearly half of Gen-Xers feel stalled in their careers, the study says. Also, 43% say their ability to repay student loans plays an important role in their career choices.

然而，研究人员称，压力也让X世代的适应力更强。他们为自己定下高远的目标。在受调查者中，75%的X世代女性和72%的X世代男性将自己描述为有雄心壮志的人。但他们晋升管理层的道路上还挡着出生于婴儿潮时期的老员工，后者中的许多人如果退休就无力生活，因此许多X世代在事业发展上都遇到了挫折。该研究称，近半数的X世代感到在事业上停滞不前。43%的X世代还说，他们偿还学生贷款的能力在职业选择中起到了重要作用。

The finding calls to mind child-bearing patterns in the 1970s and 1980s among older members of the baby-boom generation, some of whom passed up having children because of the pressures of executive jobs. One 1982 study found only 39% of top female executives had children. That percentage had risen to 57% by the early 1990s, however, as combining motherhood and executive careers became more accepted and common.

该发现让人回想起较早的婴儿潮世代在20世纪70年代至80年代的生育模式，他们中一些人由于管理工作的压力而放弃了要孩子。1982年的一项研究发现，只有39%的女性高管有孩子。不过到20世纪90年代初，当为人母者同时担任管理者的现象变得更为人们所接受、也更为普遍时，该比例上升到了57%。

Readers, do you think demanding jobs keep women from having kids? Or cause them to delay child-bearing longer? Are student loans a major factor? Have workload, career ambitions or debt played a role in your decisions about starting a family?

读者们，你们认为繁重的工作会妨碍女性要孩子或导致她们推迟生孩子吗？学生贷款是重要因素吗？工作量、事业追求或债务是否影响了你的成家决定？