Work-family Conflict and Family Stress Processes

Abstract

Recent decades have seen historic increases in maternal employment. The developmental implications of work-family conflict, however, remain poorly understood. Children's (n= 1,364) social-emotional problems through early childhood and pre-adolescence were examined as a function of mother's work-family conflict using longitudinal data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD SECCYD). Hierarchical linear modeling techniques were utilized to examine the lagged and contemporaneous associations between work-family conflict and children's social-emotional outcomes (i.e., internalizing and externalizing problems). Furthermore, family stress processes--maternal depression and maternal sensitivity--were examined as mediators of the associations between work-family conflict and social-emotional outcomes. Developmental timing of work-family conflict (i.e., child age) was also examined as a moderator of associations between conflict and social-emotional growth. Results indicated that within-family changes in work-family conflict predicted later within-child changes in children's internalizing problems in lagged models. With regard to between-family differences, average work-family conflict was associated with both average levels of internalizing and externalizing problems. Maternal depression and maternal sensitivity mediated the association between work-family conflict and children's externalizing problems between-families; maternal depression mediated the association between work-family conflict and children's internalizing problems between-families. There was little evidence to suggest, however, that the effects of work-family conflict differed as a function of developmental timing. Results from this research suggest that the developmental consequences of work-family conflict may not be immediate, but rather accrue over time. Moreover, results indicate that the effects of work-family conflict are both direct and indirect via family stress processes. These findings are further discussed regarding their implications for developmental research, policy and practice.