Marital Satisfaction among Dual‐Earner Couples: Gender Ideologies and Family‐to‐Work Conflict

This study examines whether the gender ideologies of both spouses moderate how family‐to‐work conflict relates to marital satisfaction among dual‐earner couples. The authors address the research questions using data from a random sample of dual‐earner couples from the northern part of a western state (N = 156 couples). Findings indicate that husbands' gender ideologies moderate how husbands' and wives' family‐to‐work conflict relate to husbands' marital satisfaction. Additionally, husbands' gender ideologies moderate how husbands' family‐to‐work conflict relates to wives' marital satisfaction. In contrast, wives' gender ideologies do not appear to moderate how either spouse's family‐to‐work conflict relate to marital satisfaction. The implications of the study for practitioners, including explicitly talking about gender beliefs with clients and the potential promise of feminist‐informed therapy, are discussed.     

The impact of a change in work posture from seated to stand‐up on work‐related musculoskeletal disorders among sewing‐machine operators

Background

Work‐related postural change could lead to improved musculoskeletal health.

Method(s)

In a quantitative, retrospective, longitudinal study, data of work‐related musculoskeletal disorders of 123 sewing‐machine operators were captured for 4.5 years, and analysed using Poisson regression.

Results

Stand‐up work posture (SUWP) reduced the incidence for spinal disorders (SD) to 0.29 fold the incidence for sitting work posture (SWP) (P < 0.001). Morbid obesity had significantly increased (P = 0.04) incidence of upper limb disorders (ULD), 3.35 times that of normal body mass index (BMI) (regardless of work posture). SUWP was associated with increased IRR (1.49) for lower limb disorders (LLD). LLDs were associated with obesity (overweight (IRR = 2.58; P = 0.08), obese (IRR = 2.45; P = 0.09), and morbidly obese (IRR = 6.24; P = 0.001)).

Conclusions

The protective benefit of the SUWP was statistically significant for SD incidence. Owing to high mean BMI, SUWP had a negative impact on the incidence of LLDs for the first 2 months.

     

Implications of Shift Work for Parent‐Adolescent Relationships in Dual‐Earner Families

Abstract: This investigation examined the implications of shift work for parent‐adolescent relationship quality—intimacy, conflict, parental knowledge, and involvement—in a sample of 376 dual‐earner families. The findings suggested that mothers’ relationships with their adolescents were not negatively impacted by their working nonstandard schedules but fathers’ relationships were. Adolescents with shift working mothers reported more relationship intimacy than adolescents with daytime working mothers. In contrast, fathers with nonstandard shifts knew significantly less about their teens’ daily activities than did fathers with daytime shifts. The combination of fathers having nonstandard schedules and a marriage with high conflict predicted less intimacy with adolescents. Our findings suggest the need for policy that assists nonstandard workers with staying knowledgeable about their adolescents’ daily activities.     

CHILD‐TO‐TEACHER RATIO AND DAY CARE TEACHER SICKNESS ABSENTEEISM

The literature on occupational health points to work pressure as a trigger of sickness absence. However, reliable, objective measures of work pressure are in short supply. This paper uses Danish day care teachers as an ideal case for analysing whether work pressure measured by the child‐to‐teacher ratio, that is, the number of children per teacher in an institution, affects teacher sickness absenteeism. We control for individual teacher characteristics, workplace characteristics, and family background characteristics of the children in the day care institutions. We perform estimations for two time periods, 2002–2003 and 2005–2006, by using generalized method of moments with lagged levels of the child‐to‐teacher ratio as instrument. Our estimation results are somewhat mixed. Generally, the results indicate that the child‐to‐teacher ratio is positively related to short‐term sickness absence for nursery care teachers, but not for preschool teachers. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Welfare Reform,Work‐Family Tradeoffs,and Child Well‐Being*

Welfare reform and related policy changes have altered the context in which welfare‐reliant women make choices about employment and family care. Using data from longitudinal qualitative interviews, we examined women's experiences of work‐family tradeoffs and how they think their employment affected their children. Women identified multiple co‐occurring costs and benefits of work for themselves and their children. Benefits included: increased income; increased self‐esteem, feelings of independence, and social integration; and the ability to model work and self‐sufficiency values for children. Costs included: working without increased income; overload, exhaustion, and stress; and less time and energy to be with, supervise, and support children. The relevance of these findings for family policy specialists and practitioners who work with low‐income families is discussed.     

New‐Concept Part‐Time Employment as a Work‐Family Adaptive Strategy for Women Professionals with Small Children*

This study investigates how the option for new‐concept part‐time (NPT) employment influences the ability of mothers of preschool children working in professional occupations to successfully integrate work and family responsibilities. Female NPT professionals (n = 279) and female full‐time (FT) professionals (n = 250) were compared. The NPT group reported 20 fewer weekly work hours and about $18,000 less estimated annual household income than the FT group. They allocated this additional time primarily to caring for and nurturing their dependent children. They also reported less job‐related travel, unnecessary work, and work‐to‐family conflict, as well as greater work‐family success, childcare satisfaction, and family success. However, NPT mothers reported a more traditional division of labor in household responsibilities and less career opportunity and work success. Implications are presented and discussed.     

Selecting and Assessing the Family‐Friendly Community: Adaptive Strategies of Middle‐Class,Dual‐Earner Couples

Abstract: Using a life course perspective, this study analyzes the adaptive strategy of community selection utilized by middle‐class dual‐earner couples, as well as the perceived family friendliness of their communities. Although many common concerns exist (most paramount being safety, jobs, and housing quality), parents are more apt than nonparents to mention the importance of schools, parks, libraries, and community events. For women, safety and proximity to their spouses’ jobs are stronger considerations than they are for men. Although respondents mention many similar family‐friendly features, only some matter in predicting their overall positive evaluations of community family friendliness. Community is discussed as being an understudied dimension of work‐family policy and research.     

Experiences from the frontline: An exploration of personal advisers’ practice with claimants who have health‐related needs within UK welfare‐to‐work provision

Recent UK welfare reforms have been less successful than expected by the Government in supporting unemployed people with long‐term illness into work. Frontline workers remain a core element of the new welfare‐to‐work machinery, but operate within a changed organisational and policy landscape. These changes raise important questions regarding whether and how claimants’ health‐related barriers to work are considered. This paper examines the UK welfare‐to‐work frontline worker's role with claimants who have long‐term illness. Fieldwork observations in three not‐for‐profit employment support services and semi‐structured interviews with 29 participants (claimants, frontline workers, healthcare professionals and managers) were conducted between 2011 and 2012. Participant observation of the wider welfare‐to‐work arena was initiated in 2009 and continued until 2013. A qualitative methodology drawing on ethnographic principles was adopted. Thematic analysis of the data was carried out. The findings show that the frontline worker plays a key role in assessing and addressing claimants’ health‐related barriers to work. Two important health‐related role dimensions were identified: a health promoter role which involved giving health promotional advice to claimants about their general health; and a health monitor role which involved observing and questioning claimants about their general health. Frontline workers’ practice approaches were shaped by organisational and individual factors. Integration between the National Health Service and employment support services was limited, and the findings suggested improvements were required to ensure an adequate response to claimants’ health‐related needs to support their journey into work.     

Self‐reported musculoskeletal disorder pain: The role of job hazards and work‐life interaction

Background

Previous research identified an association between work‐family conflict and musculoskeletal pain. This study explores how the work‐life interface might affect pain experienced by residential aged care staff.

Methods

A cross‐sectional survey of 426 employees in residential aged care was analyzed to assess the impacts of workplace hazards, work‐family conflict, and work‐life balance on self‐reported musculoskeletal pain.

Results

Work‐family conflict acts as a mediator of the relationships between workplace hazards and the total number of body regions at which musculoskeletal pain was experienced. Work‐life balance only acts as a mediator for particular hazards and only if work‐family conflict is not taken into account.

Conclusions

Addressing work‐life interaction, and in particular work‐family conflict, warrants further investigation as a legitimate means through which musculoskeletal disorder risk can be reduced. Policies and practices to improve work‐life interaction and reduce work‐family conflict should be considered as integral components of musculoskeletal disorder risk management strategies.

     

Long‐term ill health and the social embeddedness of work: a study in a post‐industrial,multi‐ethnic locality in the UK

Against the background of an increasingly individualising welfare‐to‐work regime, sociological studies of incapacity and health‐related worklessness have called for an appreciation of the role of history and context in patterning individual experience. This article responds to that call by exploring the work experiences of long‐term sick people in East London, a post‐industrial, multi‐ethnic locality. It demonstrates how the individual experiences of long‐term sickness and work are embedded in social relations of class, generation, ethnicity and gender, which shape people's formal and informal routes to work protection, work‐seeking practices and responses to worklessness. We argue that this social embeddedness requires greater attention in welfare‐to‐work policy.     

A Typology of Work‐Family Arrangements Among Dual‐Earner Couples in Norway

A symmetrical family model of two workers or caregivers is a political goal in many western European countries. We explore how common this family type is in Norway, a country with high gender‐equality ambitions, by using a multinomial latent class model to develop a typology of dual‐earner couples with children based on the partners' allocations of paid and unpaid work. Using data on 2,617 respondents from the Norwegian Generations and Gender Survey, we estimate 4 classes, of which 2 are characterized by a fairly equal sharing between the partners and 2 have more traditional arrangements. Equal sharing is practiced by 4 out of 10 couples and is most likely when the partners are well educated and work regular hours and the father is in public‐sector employment. A traditional practice is likely when the partners have less education, the mother has health problems, the father has private‐sector employment, and the partners work irregular hours.     

Longitudinal Associations Between Maternal Work Stress,Negative Work‐Family Spillover,and Depressive Symptoms

The current study examined associations over an 18‐month period between maternal work stressors, negative work‐family spillover, and depressive symptoms in a sample of 414 employed mothers with young children living in six predominantly nonmetropolitan counties in the Eastern United States. Results from a one‐group mediation model showed that a less flexible work environment and greater work pressure predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms and, further, that these associations were mediated by perceptions of negative work‐family spillover. Additionally, results from a two‐group mediation model suggested that work pressure predicted greater perceptions of spillover only for mothers employed full‐time. Findings suggest the need for policies that reduce levels of work stress and help mothers manage their work and family responsibilities.