Crossover of parents' work-family conflict to family functioning and child mental health☆
Introduction
Work-family conflict occurs when work responsibilities interfere with family commitments, or when family commitments interfere with work responsibilities (Byron, 2005). Recent family-oriented research has shown a link between parents' experiences of work-family conflict and detrimental family functioning and child mental health outcomes (e.g., Cooklin et al., 2014; Dinh et al., 2017; Strazdins, Obrien, Lucas, & Rodgers, 2013). When there is a conflict between parents' work and family responsibilities, children are more likely to experience internalizing and externalizing symptoms (Dinh et al., 2017; Strazdins et al., 2013). However, most research studies that investigated the associations between work-family conflict and child development, have focused on childhood outcomes using cross-sectional data (McLoyd, Toyokawa, & Kaplan, 2008; Strazdins et al., 2013; Vieira, Matias, Ferreira, Lopez, & Matos, 2016), which has prevented examination of potential long-term crossover influences from childhood through to adolescence. Given the persistent nature of work-family conflict over time (Westrupp et al., 2016), it is important to understand how work-family conflict influences child mental health across childhood and adolescence. Previous research indicates that children are at a great risk of developing internalizing and externalizing problems when both parents experience high and persistent work-family conflict (Dinh et al., 2017). Therefore, the current study seeks to examine the degree to which mothers' and fathers' work-family conflict cross over to influence their own and their partner's perception of inter-parental conflict and parenting irritability, and consequently their child's internalizing and externalizing problems across 10 years ranging from early childhood to adolescence.
Bronfenbrenner (1979) is one of the first scholars who addressed parental work and employment as important environmental predictors of family functioning and child development. Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory conceptualizes the environment in terms of four nested levels, within which child development occurs. Microsystems are immediate settings in which a child actively participates, such as family and school. Mesosystems refer to the interaction between microsystems. Exosystems are the external contexts within which microsystems and children function, but children do not actively participate in them and are situated within macrosystems, which refer to the wider contextual systems of society and culture (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). This theory has matured over time and has been discussed in a form of process-person-context-time model (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Tudge, Mokrova, Hatfield, & Karnik, 2009). The first element of this model focuses on the proximal processes including parent-child and parent-parent interactions and influences on child development. The second element is the biological and genetic aspects of the person including age and gender. The context element of this model includes the four inter-related environments as mentioned above. Finally, the time element of this model refers to the fact that developmental processes may vary based on the specific historical events and based on the age of individuals. In light of this model, parents' experiences in combining work and family responsibilities are exosystems, which may impact on their child development through proximal processes including parent-parent and parent-child interactions, and these influences may vary based on the gender of the parent and the child, and the phase of development (e.g., childhood and adolescence).
To understand the way in which work-family conflict influences other members of the family, the spillover-crossover process can also be taken into account (Bakker & Demerouti, 2012). Spillover refers to a within-individual transfer of experiences from one domain to another, influencing the individual's own behaviour in the receiving domain (Edwards & Rothbard, 2000). For example, a parent who has a demanding job may be in a bad mood at home, displaying more irritable and frustrated interactions with their family. Crossover refers to a dyadic, between-individual transmission of strain and stress through which one person's experiences influence another person's experiences (Westman, 2002). An example of this would be when a parent's frustrated mood and negative interactions with the child as a results of a demanding job (i.e., spillover) leads to behavioral and emotional problems in their children (i.e., crossover) (Cho & Ciancetta, 2016).
Based on the crossover theory (Westman, 2002), work-family conflict demands and associated strains may cross over to closely-related individuals, such as partners or children within a family setting. For example, the increased level of distress and frustration accompanied by work-family conflict has been found in various studies to be associated with increased negative interactions between partners (Cooklin et al., 2015; Westman, 2005). Likewise, in another study work-family conflict was associated with partners' experience of social undermining, referring to negative affect, negative evaluations and criticism between partners (Bakker, Demerouti, & Dollard, 2008). However, the crossover influences between partners and consequently to children's mental health needs further investigation, and is the main focus of the current paper.
Traditionally, most of research on work and family focused on working mothers (for a review see Perry-Jenkins, Repetti, & Crouter, 2000), but interest in fathers' work-family experiences has increased from the 2000s (for a review see Bianchi & Milkie, 2010). Research evidence indicates that working fathers also experience challenges in combining work and family responsibilities. For example, in a large sample of working mothers (n = 4768) and fathers (n = 7692) from 48 countries with children under 18 years of age, 87% of fathers compared to 88% of mothers reported work-to-family conflict, and 42% of fathers compared to 55% of mothers reported family-to-work conflict (Hill, Hawkins, Märtinson, & Ferris, 2003). Further, mothers' and fathers' experiences of work-family conflict were positively associated with each other (Cinamon, Weisel, & Tzuk, 2007), suggesting fathers' work-family conflict as an additional source of influence that alter children's family environment (Strazdins et al., 2013). However, it is not clear whether mothers' or fathers' work-family conflict pose a more persistent influence on children's development over childhood and adolescence.
There is growing evidence of impacts of both mothers' and fathers' work-family conflict on children's internalizing and externalizing problems (Hart & Kelley, 2006; Strazdins et al., 2013). Internalizing problems signify a disturbance in emotions and moods, and generally refer to anxiety and depressive symptoms (Zahn-Waxler, Klimes-Dougan, & Slattery, 2000). Externalizing problems are characterized by behaviors that are disruptive and harmful to others and are generally defined as irritability due to frustration, anger, hostility, aggression, inattention, impulsivity, and overactivity (Zahn-Waxler et al., 2000). Recent research studies have indicated that work-family conflict influenced children's internalizing and externalizing problems through parents' own functioning at home, for example, parenting behaviors and the couple relationship (Dinh et al., 2017; Strazdins et al., 2013). However, research has not yet addressed the crossover influences from mothers' and fathers' work-family conflict to the other parent's functioning at home and consequently on children's mental health over time. Moreover, given that factors related to work, family, and child characteristics including working hours, socio-economic position, number of children in the household, and child gender are antecedents of work-family conflict (Michel, Kotrba, Mitchelson, Clark, & Baltes, 2011; Westrupp et al., 2016), it is important to understand whether the crossover influences from work-family conflict to family functioning and child outcomes are present even when accounting for these other known influences.
Previous research has indicated that work-family conflict is associated with a range of family functioning variables, including parents' physical and mental health (Carlson et al., 2011; Cooklin et al., 2016; Westrupp et al., 2016), their level of stress and burnout (Allen, Herst, Bruck, & Sutton, 2000), the couple relationship quality (for a review, see Fellows, Chiu, Hill, & Hawkins, 2016), and parent-child interactions (Cooklin et al., 2015; Dinh et al., 2017). In this study we focus on the degree to which work-family conflict influences the within-family interactions. When a parent experiences difficulties in balancing their work and family responsibilities, their functioning as a partner and a parent may be impaired, thus increasing their frustrated and irritable interactions with their child (Cooklin et al., 2014, Cooklin et al., 2015), and their partner (Cooklin et al., 2015).
We propose parenting irritability and inter-parental conflict as two likely mechanisms explaining (i.e., mediating) the associations between work-family conflict and child mental health problems. Parenting irritability refers to parenting behaviors that are hostile, angry, inconsistent, and punitive toward children (Strazdins et al., 2013), and inter-parental conflict refers to verbal arguments, anger, and hostility between parents (Westrupp, Rose, Nicholson, & Brown, 2015). Both parenting irritability and inter-parental conflict have long been regarded as strong predictors of child developmental outcomes (Cummings, George, McCoy, & Davies, 2012; Repetti, Taylor, & Seeman, 2002). However, the possibility of longitudinal associations between parents' work-family conflict and childhood mental health problems through inter-parental conflict and parenting irritability remains unclear.
In addition to the transmission of negative effects from one parent to their child, work-family conflict experienced by one parent may also cross over to affect the other parent. For example, impairment in one parent's functioning at home may increase the time pressures and caring responsibilities of the other parent (Hart & Kelley, 2006), thus increasing inter-parental conflict and the affected parent's parenting irritability. There has been some cross-sectional evidence supporting this hypothesis (Ferreira et al., 2018; Hart & Kelley, 2006). For example, in a cross-sectional study, mothers' and fathers' work-family conflict was positively associated with couples' report of marital conflict occurring in front of the child. Mothers' negative interaction with the child was positively associated with fathers' parenting stress, in particular, their distress in parenting, having dysfunctional interactions with the child, and perceiving the child as difficult (Hart & Kelley, 2006). Likewise, each parent's work-family conflict was concurrently associated with reductions in the other parent's engagement with the child (Ferreira et al., 2018).
The crossover influences from parents' work-family conflict to their parenting practices and inter-parental conflict have broader implications for child development. For example, mothers' work-family conflict and mothers' and fathers' parenting stress were positively associated with internalizing and externalizing symptoms in children (Hart & Kelley, 2006), and fathers' work-family conflict was concurrently associated with poor quality father-child interactions, which were in turn related to low child self-esteem (Lau, 2010). Likewise, parents' work-family conflict were associated with their own poor mental health (Strazdins et al., 2013) and high levels of parenting irritability (Vieira et al., 2016), which in turn were positively associated with child internalizing and externalizing problems (Strazdins et al., 2013; Vieira et al., 2016). According to these findings, work-family conflict has the potential to impact on child outcomes through within-family interactions.
Nevertheless, the bulk of existing evidence on the intersection between work-family factors and family functioning has been cross-sectional. More recently, longitudinal studies have investigated the associations between work-family conflict, family functioning, and child outcomes (Dinh et al., 2017; Ferreira et al., 2018; Vahedi, Krug, Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, & Westrupp, 2018). Dinh et al. (2017) found longitudinal associations between parents' work-family conflict and higher levels of child internalizing and externalizing problems through parenting irritability and marital dissatisfaction. Vahedi et al. (2018) found that initial work-family conflict at 4–5 years predicted more rapid increases in child internalizing problems over 4–5 to 14–15 years of age. Ferreira et al. (2018) found that mothers' and fathers' work-family conflict were concurrently and negatively associated with their own engagement with the child, and each parents' engagement with the child was positively associated with child behavioral self-control over time. Findings from these cross-sectional (Hart & Kelley, 2006; Lau, 2010; Strazdins et al., 2013; Vieira et al., 2016) and longitudinal studies (Dinh et al., 2017; Ferreira et al., 2018) suggest that parent-parent and parent-child interactions within the family setting are commonly compromised in the context of work-family conflict. Further, in altering the nature of the family environment, work-family conflict is also likely to affect children's emotional and behavioral problems. However, there are a few key gaps in the evidence to date that require further investigation.
Firstly, none of the studies investigated the crossover from each parents' work-family conflict to the other parent's functioning in the home environment. Although Ferreira et al. (2018) investigated the association between each parent's work-family conflict and their own and the other parent's engagement with the child, these associations were investigated cross-sectionally, which does not capture the concept of crossover occurring over time. Secondly, only three of the studies directly investigated the mediating mechanisms that link work-family conflict to child mental health (Dinh et al., 2017; Strazdins et al., 2013; Vieira et al., 2016), and of these, data from Strazdins et al. (2013) and Vieira et al. (2016) were cross-sectional, limiting the ability to make mediational inferences.
Thirdly, the majority of the existing studies have investigated the associations over early childhood (Hart & Kelley, 2006; Lau, 2010; Strazdins et al., 2013; Vieira et al., 2016), and the longitudinal studies have examined influences either over the short-term (i.e., Dinh et al., 2017; Ferreira et al., 2018), or have not specifically examined mediation (Vahedi et al., 2018), limiting our understanding of whether the mediated patterns of associations persist over distinct periods in early to middle childhood and adolescence. Given the increasing rates of internalizing and externalizing problems in children and adolescents in the 21st century (Bor, Dean, Najman, & Hayatbakhsh, 2014), and the likelihood that childhood-era emotional and behavioral problems will persist into adolescence (Bornstein, Hahn, & Haynes, 2010), it is critical to explore contemporary factors that pose sustained influences on children's and adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problems. Work-family conflict is a persistent factor, with sustained influences on parents' own mental health (Westrupp et al., 2016), and their functioning as a partner and a parent in the home environment (Dinh et al., 2017). Therefore, it is likely that work-family conflict through sustained influences on the home environment, pose long-term influences on children's and adolescents' development.
Finally, the extent to which patterns of crossover associations differed for mothers' versus fathers' work-family conflict has not been examined yet. Given that women report higher levels of work-family conflict compared to men (Cinamon, 2006), and that employed mothers in Australia typically shoulder a greater share of childcare and household responsibilities compared to employed fathers (Craig & Sawrikar, 2009), it is expected for mothers' work-family conflict to pose a more persistent influence on children's and adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problems, compared to fathers.
The current study sought to investigate the longitudinal associations between both mothers' and fathers' experiences of work-family conflict and subsequent internalizing and externalizing problems in their children, through the potential linking mechanisms of mother- and father-report of inter-parental conflict and parenting irritability. Based on the reviewed literature and theory showing crossover from work-family conflict to family functioning, we hypothesized that both parents' work-family conflict would predict higher levels of inter-parental conflict and parenting irritability, and consequently increased internalizing and externalizing problems in children. Specifically, we sought to answer the following research questions:
- 1.
Do mothers' and fathers' experiences of work-family conflict predict increases in their own and their partner's perception of inter-parental conflict and parenting irritability?
- 2.
Do mothers' and fathers' experiences of work-family conflict predict increases in their children's internalizing and externalizing problems through their own and their partner's perception of inter-parental conflict and parenting irritability?
- 3.
Are these patterns of associations persistent across different periods of childhood and adolescence?
- 4.
Are the crossover influences from mothers' compared to fathers' work-family conflict more persistent over childhood and adolescence?
This study overcomes the limitations of previous research by implementing a robust method to test longitudinal mediation using an autoregressive model, depicted in Fig. 1. Given that a fundamental requirement of mediation is that one variable should precede the other variable in time (Cole & Maxwell, 2003; Holland, 1986; Jose, 2016), autoregressive models which control for the prior levels of the dependent, independent, and the mediator variables are the most rigorous method for testing longitudinal mediation (Cole & Maxwell, 2003). In addition, we analyze data in accordance with the actor-partner interdependence model (Cook & Kenny, 2005). According to this model the dyad is the highest unit of analysis, and individuals are nested within the dyad. Therefore, one person's (or the actor's) independent variable (e.g., work-family conflict) can influence their own and their partner's dependent variable (e.g., inter-parental conflict and parenting irritability).
To address the potential for shared method variance (i.e., same-reporter bias), two models were run separately, one with mother-report of child internalizing and externalizing problems (Fig. 1) and one with adolescent-reported internalizing and externalizing problems (Fig. 2). For the latter model, adolescent-reported data were available starting from 10 to 11 years. Models tested whether mothers' and fathers' work-family conflict predicted internalizing and externalizing problems in children and adolescents, and whether these associations were explained by four potential mediators including mothers' and fathers' perception of inter-parental conflict and their parenting irritability, over distinct developmental pathways. Both mothers' and fathers' working hours, child gender, number of children in the household, and socio-economic position were specified as control variables in the models.
Section snippets
Data
Data were from the kindergarten cohort of the LSAC, a nationally-representative cohort study of Australian children and their families (Soloff, Lawrence, & Johnstone, 2005). LSAC was approved by the Australian Institute of Family Studies Ethics Committee (Gray & Sanson, 2005) and used a two-stage cluster sampling using Australian postcodes and Medicare national public health system database to randomly select children. The families of 4983 children (59% initial response rate) participated in
Preliminary analysis
Means, standard deviations, and residual covariances between endogenous variables are presented in Supplementary Tables 1 and 2. Patterns of correlations were consistent across time, and were in the expected direction. In particular, parental work-family conflict was positively associated with father- and mother-reported inter-parental conflict and parenting irritability, and child internalizing and externalizing problems. Inter-parental conflict and parenting irritability were also positively
Discussion
Combining work and family responsibilities is an extremely common experience for parents around the world, but can be accompanied by role difficulties with implications for family functioning and child mental health. The current study (a) investigated the longitudinal associations between mothers' and fathers' work-family conflict and both mothers' and fathers' perception of inter-parental conflict and parenting irritability; (b) assessed the longitudinal associations between mothers' and
Conclusion
In conclusion, we found that parents' work-family conflict increased children's exposure to a more conflicting home environment, in terms of parenting irritability and inter-parental conflict. Parenting irritability in turn, posed consistent influences on internalizing and externalizing problems across childhood and adolescence. Mothers' work-family conflict posed a more persistent influence on internalizing and externalizing problems across childhood and adolescence, while fathers' work-family
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This research study was funded by the Dissertation Funding Award 2015 by the Student and Early Career Council (SECC) of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) and Melbourne Research Scholarship.
Dr Westrupp was supported by Australian Communities Foundation through the Roberta Holmes Transition to Contemporary Parenthood Program (Coronella sub-fund). This paper uses unit record data from Growing Up in Australia, the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). The study is conducted in partnership between the Australian Government Department of Social Services (DSS), the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The findings and views reported are those of the authors and should not be attributed to DSS, AIFS or the ABS. LSAC study design and data collection were funded by DSS. We thank all parents and children who took part in the study.