Family Roles as Moderators of the Relationship Between Schedule Flexibility and Stress

• Published in: Journal of marriage and family Vol. 74; no. 4; pp. 897 - 912
• Main Authors: Jung Jang, Soo, Zippay, Allison, Park, Rhokeun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.08.2012; Wiley Subscription Services; Wiley
• Subjects: Case studies; Child Rearing; Childrearing Practices; Children; Dependents; Employee Absenteeism; Employees; Employers; Employment; Families & family life; Family Life; Family relations; Family Roles; family workload; Females; gender; Gender roles; Intervention; Job Satisfaction; Job Sharing; Labor Force; Literature Reviews; Mental stress; Of General Interest; Parents; Physical Health; Predictor Variables; Sex; Sex Roles; Sexuality. Marriage. Family relations; Single Parent Family; Single parents; Sociology; Sociology of the family. Age groups; Sociology of work; Sociology of work and sociology of organizations; Spillovers; Stress; Studies; Work environment; Work life balance; work schedule flexibility; Work schedules; work-family spillover; Working Hours; Working population. Employment. Women's work; Workloads; Workplaces; Family Role; Working life; Gender; Family Life; Flexibility; Stress
• ISSN: 0022-2445; 1741-3737
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2012.00984.x

Employer initiatives that address the spillover of work strain onto family life include flexible work schedules. This study explored the mediating role of negative work-family spillover in the relationship between schedule flexibility and employee stress and the moderating roles of gender, family workload, and single-parent status. Data were drawn from the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce, a nationally representative sample of working adults (N = 2,769). The results indicated that schedule flexibility was associated with less employee stress and that these associations were mediated by perceptions of negative work-family spillover. This study found the moderating relationships of gender, family workload, and single parenting in the relationships between schedule flexibility and negative work-family spillover and stress. Schedule flexibility had stronger relationships in reducing negative work-family spillover and stress among women, single parents, and employees with heavier family workloads. The findings provide empirical support for intervention efforts involving schedule flexibility to reduce workplace stress among employees with family responsibilities.