Identifying the Family,Job, and Workplace Characteristics of Employees Who Use Work‐Family Benefits*

A contextual effects perspective is used to identify family, job, and workplace characteristics associated with the use of work‐family benefits by 527 employees in 83 businesses. Parents of dependent children are no more likely than other employees to use benefits but particular family problems predict female employee use of paid leave and mental health benefits. Workplace size, sector, and culture are better predictors of employee use than are employee job characteristics.     

Boss and Parent,Employee and Child: Work‐Family Roles and Deviant Behavior in the Family Firm

The work‐family literature examines the degree to which work and family roles can be segmented or integrated by an individual. In the family firm, the requirement that work and family roles be integrated creates tension for family employees, particularly those who prefer higher degrees of segmentation between the roles. Integrating family firm with family relations research, this article explores potential difficulties experienced by family employees in making transitions from their family role to work role and the potential for family employees to engage in deviant behavior due to unresolved conflict and ambiguity from work‐family role integration. These difficulties, we argue, are in part due to problems in separating role expectations when they come from indistinct sources; that is, when the boss and father, for example, are the same person. We explain how the tensions between work and family can create a cycle of deviance in the family and family firm domains.     

Work Separation Demands and Spouse Psychological Well‐Being

Using family resilience and ecological theories, we examine the relationship between partner work‐required travel separations and spouse psychological well‐being. The study examines the role of work‐organization‐provided supports for families and of informal support networks, including marital satisfaction, as factors that can reduce the risks for indicators of poor well‐being. The data come from a probability sample survey of 8,056 female spouses of U.S. Army personnel, with considerable variation in the amount of travel‐related separations. Findings indicate risks for poor psychological well‐being are greater for spouses who experience more frequent work‐related separations. Findings also indicate that both work organization support and informal support network connections are significant protective factors for spouses experiencing these separations.     

Work–Family Spillover and Daily Reports of Work and Family Stress in the Adult Labor Force*

Work–family research employing nationally representative samples and multiple methods of data collection is uncommon. We used data from two affiliated national surveys to examine the distribution of work–family spillover among working adults. The National Study of Daily Experiences (n= 741 ), an 8‐day daily diary study using a subsample of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS; N= 2,130 ), allowed work–family spillover to be conceptualized and operationalized in different ways. Analyses testing family life course hypotheses indicated that self‐reported negative and positive spillover between work and family were not randomly distributed within the labor force. Age was found to have a persistent curvilinear effect on negative spillover between work and family. The prevalence of co‐occurring work and family stress reported over 8 days was comparable across nearly all the sociodemographic characteristics.     

Attachment and Parenting: The Mediating Role of Work‐Family Balance in Portuguese Parents of Preschool Children

Given the increasingly challenging task of balancing multiple adult life roles in contemporary society, this study examined the influences of both conflicting and (positively) synergistic work and family roles in mediating associations between the quality of adult attachment and both parental satisfaction and parenting stress. Participants were 242 Portuguese fathers and mothers involved in dual‐earner relationships and in parenting preschool‐aged children. Structural Equations Modeling analyses yielded findings demonstrating that the paths from romantic attachment (avoidance and anxiety) to parenting stress and satisfaction were fully explained by work‐family dimensions, especially the conflict dimension. Implications of these findings for parent education and intervention are discussed.     

Promoting Family Resilience Through Evidence‐based Policy Making: Reconsidering the Link Between Adult–Infant Bedsharing and Infant Mortality

Evidence‐based policy making often has a direct or indirect goal of promoting family resilience. The authors consider the ways in which scholarly disagreements about evidence can challenge this goal, focusing on the debate regarding whether adult–infant bedsharing increases the risk of infant mortality. A central issue is whether scholars conclude that public policy should recommend against all bedsharing or only bedsharing in particular risky circumstances. The authors use context‐based evidence‐based policy making (Dobrow, Goel & Upshur, 2004) as a framework for a review of studies of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) correlates and SIDS mechanisms related to bedsharing as well as the reasons parents bed share. The authors discuss the implications of different interpretations of the evidence and point to the potential of adversarial collaboration in helping to address the points of disagreement and ultimately better support family resilience. The issues discussed in this case are broadly relevant to other debated evidence for family policy making.     

Gender,Ethnicity, and the Family Environment: Contributions to Assessment Efforts Within the Realm of Juvenile Justice*

Abstract: The present study examines potential variation in the family environments of African American and Caucasian males and females coming to the attention of the juvenile court. Results of initial analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedures indicated a significant Gender × Ethnicity interaction on scores from the family/parenting domain of the Global Risk Assessment Device, such that African American and Caucasian women displayed the greatest family risks and needs. Further ANOVA procedures indicated that factors related to family, gender, and ethnicity were significant predictors of illegal behavior, and the presence of a Gender × Family interaction was detected, such that the presence of higher family risk and needs coincided with African American and Caucasian women reporting relatively equal prior offenses with their male counterparts.     

The Effects of Community Demands,Resources, and Strategies on the Nature and Consequences of the Work‐Family Interface: An Agenda for Future Research

Abstract: This article presents a broad conceptual framework that suggests ways in which community demands, resources, and strategies influence relationships between work demands, resources, and family well‐being. Within‐domain and boundary‐spanning community demands and resources are proposed to combine with work demands and resources in relation to work‐family conflict and facilitation. Boundary‐spanning community strategies are expected to mediate and moderate relationships between work‐family conflict and facilitation and family well‐being. The paper closes with an agenda for future research and a strategy for policy and practice.     

Registered Domestic Partnerships,Same‐Sex Marriage,and the Pursuit of Equality in California

Policies in California are examined to inform analysts of the process by which legal recognition of same‐sex relationships may be achieved. Content analysis was conducted of relevant legislation, court cases, and voter initiatives, along with interviews with state legislators to gain an eyewitness understanding of the social climate surrounding the implementation of these policies. Legal recognition of same‐sex unions occurs on an incremental basis and is embedded within a larger sociocultural context that includes shifts in public opinion concerning homosexuality and legal recognition of same‐sex unions, issues of civil/human rights versus social control over morality, and the influence of legal developments occurring elsewhere. The most likely outcome of the debate over legal recognition of same‐sex unions is a national domestic partnership or civil unions policy.