How Do People With Different Attachment Styles Balance Work and Family? A Personality Perspective on Work-Family Linkage

• Published in: Journal of applied psychology Vol. 86; no. 4; pp. 653 - 663
• Main Authors: Sumer, H. Canan, Knight, Patrick A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01.08.2001
• Subjects: Adult; Applied psychology; Attachment Behavior; Attachment style; Attitude; Biological and medical sciences; Correlation analysis; Data Collection; Emotional Security; Employee Characteristics; Employees; Families & family life; Family; Family Relations; Family roles; Family Work Relationship; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Humans; Individual Differences; Interpersonal Relations; Job Satisfaction; Life Satisfaction; Male; Middle Aged; Occupational psychology; Personality; Personality Traits; Psychological aspects; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Quality of Life; Self-Concept; Studies; Surveys; Work condition. Job performance. Stress; Work environment; Work roles; Workplace; Human; Employee; Affective attachment; Interindividual comparison; Family environment; Well being; Personality; Job satisfaction; Work family relation; Professional activity
• ISSN: 0021-9010; 1939-1854
• DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.86.4.653

This study explored whether different models of work-family relationship were possible for individuals with different attachment styles. A mail survey was conducted using employees ( N = 481) at a midwestern university in the United States. Results suggested that (a) individuals with a preoccupied attachment pattern were more likely to experience negative spillover from the family/home to the work domain than those with a secure or dismissing style, (b) securely attached individuals experienced positive spillover in both work and family domains more than those in the other groups, and (c) preoccupied individuals were much less likely to use a segmentation strategy than the other 3 attachment groups. However, when the conventional job satisfaction-life satisfaction relationship was examined, the data provided unique support for the spillover model. Implications of the findings for both attachment and work-family relationship literatures are discussed.