Homeschooling during COVID-19: Gender Differences in Work–Family Conflict and Alcohol Use Behaviour among Romantic Couples

Homeschooling due to COVID-19 school closures is likely to increase conflict between work and family demands, potentially leading to adverse substance-use effects. We conducted a survey with 758 couples focusing on homeschooling, work–family conflict, and alcohol use (April 2020). The 211 homeschool...

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Published inSocial sciences (Basel) Vol. 10; no. 7; p. 240
Main Authors DesRoches, Danika I., Deacon, S. Hélène, Rodriguez, Lindsey M., Sherry, Simon B., Nogueira-Arjona, Raquel, Elgendi, Mariam M., Meier, Sandra, Abbass, Allan, King, Fiona E., Stewart, Sherry H.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.09.2021
Subjects
Alcohol use
Coping
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Families & family life
Gender
gender inequalities
Home education
homeschooling
Hypotheses
Mental health
Mothers
Pandemics
Parents & parenting
Risk factors
Roles
Stress
Women
Work life balance
Workers
work–family conflict
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Summary:Homeschooling due to COVID-19 school closures is likely to increase conflict between work and family demands, potentially leading to adverse substance-use effects. We conducted a survey with 758 couples focusing on homeschooling, work–family conflict, and alcohol use (April 2020). The 211 homeschooling couples reported more work–family conflict than the 547 non-homeschooling couples; there also were stronger effects on family interference with work in women. Among the homeschooling couples, homeschooling hours were associated with greater partner drinking. In distinguishable dyad analyses by gender, women’s hours homeschooling were associated with greater drinking frequency by both parents. Men’s hours homeschooling were associated with lower drinking frequency in their partners. Increased work–family conflict in homeschooling couples is particularly worrisome given its link to increased stress and poor mental health. Moreover, women’s increased drinking may impede their ability to support their families during the pandemic. Men’s increased drinking could put homeschooling mothers at risk for escalating conflict/domestic violence, given links of male drinking to intimate partner violence. Finally, the protective-partner effects of men’s homeschooling hours on women’s drinking frequency suggests that more egalitarian division of homeschooling labor may have protective cross-over effects.
ISSN:2076-0760
2076-0760
DOI:10.3390/socsci10070240