Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Australian parents’ work–family conflict: accumulated effects on children’s family environment and mental health

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Many parents struggle to balance their work and family responsibilities. Yet, little research in the field of social psychiatry has explored the emergence of work–family conflict (WFC) as an important social determinant of mental health, particularly for children. The current study used longitudinal Australian population-based data to investigate the impact of parents’ accumulated experiences of work–family conflict on children’s mental health. Levels of parent psychological distress, marital satisfaction and parenting irritability were examined as potential explanatory factors within the family environment.

Methods

The study used five waves of data from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), a representative community sample of Australian children and their parents. Analyses were restricted to coupled, employed mothers (1903) and fathers (1584) who reported their WFC levels in all five waves. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to examine the association between accumulated experiences of work–family conflict across all time-points (AWFC) and children’s mental health at wave 5. Family environment factors were assessed as possible explanatory mediators.

Results

There was a significant association between AWFC and children’s mental health at wave 5. Parent psychological distress, marital satisfaction and parenting irritability were all found to significantly explain this association (accounting for 66% of the total effect).

Conclusions

Children whose parents have ongoing or accumulated difficulties managing their work and family responsibilities are more likely to have poorer mental health. This has important implications for family-friendly work arrangements and demonstrates the need to further understand the intergenerational impacts of parents’ jobs on their children’s psychological wellbeing.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Jahoda M (1981) Work, employment and unemployment: values, theories and approaches in social research. Am Psychol 36:184–191

    Google Scholar 

  2. Frasquilho D, de Matos MG, Marques A, Neville FG, Gaspar T, Caldas-de-Almeida JM (2016) Unemployment, parental distress and youth emotional well-being: the moderation roles of parent–youth relationship and financial deprivation. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 47(5):751–758

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Kind M, Haisken-DeNew JP (2012) Unexpected victims: how parents’ unemployment affects their children’s life satisfaction. Melbourne Institute Working Paper No. 2/12. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2006040 Accessed 1 Sept 2019

  4. Varga S, Piko BF, Fitzpatrick KM (2014) Socioeconomic inequalities in mental well-being among Hungarian adolescents: a cross-sectional study. Int J Equity Health 13(1):100

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Campbell I, Burgess J (2001) Casual employment in Australia and temporary employment in Europe: developing a cross-national comparison. Work Employ Soc 15(1):171–184

    Google Scholar 

  6. Dinh H, Strazdins L, Welsh J (2017) Hour-glass ceilings: work-hour thresholds, gendered health inequities. Soc Sci Med 176:42–51

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Kodz J, Kersley B, Strebler MT, O'Regan S (1998) Breaking the long hours culture. Grantham Book Services, Grantham

    Google Scholar 

  8. Colbert A, Yee N, George G (2016) The digital workforce and the workplace of the future. Academy of Management Briarcliff Manor, New York, NY

    Google Scholar 

  9. Greenhaus JH, Beutell NJ (1985) Sources of conflict between work and family roles. Acad Manag Rev 10(1):76–88

    Google Scholar 

  10. Strazdins L, O’Brien LV, Lucas N, Rodgers B (2013) Combining work and family: Rewards or risks for children's mental health? Soc Sci Med 87:99–107

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Amstad FT, Meier LL, Fasel U, Elfering A, Semmer NK (2011) A meta-analysis of work–family conflict and various outcomes with a special emphasis on cross-domain versus matching-domain relations. J Occup Health Psychol 16(2):151

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Fellows KJ, Chiu H-Y, Hill EJ, Hawkins AJ (2016) Work–family conflict and couple relationship quality: a meta-analytic study. J Fam Econ Issues 37(4):509–518

    Google Scholar 

  13. Dinh H, Cooklin AR, Leach LS, Westrupp EM, Nicholson JM, Strazdins L (2017) Parents' transitions into and out of work-family conflict and children's mental health: longitudinal influence via family functioning. Soc Sci Med 194:42–50

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Slade J, Teesson W, Burgess P (2009) The mental health of Australians 2: report on the 2007 national survey of mental health and wellbeing. https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/mental-pubs-m-mhaust2 Accessed 1 Sept 2019

  15. Slade T, Johnston A, Oakley Browne MA, Andrews G, Whiteford H (2009) 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing: methods and key findings. Australas Psychiatry 43(7):594–605

    Google Scholar 

  16. McLeod JD, Kaiser K (2004) Childhood emotional and behavioral problems and educational attainment. Am Sociol Rev 69(5):636–658

    Google Scholar 

  17. Fergusson DM, John Horwood L, Ridder EM (2005) Show me the child at seven: the consequences of conduct problems in childhood for psychosocial functioning in adulthood. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 46(8):837–849

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Fergusson DM, Horwood LJ (1998) Early conduct problems and later life opportunities. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 39(08):1097–1108

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Shonkoff JP (2010) Building a new biodevelopmental framework to guide the future of early childhood policy. Child Dev 81(1):357–367

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Strazdins L, Clements MS, Korda RJ, Broom DH, D’Souza RM (2006) Unsociable work? Nonstandard work schedules, family relationships, and children’s well-being. J Marriage Fam 68(2):394–410

    Google Scholar 

  21. Cooklin A, Dinh H, Strazdins L, Westrupp E, Leach L, Nicholson JM (2016) Change and stability in work–family conflict and mothers’ and fathers’ mental health: longitudinal evidence from an Australian cohort. Soc Sci Med 155:24–34

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Goodman WB, Crouter AC, Lanza ST, Cox MJ, Vernon-Feagans L, Investigators FLPK (2011) Paternal work stress and latent profiles of father–infant parenting quality. J Marriage Fam 73(3):588–604

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Baxter J, Smart D (2011) Fathering in Australia among couple families with young children: research highlights. Fam Matters 88:15–26

    Google Scholar 

  24. Conger RD, Wallace LE, Sun Y, Simons RL, McLoyd VC, Brody GH (2002) Economic pressure in African American families: a replication and extension of the family stress model. Dev Psychol 38(2):179

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Brock RL, Kochanska G (2016) Interparental conflict, children’s security with parents, and long-term risk of internalizing problems: a longitudinal study from ages 2 to 10. Dev Psychopathol 28(1):45–54

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Giallo R, D’Esposito F, Cooklin A, Christensen D, Nicholson JM (2014) Factors associated with trajectories of psychological distress for Australian fathers across the early parenting period. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 49(12):1961–1971

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Lewis J, Noden P, Sarre S (2008) Parents’ working hours: adolescent children's views and experiences. Child Soc 22(6):429–439

    Google Scholar 

  28. Strazdins L, Baxter JA, Li J (2017) Long hours and longings: Australian Children’s Views of Fathers’ work and family time. J Marriage Fam 79(4):965–982

    Google Scholar 

  29. Erickson JJ, Martinengo G, Hill EJ (2010) Putting work and family experiences in context: differences by family life stage. Human Relat 63(7):955–979

    Google Scholar 

  30. Huffman A, Culbertson SS, Henning JB, Goh A (2013) Work-family conflict across the lifespan. J Manag Psychol 28(7/8):761–780

    Google Scholar 

  31. Demerouti E, Bakker AB, Bulters AJ (2004) The loss spiral of work pressure, work–home interference and exhaustion: reciprocal relations in a three-wave study. J Vocat Behav 64(1):131–149

    Google Scholar 

  32. Knecht MK, Bauer GF, Gutzwiller F, Hämmig O (2011) Persistent work-life conflict and health satisfaction-a representative longitudinal study in Switzerland. BMC Public Health 11(1):271

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  33. Matthews RA, Wayne JH, Ford MT (2014) A work–family conflict/subjective well-being process model: a test of competing theories of longitudinal effects. J Appl Psychol 99(6):1173

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Hobfoll SE (1989) Conservation of resources: a new attempt at conceptualizing stress. Am Psychol 44(3):513

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Diener E, Lucas RE, Scollon CN (2009) Beyond the hedonic treadmill: Revising the adaptation theory of well-being. In: Diener E (ed) The science of well-being. Springer, New York, pp 103–118

    Google Scholar 

  36. Feinberg ME, Button TM, Neiderhiser JM, Reiss D, Hetherington EM (2007) Parenting and adolescent antisocial behavior and depression: evidence of genotype parenting environment interaction. Arch Gen Psychiatry 64(4):457–465

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Repetti RL, Taylor SE, Seeman TE (2002) Risky families: family social environments and the mental and physical health of offspring. Psychol Bull 128(2):330

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Gray M, Sanson A (2005) Growing up in Australia: the longitudinal study of Australian children. Fam Matters 72(SUMMER):4–9

    Google Scholar 

  39. Zubrick SR, Lucas N, Westrupp EM, Nicholson JM (2014) LSAC Technical Paper no. 12: parenting measures in the longitudinal study of Australian children: construct validity and measurement quality, waves 1 to 4. Department of Social Services, Canberra

  40. Soloff C, Lawrence D, Johnstone R (2005) LSAC Technical Paper no. 1: sample design. Australian Institute of Family Studies, Melbourne, Australia

  41. Norton A, Monahan K (2015) The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children: LSAC Technical paper no. 15: Wave 6 Weighting and Non-Response. Australian Institute of Family Studies, Melbourne, Australia

  42. Goodman R (1997) The strengths and difficulties questionnaire: a research note. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 38(5):581–586

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Marshall NL, Barnett RC (1993) Work-family strains and gains among two-earner couples. J Commun Psychol 21(1):64–78

    Google Scholar 

  44. Westrupp EM, Strazdins L, Martin A, Cooklin A, Zubrick SR, Nicholson JM (2016) Maternal work–family conflict and psychological distress: reciprocal relationships over 8 years. J Marriage Fam 78(1):107–126

    Google Scholar 

  45. Kessler RC, Andrews G, Colpe LJ, Hiripi E, Mroczek DK, Normand SL, Walters EE, Zaslavsky AM (2002) Short screening scales to monitor population prevalences and trends in non-specific psychological distress. Psychol Med 32(6):959–976

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Furukawa TA, Kessler RC, Slade T, Andrews G (2003) The performance of the K6 and K10 screening scales for psychological distress in the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being. Psychol Med 33:357–362

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Batterham PJ, Sunderland M, Carragher N, Calear AL, Mackinnon AJ, Slade T (2016) The Distress Questionnaire-5: population screener for psychological distress was more accurate than the K6/K10. J Clin Epidemiol 1(71):35–42

    Google Scholar 

  48. Royston P, White IR (2011) Multiple imputation by chained equations (MICE): implementation in Stata. J Stat Softw 45(4):1–20

    Google Scholar 

  49. Shockley KM, Shen W, DeNunzio MM, Arvan ML, Knudsen EA (2017) Disentangling the relationship between gender and work–family conflict: An integration of theoretical perspectives using meta-analytic methods. J Appl Psychol 102(12):1601

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Bronfenbrenner U, Crouter AC (1982) Work and family through time and space. In: Kamerman S, Hayes C (eds) Families that work: children in a changing world. National Academy Press, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  51. Joyce S, Modini M, Christensen H, Mykletun A, Bryant R, Mitchell PB, Harvey SB (2016) Workplace interventions for common mental disorders: a systematic meta-review. Psychol Med 46(4):683–697

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  52. Modini M, Joyce S, Mykletun A, Christensen H, Bryant RA, Mitchell PB, Harvey SB (2016) The mental health benefits of employment: results of a systematic meta-review. Australas Psychiatry 24(4):331–336

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Butterworth P, Leach LS, Strazdins L, Olesen SC, Rodgers B, Broom D (2011) The psychosocial quality of work determines whether employment has benefits for mental health: results from a longitudinal national household panel survey. Occup Environ Med 68(11):806–812

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  54. Harvey SB, Sellahewa DA, Wang M-J, Milligan-Saville J, Bryan BT, Henderson M, Hatch SL, Mykletun A (2018) The role of job strain in understanding midlife common mental disorder: a national birth cohort study. Lancet Psychiatry 5(6):498–506

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  55. Azar S, Khan A, Van Eerde W (2018) Modelling linkages between flexible work arrangements’ use and organizational outcomes. J Bus Res 91:134–143

    Google Scholar 

  56. Kelly EL, Moen P, Oakes JM, Fan W, Okechukwu C, Davis KD, Hammer LB, Kossek EE, King RB, Hanson GC (2014) Changing work and work-family conflict: Evidence from the work, family, and health network. Am Sociol Rev 79(3):485–516

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  57. Shockley KM, Allen TD (2007) When flexibility helps: Another look at the availability of flexible work arrangements and work–family conflict. J Vocat Behav 71(3):479–493

    Google Scholar 

  58. Sweet S, Pitt-Catsouphes M, Besen E, Golden L (2014) Explaining organizational variation in flexible work arrangements: why the pattern and scale of availability matter. Commun Work Fam 17(2):115–141

    Google Scholar 

  59. Hawes DJ, Dadds MR (2004) Australian data and psychometric properties of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire. Aust NZ J Psychiatry 38(8):644–651

    Google Scholar 

  60. Mellor D (2005) Normative data for the strengths and difficulties questionnaire in Australia. Aust Psychol 40(3):215–222

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements and funding

This work was supported by an Australian Rotary Health – Mental Health Research Grant. AC and JN were supported through the Roberta Holmes Transition to Contemporary Parenthood Program, Judith Lumley Centre, La Trobe University. This article uses unit record data from Growing Up in Australia, the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. 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.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health (NCEPH), Research School of Population Health, The Australian National University, Building 62, Acton, 2601, Australia

    Liana S. Leach, Huong Dinh & Lyndall Strazdins

  2. Judith Lumley Centre, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia

    Amanda Cooklin & Jan M. Nicholson

Authors
  1. Liana S. Leach
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Huong Dinh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Amanda Cooklin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jan M. Nicholson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Lyndall Strazdins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Liana S. Leach.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

The LSAC study was approved by the Australian Institute of Family Studies Ethics Committee and all participants gave informed consent prior to inclusion.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 33 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Leach, L.S., Dinh, H., Cooklin, A. et al. Australian parents’ work–family conflict: accumulated effects on children’s family environment and mental health . Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 56, 571–581 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01944-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01944-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation