Intra- and Inter-Individual Associations of Family-to-Work Conflict, Psychological Distress, and Job Satisfaction: Gender Differences in Dual-Earner Parents during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the work-family interface dynamics in some families. For couples who kept earning a double income during the pandemic, their family demands may entail a loss of psychological resources that affect the work domain. This study explored the intra-individual and inter-individual (crossover) direct and indirect effects of family-to-work conflict (FtoWC) on psychological distress and job satisfaction in a non-probabilistic sample of 860 different-sex dual-earner parents with adolescent children from Temuco and Rancagua, Chile. Mothers and fathers answered an online questionnaire measuring FtoWC, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale, and the Overall Job Satisfaction Scale. The data were analyzed using the actor-partner interdependence model with structural equation modeling. Results showed that a higher FtoWC is linked to greater psychological distress and lower job satisfaction in both parents. In contrast, psychological distress is directly linked to lower job satisfaction in fathers. In both fathers and mothers, they and their partners’ FtoWC were indirectly linked to lower job satisfaction via the fathers’ psychological distress. These findings indicate the need for gender-sensitive social and labor policies aimed at reducing the conflict between family and work to increase job satisfaction in both parents and reduce psychological distress, particularly in fathers.

Keywords

• family-to-work conflict
• job satisfaction
• psychological distress
• dual-earner couples
• dyadic analysis