Work hours, work – Family conflict and psychophysical health of working parents – Are there differences between women and men?

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the mechanisms that lie beneath the relationship between work hours and the psychophysical health of working parents and to examine whether sex moderates this relationship. The proposed model, which included mediatory effects of the two dimensions of the Work-family conflict (Time-based and Strain-based conflict), was tested on a convenience sample of working parents (n = 377; 55.2 % mothers). Subjective psychophysical health was measured by Musculoskeletal Symptoms Scale (Barton et al., 1995) and General Health Questionnaire – 12 (Goldberg, 1988). Work-family conflict (due to a spillover of the work domain in the family domain) was measured by Time-based and Strain-based scales (Carlson, Kacmar, & Williams, 2000). The results showed that work hours have a significant independent contribution in predicting both subscales of Work – family conflict. Furthermore, gender moderated the relationship between work hours and participants’ health. Work hours are significantly positively correlated with self-assessed psychophysical health of mothers, but not fathers. This correlation is entirely mediated by Strain-based conflict. Contrary to expectations, Time-based conflict does not mediate the relationship between work hours and the health of working mothers.