Patricia Voydanoff

Work role characteristics family structure demands and work/family conflict.

This study examines relationships between work role characteristics family structure demands and work/family conflict. The analyses use data from 757 married men and 270 married women interviewed in the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey. The findings indicate that amount and scheduling of work time job demands and the presence of children in the home are related to work/family conflict among men and women. Perceived control over the work situation buffers some relationships between work role characteristics and work/family conflict. Work role characteristics and family structure demands contribute additively to work/family conflict; family structure demands do not exacerbate relationships between work role characteristics and work/family conflict. (authors)

Work/Family Role Strain among Employed Parents.

The determinants of work/family role strain are explored with the use of an inductive multivariate model of job tension among employed parents. The analysis was based on questionnaire data obtained from 468 working parents in a medium-sized Southeastern metropolitan county in 1979. Three broad categories of independent variables were examined as possible sources of job tension: individual-level, familylevel and work-related variables. It was found that work-related variables, as a group, have the greatest impact on job tension. The paper addresses several policy implications of the findings.

Consequences of boundary-spanning demands and resources for work-to-family conflict and perceived stress.

Using work-family border theory, this article examines relationships between boundary-spanning demands and resources and work-to-family conflict and perceived stress. The analysis uses data from 2,109 respondents from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce. The demands that were positively related to work-to-family conflict and perceived stress were commuting time, bringing work home, job contacts at home, and work-family multitasking. Work-family multitasking partially explained the effects of bringing work home and job contacts at home on conflict and stress. For resources, time off for family responsibilities and a supportive work-family culture showed negative associations with conflict and stress. Work-to-family conflict partially mediated relationships between several demands and resources and perceived stress.

Work Demands and Work-to-Family and Family-to-Work Conflict Direct and Indirect Relationships

This article uses a demands-and-resources approach to examine relationships between three types of work demands and work-to-family and family-to-work conflict: time-based demands, strain-based demands, and boundary-spanning demands. The analysis is based on data from 2,155 employed adults living with a family member who were interviewed for the 1997 National Study of the Changing Workforce (NSCW). The results indicate consistent positive relationships between the three types of demands and work-to-family conflict. Strain-based demands show the strongest relationships with family-to-work conflict. In addition, work-to-family conflict partially mediates relationships between several demands and family-to-work conflict. Thus, work demands reveal direct and indirect relationships with family-to-work conflict.

Multiple roles and psychological distress : The intersection of the paid worker, spouse, and parent roles with the role of the adult child

This article investigates relationships between psychological distress and objective and subjective aspects of the roles of paid worker, spouse, and parent and examines the inter.section of these roles with the adult-child role in relation to distress. The sample consists of mothers and fathers of children aged 10-17 years interviewed for the 1992-1994 National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH). Hours helping and caring for parents show positive relationships with distress. Objective and subjective aspects of the roles of paid worker and spouse show consistent relationships with psychological distress among mothers and fathers. Subjective aspects of the roles of spouse and paid worker moderate some relationships between helping and caring for parents and psychological distress for mothers. The parent role is unrelated to distress. Key Words: adult child, multiple roles, paid worker, psychological distress, spouse, work. A large research literature attempts to explain relationships between involvement in multiple roles and psychological distress. This research reflects two competing approaches. The role-strain approach proposes that the greater the role accumulation, the greater the demands and role incompatibility and the greater the role strain and conflict (Burr, Leigh, Day, & Constantine, 1979; Goode, 1960). Role strain and conflict are positively related to psychological distress. The role-enhancement approach suggests that performing multiple roles provides rewards and privileges that assist in the management of multiple roles and outweigh the negative effects of role accumulation (Marks, 1977; Sieber, 1974). Thus, performing multiple roles is negatively associated with psychological distress. One way to increase understanding of the impact of multiple roles on psychological distress is to examine the contexts in which they occur, for example, role content, the circumstances and contingencies associated with roles, and the combinations in which roles occur (Messias et al., 1997; Moen, Dempster-McClain, & Williams, 1989; Wheaton, 1990). This approach moves beyond asking whether involvement in multiple roles is related to psychological distress by assessing the conditions under which relationships occur and in what form. This study distinguishes between two contexts: objective structural conditions (time in role activities) and subjective psychological conditions (subjective reactions to roles). Objective structural conditions address the concrete demands and resources associated with roles, whereas subjective psychological conditions involve subjective perceptions and experiences of roles. An intersecting context is the extent to which relationships between involvements in multiple roles and psychological distress vary by gender. Again, there are two competing hypotheses. The sex-role hypothesis predicts that, due to gender differences in role demands and salience, gender moderates relationships between role involvement and psychological distress. Because family roles such as spouse, parent, and caregiver are considered more demanding and important for women, these roles should be more strongly related to distress for women than for men. Paid work, believed to be more demanding and important for men, should be more strongly related to distress for men than for women. The social-role hypothesis predicts that, given that stress-related effects of social roles inhere in the roles themselves, comparable role involvements should have similar effects on psychological distress for men and women. This study investigates the extent to which objective and subjective aspects of roles of the paid worker, spouse, and parent affect relationships between aspects of the adult-child role and psychological distress for mothers and fathers of children aged 10-17 years. The sample consists of families in which parents are most likely to have children at home and older parents. The analyses are conducted separately for mothers and fathers to assess the extent to which relationships differ by gender. …

Determinants of Work-Related Family Problems among Employed Parents.

This paper examines the relationships between individual, work, andfamily demands and resources, and work-related family problems among working parents. It is based on questionnaire data obtained from 468 working parents in a medium-sized southeastern metronolitan county in 1979. Hierarchical regression analyses indicate the relative importance of several individual, work, and family characteristics in relation to time shortage and income inadequacy. Differences in sources of time shortage and income inadequacy are outlined. The study presents a conceptual framework for the analysis of work-related family problems and documents the importance of several specific demands and resources among working parents.

A Conceptual Model of the Work-Family Interface

Publisher Summary This chapter deals with several theoretical approaches to formulate and articulate a conceptual model of the work–family interface. These approaches suggest that aspects of each domain occur at multiple ecological levels. The ecological model of human development focuses on four ecological levels, each nested within the next according to their immediacy to the developing person. The most immediate level, the microsystem, consists of a pattern of activities, roles, and interpersonal relations experienced by a person in a network of face-to-face relationships, which occur in settings such as the workplace, the family, and the community. These frameworks are useful for understanding various aspects of the interface. They include ecological systems theory, individual and occupational stress theories, resilience theory, and work–family border theory. It presents the general conceptual model, which is derived from ecological systems theory. The following sections elaborate upon specific linkages presented in the model and discuss their theoretical grounding in theories of stress, resilience, and borders. Demands are structural or psychological claims associated with role requirements, expectations, and norms to which individuals must respond or adapt by exerting physical or mental effort. Resources are structural or psychological assets that may be used to facilitate performance, reduce demands, or generate additional resources. Work, family, and community demands and resources are derived from a range of work, family, and community characteristics.

Parenting versus Placing for Adoption: Consequences for Adolescent Mothers

This study compared the impact over 2 years postpartum on female adolescents of rearing their babies (keepers) or placing them for adoption (placers). Hypotheses were that 1) placers would be less happy with their parenting decision 2) levels of mental health would be similar in both groups 3) placers would have a higher socioeconomic status 4) placers would be less likely to engage in risky sexual behavior 5) the higher socioeconomic status achieved by placers would counteract the negative impact of adoption and 6) the positive results of placers engaging in less risky sex behavior would counteract the negative impact of adoption. Data were gathered form 181 pregnant or newly postpartum adolescents in a sample from a city in Ohio between October 1987 and December 1992. The study was based on the responses of the 26 placers and 87 keepers who completed the initial and follow-up interviews (at 6 12 and 24 months postpartum). Measures included baseline controls parenting decision satisfaction with parenting decision mental health socioeconomic status and sexual risk-taking behaviors. All of the hypotheses were confirmed and it was found that adoption regret was most intense for the first year after the birth and lessened dramatically by the end of the second year. The benefits of adoption revealed by these findings should be conveyed by counselors to young women with problem pregnancies. The significant loss associated with placing a child for adoption should also be recognized and placers should receive extensive grief counseling.

The Range of Aspirations: A New Approach

Most research on educational and occupational aspirations is based on the assumption that a person has a single level of aspiration. We suggest a new approach to the study of aspirations by developing the concept of a range of aspirations and by introducing operational measures of a range of educational aspirations and a range of occupational aspirations. The hypothesis that the range of aspirations is wider in the lower classes is tested, controlling for sex and race, and confirmed only for white males. Other findings on the relationships between our measures of aspiration and social class, race, and sex are also discussed. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of research on the range of aspirations and the potential theoretical and policy implications of such research.

A Family Perspective on Services Integration.

The United States has a complex public and private system of services designed to assist families and individuals meet their needs. These services are provided by a wide range of organizations including government agencies, Private nonprofit organizations, schools, employers, community-based organizations, religious organizations, and informal networks of friends and relatives. Many of these organizations provide specifically defined services to those who document a need. However, this service delivery system is not designed to deal effectively with families and individuals who are experiencing multiple, interrelated difficulties. In this situation, a focused program may alleviate one specific problem but be unable to assess and treat the broader syndrome of problems affecting a given family or individual. Some problems presented to a given agency may be symptoms of other problems; for example, a child having trouble in school may be living in a family beset with violence, substance abuse, or other problems. These problems are beyond the reach of a tutoring program that attempts to improve a students academic performance. In addition, families with multiple, severe problems are unlikely to have the skills and resources necessary to identify and access the multiple services needed to address their complex problems. Families with multiple problems need comprehensive, coordinated, and intensive assistance that is not available in a service delivery system made up of autonomous, narrowly defined programs. They need integrated and sustained interventions delivered by professionals who recognize and are able to respond to a familys multiple problems and needs National Commission on Children, 1991). This article uses an ecological systems model and a family perspective framework to provide a rationale for policies that guide the development of integrated delivery systems or families and individuals with multiple problems. The ecological systems model of human development articulated by Bronfenbrenner (1986) focuses on four ecological levels, each nested within the next according to its immediacy to the developing person. The most immediate level, the microsystem, consists of a network of face-to-face relationships experienced by an individual including family, peer, and school-based relationships. The mesosystem is the interlinked system of microsystems in which an individual participates, such as linkages between the family and the school. The external environments in which a person does not participate but which exert indirect influences, such as the work settings of family members, are referred to as exosystems. Finally, the macrosystem consists of the broad belief systems and institutional patterns that provide the context for human development. This model provides a framework for looking at ways in which intrafamilial processes ate influenced by extrafamilial conditions and environments. This approach is useful in the analysis of human services delivery policy because it draws attention to the multiple levels of influence on individuals and families. Applying this model to individual and family problems requiring assistance from human services suggests the importance of a family perspective in the development of human services policy. A family perspective involves viewing individuals in the context of their family relationships and using the quality of family relationships as a criterion to assess the impact of policies and programs (Lynch & Preister, 1988). A family perspective provides a framework for policy that addresses the ecological context in which family-related problems occur. This family perspective also suggests guidelines and goals for the development of integrated services policies, which, in turn, provide criteria for reviewing the effectiveness of a variety of such programs. Their familiarity with the ecological systems model and a family perspective indicates an important role for family life professionals in the development and implementation of integrated services policies and programs. …