UDEDIBIE OKECHUKWU B.I

Transcription

1 i UDEDIBIE OKECHUKWU B.I ROLE OF COUPLE TYPES, MARITAL QUALITY, AND JOB STATUS IN WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT AMONG MARRIED MOTHERS PSYCHOLOGY SOCIAL SCIENCES MADUFOR, CYNTHIAC. Digitally Signed by: Content manager s Name DN : CN = Webmaster s name O= University of Nigeria, Nsukka OU = Innovation Centre

2 ii ROLE OF COUPLE TYPES, MARITAL QUALITY, AND JOB STATUS IN WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT AMONG MARRIED MOTHERS BY UDEDIBIE OKECHUKWU B.I PG/MSC/09/50587 DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA NSUKKA AUGUST 2012 Certification

3 iii I Udedibie, Okechukwu B.I. with registration number PG/M.Sc/09/50587, hereby certify that this research work has been read and approved as meeting the requirement for the award of the Degree of Masters of Science (M.Sc) in Industrial Psychology under the Department of Psychology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.... DR. L.I. UGWU SUPERVISOR.. EXTERNAL EXAMINER PROF. P.N. IBEAGHA HEAD, DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY. PROF. C.O.TAGBO UGWU DEAN, FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES DEDICATION

4 iv The work is dedicated to God Almighty, the ever gracious, for His blessings and unending love, to my parents and brothers for their morale support and advices. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

5 v First and foremost I offer my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. L.I. Ugwu, who has supported me throughout with his knowledge, patience, and encouragement. Without him this thesis would have not been completed. To the entire staff members of the department, Professor T.N Ibeagha, Dr. C. Ugwu, Dr. Mefor, Dr. L.O Amazue, Dr. John Eze, Dr. Uzondu, Dr. Sis. Nwoke, Dr. Onyishi, Dr Val Eze, Mrs. Ugwu, Sis Adibe, miss Nneoma, miss Blessing whose support and motivation saw me through my studies. To my brothers Chiedu, Ekene, and Chidera Udedibie for their inspiration in the pursuit of my goals. To my friends Ilo Kingsley, Elekwachi Chimezie, Nonso Agu, and Ajoku Olivia for their support and understanding and encouragement. My Aunties Mrs. Maud line Okpara and Dr. May Brown for their prayers. Finally To my parents, lots of thanks, Prof. & Mrs. A.B.I. Udedibie whose love and care I have relied on throughout my time at the university and this thesis would certainly not have existed without them. Title Page Certificate TABLE OF CONTENTS i ii

6 vi Dedication iii Acknowledgement iv Table of contents v List of tables vi List of figures vii Abstract viii CHAPTER ONE Introduction 1 Statement of the Problem 6 Purpose of the Study 8 Operational Definition of Terms 8 CHAPTER TWO Literature Review 10 Theoretical Review 10 Empirical Review 16 Summary of Literature Review 32 Hypotheses 33 CHAPTER THREE Method 34 Participants 34 Instruments 34 Procedure 36 Design/Statistics 36 CHAPTER FOUR Result 37 CHAPTER FIVE Discussion 40 Limitations 43 Suggestions 43 Recommendations 44 Summary and Conclusion 44 References 46 Appendixes 56 List of tables

7 vii Table1. Table of means and standard deviation Table2. Tests of between-subject effects Lists of figures

8 viii Figure1. Graphical illustration of interaction effect of couple type and job status in work-family conflict.

9 ix ABSTRACT The study investigated the role of couple type, marital quality and job status in workfamily conflict among married mothers. Two hundred married mothers (200) were drawn from the Federal University of Technology Owerri. A 18-item work-family conflict scale was used to assess mothers work-family conflict. A 25 item index of marital satisfaction was used to classified participants into high and low marital quality. Couple type and job status were also classified as integrated couples and distant couple, senior staff and junior staff respectively. The design of the study was a cross-sectional survey. Three way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with unequal sample sizes was used to test the three hypotheses. Results showed that couple type had a significant effect in work-family conflict F (1,185) = at p < The results further revealed that there was no significant effect of marital quality in work-family conflict F (1, 185) =.24 at p> In addition, the results revealed that there was no significant effect of job status in work-family conflict F (1, 185) = 4.42 at p> The results revealed a significant interaction effect of couple type and job status in work-family conflict F (1, 185) = 7.96 at p < The findings of the study were discussed.

10 x

11 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Work-family conflict has become an issue of particular concern to today s businesses. Its prevalence among employees and the negative consequences of this conflict for one s satisfaction has led it become one of the problems that managers and directors have to deal with most. Research that examined work-family conflict have advanced over the last few decades and has led to the development of theoretical models, empirical studies, and organization sponsored work-family initiatives. As organizations attempt to help employees manage the balance between work and family demands, there is a growing body of research on the topic of work-family conflict. This body of research, which has culminated in a fairly clear conceptual framework for analyzing the mechanisms that link family and work domains (Edwards & Rothbard, 2000), is however, still yet to adequately address a range of issues (Parasuraman & Greenhaus, 2002). Parasaruman & Greenhaus (2002), in their review of the literature and empirical results of work-family research, highlighted areas that represent significant gaps in collective knowledge on work and family. Areas such as a) Very limited amount of work which considers the couple as the unit of analysis. b) Limited understanding about individual differences in reactions to workfamily pressures. Empirical evidence also confirms that work-family conflict is often a severe stress factor at work leading to, various negative outcomes, including impaired well-being (Karatepe & Tekinkus, 2006). Besides the rapid increase of married women entering the work force while continuing to maintain the majority of the family and household responsibilities (Jackson, Tal & Sullivan, 2003), the interest in the topic has also in

12 2 large measures been fuelled by the recognition that work-family concerns are highly salient for the well-being of employees. Work-family conflict has been defined in a variety of modes, although the most widely recognized is in the form of inter-role conflict. Greenhaus & Beutell (1985) provided the most widely recognized definition of work-family conflict (e.g. Bruck, Allen & Specter, 2002), which states a form of inter-role conflict in which the role pressures from work and family domains are mutually incompatible in some respect (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; 77). The conflict between work and family demands may cause conflict between work roles and family roles, which is referred to as work-family conflict. Work and family conflict was traditionally viewed as a one-dimensional construct (e.g. Greenhaus, Bedian, and Mossholder, 1987), although more recent studies have pointed out that work-family could be a two-dimensional construct (Gutek, Searle, and Klepa, 1991). Scholars (e.g. Gutek et al, 1991) suggest that two separate types of conflict exist, work interfering with family conflict (work-family conflict) defined as conflict occurring due to the activities and responsibilities of the work interfering with the activities and responsibilities of the family and home life. The other dimension of the construct is family interfering with work (family-work conflict) as the reverse, the activities and responsibilities of work, concluding in a type of conflict (Gutek et al, 1991). It has also been found that the two dimensions, work-family conflict and familywork conflict are asymmetrically permeable, suggesting that the domains of the work and the family are flexible, which causes the conflict (Frone, Rusell, & Cooper, 1992b). These authors also pointed out that the relationship is reciprocal between the two constructs and that the boundaries of the family are more permeable than the boundaries of the work (Frone et al, 1992b).

13 3 Researchers have identified work-family conflict as one of the major stressors in the work place in the United States (Allen, Herts, Bruck, & Sutton, 2000; Frone, 2003). In Canada, time in employment increased for many, as did the non-work demands resulting from the continued change in family structures and the continued rise in the percentage of employees with child care, elder care or both (Duxbury and Higgens, 2003). Men have assumed more family responsibilities, in part due to high rates of divorce resulting in increased involvement in single parenting (Gill and Davidson, 2001). As a result, many men, like women, are beginning to experience increased levels of stress and conflict as they juggle work and parenting responsibilities (Tennant & Sperry, 2003). It is evident that work lives can either enhance or detract from our family lives. In the same manner our family lives can have positive or negative influence on our work attitudes, behaviours, and outcomes. For example, extensive and inflexible work hours; over-involvement in work and job stress may produce distress within the family sphere, as well as withdrawal from family responsibilities, and adversely affect one s overall quality of life. Similarly, extensive care-giving responsibilities and intensive involvement with family activities can limit individuals career choices and aspirations and negatively affect their work involvement, job satisfaction, and intention to continue their employment. Although researchers argue that both depletion and enrichment processes operate simultaneously for employees who assume both roles (Ohlott, Graves and Ruderman, 2004; Ruderman et al, 2002; Wadsworth and Owens, (2007), work interference still must be managed because the existence of enhancement does not eliminate role conflict. The work-family literature has a focus on negative impacts of work-family demographic changes, including increased participation rates of women and parents.

14 4 In addition, employees report escalating demands on their time (Aryee, Srinivas and Tan, 2005), which further intensifies and stigmatizes the work-family interference. Frone (2003) asserted that as a result of these changes, more families now have to juggle both the demands of dependent care with the demands of the job. Indeed, the negative outcomes associated with work-family conflict have been well explored, and there is a universal agreement that work-family conflict can be detrimental (e.g. increased turnover intentions, Haar, 2004). However, recently there have been calls from critics that argue that working and family responsibilities need not always be detrimental (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006). In their seminal review of the work and family literature, Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) identified three major types of work family conflict. a) Strain-based conflict b) Time-based conflict c) Behaviour-based conflict. This conceptualization has been consistently, used by researchers over the past two decades to assess various antecedents and consequences of work-family conflict (Gutek et al, 1991; Frone et al, 1992; Williams & Alliger, 1994; Netemeyer, Boles & Memurrian, 1996; Edward & Rothbard, 2000). Strains-based conflict- Research on inter-role conflict indicates that excessive demands from one role inhibits the performance of the other role by creating strain for the individual in the form of dissatisfaction, tension, anxiety and fatigue (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; Edwards & Rothbard, 2000). Time-based conflict- This is where personal resources such as time, energy, and attention are deemed to be finite, and that exertion of greater resources in one domain

15 5 (i.e. work) inevitably results in (Edwards & Rothbard, 2000, Greenhaus & Powell, 2003). Behaviour-based conflict- The third type of conflict occurs when certain patterns of inrole behaviour become incompatible with expectations regarding behaviour in another role, (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). Couple type: It becomes more significant in a dual-earner relationship where both partners possess work and family roles and as a result the potential to experience conflicting demands is much greater (Parasuraman & Greenhaus, 2002). They further suggest that the concept of role salience provides a useful basis on which to conceptually distinguish different couple types. Using the Conversation of Resources model, the couples type can be considered a valued resource. Those who are married and living together may have more resources to draw on (i.e. their spouse, more finances), than those who are not living with someone in a committed relationship. Therefore, those who are married/living together should have lower levels of stress than those than those who are not living with anyone. The proposed study aims to address the relative paucity of research examining the impact of couple s experience of work-family conflict. To this end, a typology of couples based on married mothers living with their husbands and married mothers separated from their husbands on account of work would be utilized. Marital quality: Cherlon (1999) believed that marital happiness is relatively high in the beginning and the end of marriages, and relatively low in the middle of marriages. Research have shown that marital happiness is an important ingredient for overall life satisfaction for married individuals in general and work-family balance (Nickerson et al.,2003). Marital quality therefore can be conceptualized as the degree of personal satisfaction an individual feels about his or her marriage. For couples the

16 6 impact of both spouses working increases the numbers of stressors in their relationship, and this can result in marital conflict (Schulz,Cowan, & Brennan, 2004). Job status: People find themselves in current status of a job which they occupy and place their priority either as higher or lower. John (2006) emphasized the role of context as opportunities and constraints that affect the occurrence and meaning of organizational behaviour as well as functional relationships between variables. It is likely that the three dimensions of discrete context identified by John (2006); the task, the social environment, and the physical environment are substantially different for higher-level and lower-level employees (Heymann et al., 2007). Therefore, examining the role of job status in work-family conflict can provide a more nuanced appreciation of the role of context at the work-family interface. Statement of the Problem The workforce has seen a large increase in female and professional workers, with many of these being considered working mothers. These societal changes and technological advances have in an incidental way created a serious potential for interference, conflict and competitive demands between workplace and personal needs at home. Often, the pressure from the job and family domains are mutually incompatible and thus can create conflict or dissonance (Peelers, Montogemery, Bakker, & Schaufeli, 2005). Running conflicts between work and family may result in a variety of negative outcomes including risks to physical and mental health, poor job performance, poor parental performance, incidence of work withdrawal behaviours (example, tardiness, absenteeism, turnover, how job involvement), low morale and low satisfaction with job, life, marriage and family (Mesme-Magmus & Viswesvaran, 2006). Similarly according to MacDonald and Liff (2007), work families and home families were in a sense in

17 7 competition. Such an integrative perspective can allow the examination of how work and family may enhance each other (Aryee, Srinivas, & Tan, 2005). Recent research has applied these various conceptualizations of work-family linkage such as work-family inter-role conflict. Findings indicate that high levels of interference from one role can result in a dissonant state dysfunctional behaviours become evident (Hammer, Bauer, & Grandey, 2003) or more ominous, the employee experiences burnout (Feelers et al., 2005). The researcher therefore states the following problems: 1) Would there be significant difference in work-family conflict between integrated couples and distant couples? 2) Would there be significant difference in work-family conflict between couples of high martial quality and couples of low martial quality? 3) Would there be significant difference in work-family conflict between couples of senior staff and couples of junior staff? Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to examine the level of married women s work-family conflict, with a view to investigating its effect on couple type, marital quality and job status and also to identify some possible solutions and recommendations. 1) To examine the effect of couple types in work-family conflict among married mothers. 2) To examine the effect of marital quality in work-family conflict among married mothers. 3) To examine the effect of job status in work-family conflict among married mothers.

18 8 Operational Definition of Terms Couples type - In this study couple types will divided in two categories namely integrated couples (mothers living under one roof with their husbands) and distant couples (mothers living with their husbands but separated by distance). Marital quality - This refers to the degree of personal satisfaction an individual feels about his or her marriage. In this study, the index of marital satisfaction by Hudson (1982) will be used for classification. Marital quality will be categorized into two forms. Those that score above the norm score will be classified as having marital problems (high marital quality) and those who score below the norm score will be classified as having a satisfying marriage (low marital quality). Job status - This refers to an individuals position in his or her work place. In this study, job status will be categorized using the civil service description of senior staff and junior staff. Work-family conflict - This refers to a form of inter-role conflict experienced by mothers in which the role pressures from the work and family domains are mutually incompatible as measured by work-family conflict scale. Individuals who score high in the work-family scale are classified as having high work-family conflict.

19 9 CHAPTER TWO Literature Review 1) Theoretical review 2) Empirical review Theoretical Review This section describes theories that are directly and indirectly linked to workfamily conflict. Compensation Theory The theory postulates that people who are not satisfied in one domain will seek satisfaction in another domain. Individuals can compensate for dissatisfaction in one role in a number of ways; they can reduce the importance ascribed to a loss rewarding role or they can seek rewards and invest more time and attention in an alternative role. Numbers of studies have shown the theory s proposition. Rothbard (2001, as cited in Jones, Burke and Westman, 2006) found that women who experienced negative effects from family were more engaged with their work which means that such women enjoy their work and actually compensates for the unhappiness experienced at home. Staines (1980) emphasized that compensation proposes that individuals invest more heavily in one domain to make up for what is missing in the other domain. Conservation of Resources Model A general stress model may offer an appropriate theoretical framework for future work-family studies. The conservation of resources (COR) model encompasses several stress theories (Hobfoll, 1989). The COR model proposed that the individuals seek to acquire and maintain resources. Stress is a reaction to an environment in which there is the threat of a loss of resources, an actual loss in resources, or lack of an expected gain in resources. Resources include objects, energies, personal

20 10 characteristics and conditions. Especially relevant are the conditions of married status and tenure are examples of both family and work resources that are valued and sought. Personal characteristics are resources which buffer one against stress. Self esteem is considered to be such a resource (Rosenberg, 1979). Energies include resources such as time, money, and knowledge they allow one to acquire other resources. Loss of these resources, or the threat of such a loss, may cause the experience of stress. The COR model explains stress comes from both intra-and interrole stress. For example, employees experiencing work role conflict may come to believe that they cannot successfully perform the job. Consequently, they may be forced to invest more of their resources into the work role for fear of losing their job status. The COR model proposes that interrole conflict leads to stress because resources are lost in the process of juggling both work and family roles. These potential or actual losses of resources lead to negative state of being, which may include dissatisfaction, depression, anxiety, or physiological tension. Some type of behaviour, such as planning to leave the work role, is needed to replace or protect the threatened resources. If this type of behaviour is not taken, the resources may be so depleted that burnout ensues (Hobfoll & Shirom 1993; Wright & Cropanzano, 1998). The number of children living at home and marital status are expected to relate to family role stress and how family interferes with work. More children at home would mean less of the valued resources of time and energy. Eagle et al (1996), found that the number of children one had was significantly related to family-work conflicts stated in the COR model, married status can be considered a valued resource; those who are married and living together may have more resources to draw on (i.e., spouse, more finances), than those who are not living with someone in a committed relationship

21 11 (Eagle, Miles, Icenogle; 1997). Those who are living together/married together should have lower levels of stress. Research suggests that women are still primarily responsible for the household (Pleck, 1985). The expectations that women will take care of the family may cause family demand to interfere with work more for women than for men. Spillover Theory This theory reflects two distinct sets of concepts. One set represents negative spillover between work and family and is most frequently characterized by various types of work and family conflict or interference. Co-occurring negative events, such as stressors, on the same day in multiple domains or from one person to another (Almeida, Wethington and Chandler, 1991; Repetti, 1989) also have been viewed as a form of negative spillover. Another, more recent set of concepts represents positive spillover between work and family, such as resource enhancement and work-family success or balance (Milkie and Peltola, 1999; Moen and Yu, 1999). Previous research has indicated that negative forms of spillover are related, yet distinct from positive spillover (Grzywacz, and Marks, 2000). In essence, the spillover model asserts that there is similarity between what occurs in the work environment and what occurs in the family environment. It also proposes that a person s work experiences influence what he or she does away from work. In general, spillover is a notion of positive relationships between work and family variables such that an individual s satisfaction with work enhances family life. Segmentation Theory This theory proposes that work and non work spheres are distinct so an individual can be successful in one without any influences on the other. The two

22 12 spheres exist side by side and for all practical purposes are separated from each other. This separation, in type, space or function, allows one effectively compartmentalize one s life. The dominant view is that family is the realm of intimacy and empathy, whereas the work world is impersonal and instrumental. Lambert (1992), stated that segmentation theory assumes that work and family are independent domains and that individuals may separate them in terms of time, physical location, emotions, attitudes and behaviour. Greenhaus and Beutell s (1985) description of work-family conflict as a form of inter-role conflict in which family and work-demands are incompatible in some way, forms part of this theory. Identity Theory This theory is a microsociological theory, which links self-attitudes or identities, to the role relationship and role-related behaviour of individuals. The theory states that the self consists of a collection of identities, each of which is based on occupying a particular role (Stryker and Burk, 2000). Identities can be defined as one s answers to the question who am I. Identities might be in form of familial or occupational. In turn, these role identities are said to influence behaviour in that each role has a set of associated meanings and expectations for the self. Stryker and Burke (2000) emphasized that identity salience is important in understanding the theory. They proposed that salience of individual attached to his identity influences how much effort one puts into each role and how well one performs in each role. The identity theory has also made use of the assumption that a man s performance of the work role also fulfills his family role as society has deemed a man s primary role to be that of providing for the family, whereas, for women, there is no overlap between the two identities. Within society women s primary role is considered

23 13 to be that of looking after children and the household (Stryker and Burke, 2000). Therefore, according to this theory, work is seen as the salient role identity of men, and family as the salient role identity of women. Identity theory states that stress and conflict between roles would arise when individuals attempt to maintain a salient role identity in a situation that requires performance of another identity and role. Therefore women who have a high investment in both work and family would experience a great deal of work-family conflict (Stryker & Burke, 2000). Work-family conflict and effort-recovery model The effort-recovery model (E-R model) proposed by Meigman (1989) asserts that employees build up negative load effects during the week day. This does not necessarily lead to negative consequences for employee s health and well-being as long as employees are given sufficient time to recover from these effects. If the individual does not have ample private time to recover, load effects build up at work resulting from long hours, do cause health problems. Furthermore, individuals do need sufficient unwinding time to recover from strain and tiredness carried from the work environment. Mover over, as previous studies have found that the effort-reward imbalance may lead to negative effective reactions (Van Vegchel et al., 2005 as cited in Kinman and Jones, 2007) as perceived inequality could also manifest itself as strain-based work-family conflict. The relevance of the effort-recovery model to the work-home interface is clear. It is plausible that high levels of job-related effort and over-commitment to the job role might result in perceived conflict between work and home. It is also likely those employees who believe that their efforts and achievements at work are not

24 14 counterbalanced by the rewards which they receive. It may be less likely to tolerate an intrusion into their home lives rather than those who work under more equitable conditions. Theory of Role Balance Researchers have explored the notion of the way in which feelings of balance may also involve enjoyment of and commitment to roles (Marks & McDermid, 1996; Crosby & Jaskar, 1993; Marks, 1977 as cited in Milkie & Peltola, 1999). This theory was introduced by Marks and MacDonald (1996) which suggests that people who have well-balanced role systems, which they conceptualize as full engagement in and enjoyment of all unspecified roles, have higher levels of well-being. Using a sample of employed mothers, they showed that those who were more role balanced, who enjoy every part of their life equally well, were not necessarily the ones who worked the fewest hours. They worked the same number of hours as the less balanced, and they reported less overload, had higher self-esteem, and low depression levels (Milkie and Peltorla, 1999). Although the numbers and kinds of demand from work and family are likely to relate to how successfully one is in balancing these areas, feeling balanced may also have to do with a sense that there is harmony amongst the various roles within these two spheres (Shelton, 1992). Balance may involve several distinct aspects of harmony, an accord between beliefs about the proper balance and work and the quality of relations amongst role partners. Although women may adapt to multiple roles easily, it may cause conflict between them and their spouses if they are too committed to their work that eventually distracts attraction from family commitments. It seems that women who are balanced or committed across roles, regardless of the number of roles they occupy, will most probably reflect greater of satisfaction and mental health (Perry Jenkins, Repetti and Grouter, 2000).

25 15 Empirical Review Couple Type and work-family conflict Given the uneven distribution of household responsibilities between couples working wives may experience more work-family conflict than their spouses. Prior research has borne this notion out (Aryee & Luk 1996, Carlson et at., 1995; Herman & Gyllstom, 1977; Jick & Mitz, 1985; Wiersma, 1990). In particular, for married managerial women who are likely to be members of dual-career families, a significant amount of household commitment has to be balanced with the pursuit of career. Thus, these women might feel greater role pressures from both the work and family domains as compared to their male counterparts. The debate of gender versus job models of women s employment provides some insight into the issue of work-family conflict among women executives (Feldberg and Gleen, 1979; Lorence, 1987). The gender model highlights the importance of household responsibilities faced by working wives in generating conflicts between domestic and work roles (Loser and Rokoff, 1970; Voydanoff, 1988). According to the rational view, the more hours one expends in both the work and the family domains, the more conflict one will perceive (Keith and Sehafer, 1984, Guitek et al., 1991). A positive relationship has been confirmed in past researches between time commitment to work and work-family conflict (Greenhaus et al., 1987; Greenhaus et al., 1989; Voydanoff, 1988). Gutek et al., (1991) further noted that, for working women, the time they spent in work activities is strongly associated with work. A job-related factor that has drawn increasing research attention recently is job flexibility. Job flexibility reflects the autonomy and/or control on have regarding time schedule and work location. It has been suggested that high flexibility at work facilitates job-family compatibility and thus reduces work-family conflict (Glass and

26 16 Camarigg, 1992; Ngo, 1992; Parasuraman et al., 1996). For example, a highly flexible job (such as working at home) may allow women to shift between their domestic and work roles easily and hence better manager their time (Ngo, 1992). Apart from factors in the workplace, family-related variables may also have a significant impact on work-family conflict, particularly on family interference with work. While the effects of the job-related factors are generally not gender-specific, the influence of family-related factors on work-family conflict is expected to be different for the two sexes. Because of the traditional gender roles that place higher priority on domestic obligations for women (such as child care), factors associated with family life are likely to exert greater influence on women s attitudes and behaviours (Voydanoff, 1988). The foremost family-related variable that has drawn wide attention is number of children at home (Pleck et al., 1980). Given that child care responsibilities normally rest on women, working wives with more children are likely to experience greater working-family conflict (Beutell & Greenhaus, 1982; Voydanoff, 1988). As shown in previous research, having young children at home is consistently related to role strain and time shortage for women (Keith & Sehafer, 1980; Voydanoff & Kelly, 1984). A related variable is the age of the children. Younger children generally require more attention from working parents, and thus more time is needed to spend on them. Family orientation is an attitudinal factor that may lead to work-family conflict (Parasuraman et al., 1996; Yogev & Brett, 1983). It is postulated that working women who have stronger identity with familial roles are likely to feel the incompatibility between work and family life (Blelby & Blelby, 1988). Owing to the traditional sex-role ideology, women are socialized to have a stronger orientation to and greater involvement in the family than men. For working

27 17 wives, role strain and time conflict may occur more frequently as a result of dual commitments to employment and to the family. The relative effects of both family and work variables however could be different among male and female executives, since women are more concerned with their domestic roles than their work-roles as compared to men (Nieva & Gutek, 1981; Voydanoff, 1988). These roles have evolved over the years with more women accepting the role of paid employment in their lives and men beginning to take on household and parenting duties (Pleck, 1993; Theunissen; Van Vuuren & Visser, 2003). The family life course theory emphasizes the importance of an individual s location, within the context of the family, in a socially structured status hierarchy and the corresponding social inequalities. (Grzywacz, Almeida, & MacDonald, 2002). For example women are frequently found to shoulder a disproportionate amount of family and household responsibilities in contrast to men. Women are also more likely to be employed in bad jobs (Kalleberg, Reskin & Hudson, 2000) which may not provide work-family benefits. Similarly, racial minorities, the poorly educated, and those with modest economic resources typically face a disproportionate amount of life stress, and they generally have fewer social resources for coping with those stressors. Based on the assumptions around the social structural context of the family life course and previous research (Grzywacz et al., 2002), it has been hypothesized that women, blacks, those with less education, and those with the lowest level of income would report the highest levels of negative spillover between work and family the greatest prevalence of cooccurring work and family stress, and the lowest level of positive spillover between work and family. Researchers for example Roy, Tubbs, & Burton (2004) confirmed the above stating that it is emerging in literature, that there is an awareness that low income

28 18 mothers find it difficult not to make use of assistance through paid work experiences as well as trying to fulfill their job as well as their family responsibilities. Balancing work and family, then, is difficult under most circumstances but probably more challenging for low-income mothers who must achieve a balance under severe resources and time constraints. Studies on the effects of mothers employment on parenting and children considered middle-class employed mothers only (Goldberg, Greenberger, & Negel, 1996; Mac Ewen & Barling, 1991) or low-income single mothers (Jackson, 2003; Joshi, 2007: Murry, Brody, Brown, Wisenbaker, Cutrona, & Simons, 2002; Raver, 2003). Workplace characteristics can also contribute to higher levels of work-family conflict. Researchers have found that the number of hours worked per week, the amount and frequency of overtime required, an inflexible work schedule, unsupportive supervisor, and an in hospitable organizational culture increase the likelihood that women employees will experience conflict between their work and family role. Baruch & Bernett (1987) found that women who had multiple life roles (e.g., mothers, wife, employee) were less depressed and had higher self-esteem than women who were more satisfied in their marriages and jobs compared to women and men who are not married, unemployed, or childless. However, authors argued quality of role rather than the quantity of roles that matters. That is, there is a positive association between multiple roles and good mental health when a woman likes her job and likes her home life. Several aspects of family structure are associated with work-family conflict including dependent care responsibilities, especially care for the elderly and disabled children or adults and life cycle stage. Duxbury & Higgins (2003) found that both male

29 19 and female Canadian employees with dependent care responsibilities report higher levels of work-to-family conflict. Intuitively, these results make sense as employees with children and/or elderly dependents are more likely to have inflexible commitments at home that will conflict with expectations or demands at work. This study also found that employees with dependent care responsibilities were at higher risk of caregiver strain. The presence of children in the household has also been positively related to work-family conflict (Carnicer et al., 2004). The association between life-cycle stage and work-family conflict has been documented by researchers (Ahmad, 2007; Lu, Gilmour, Kao, and Huang, 2006). Work and family role demands encountered during adulthood varies with an adult s life-cycle stage. Among female factory operators with youngest children aged less than three years, Ahmad (2007) found that operators with youngest child aged less than three years experienced more work-to-family conflict than those with youngest child aged three above. Similarly, Lu et al. (2006) found that age of the youngest child was negatively correlated with both work-to-family conflict and family-to-work family. The findings support the contention that working mothers with younger children would experience more work-to-family conflict than those with older children. Parents of dependent young children, especially mothers, have higher family demands than those with older children. These greater, often unpredictable demands, such as childcare arrangement and care of sick child, would result in lower levels of control over the work and family interface and thus higher levels of work-family conflict. However, as the children get older the demands, especially those related to childcare, would decrease, resulting in increased the levels of control and lower stress for the parents. Studies have shown that family involvement refers to the degree to which individuals identify with their family, the relative importance of the family to individual s

30 20 self-image and self-concept, and individual s commitment to their family, is related to work-family conflict. For example, a mother with an ill child may not be able to stop thinking about her child even though she must be at work and fulfill her work-role responsibilities. Carlson & Kacmar (2000) found that employees who were more involved or immersed in the family domain experienced more family interference with work conflict. Greenhaus, parasuraman, & Collins (2001) found a positive relationship between family involvement and work-family conflict, a relationship that was stronger for males than females. A positive relationship has well been confirmed in past research between time commitment to work and work-family conflict (Greenhaus, ital., 1987) Greenhaus et al, Voydanoff,1988). The more hours one expands in both the work family domains. Studies suggest that work time commitment is related to the intensity of work-family conflict experienced by employees. One of the commonly measured forms of work-family is time-based conflict, defined as conflict that occurs when the amount of time devoted to one role makes it difficult to fulfill the requirements of another role (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). Long hours could have negative consequences for families and worker who struggle to balance the demands of work and family roles. Barnett and Hyde (2001) emphasized that the total demand on time and energy are too great for an individual to perform the roles adequately, role overload occurs. Individuals who occupy work roles and perceive that their work load is more than they can handle, would experience negative emotion, fatigue and tension. These findings would then have positive effects on work-family conflict. Ahmad and Maznah B., (2003; 2004) examined the role over load experienced at work and its relationship with work-family conflict among Malaysian female physicians in public hospitals. The study found that 87.7% of the physicians in public hospitals. The study found that 87.7% of

31 21 the physicians experienced moderate to heavy workload which could be attributed to relatively high frequency of on-calls and an increase in the number of patients in the ward leading to a high patient to physical ratio. The physicians also experienced a considerable intensity of work-family conflict and the conflict tended to increase with an increase in work-load. Other researchers have also demonstrated a significant relationship between workload and work-family conflict (Fu & Shaffer, 2001). Harris and Firestone (1998), defined gender role orientation as the beliefs individuals hold about normal roles of men and women in meeting family and work responsibilities. Conceptually, gender role orientation is seen as ranging on a continuum from traditional gender role orientation whereby the roles men and women are seen as distant and separate. To a focus on non-traditional gender role orientation characterized by role sharing between men and women, Hence men who saw their roles as interchangeable with their wives roles tend to accept more responsibility for tasks associated with childcare, meal preparation and cleaning than men who endorsed specialized roles between men and women. A study conducted on female nurses and their husbands by Ahmad (1999) found that nurses experienced varying degrees of conflict in trying to meet the demands of work and family roles. About two-thirds if the nurses experienced moderate to highly intensity of conflict. Husbands gender roles orientation ranged from traditional to egalitarian with slightly less than three quarters of them holding traditional to moderately egalitarian orientation and slightly more than a quarter holding egalitarian orientation. Significant negative relationship has found between husbands gender role orientation and wives work-family conflict. This indicates that women

32 22 whose husbands hold more egalitarian orientation tend to experience less work-family conflict. Marital quality and work-family conflict Marital quality and job satisfaction are inter-related, with increase in marital happiness significantly related to increases in career satisfaction, and increase in marital unhappiness significantly related to decreasing job and career satisfaction (Rodgers, & May, 2003). Marital happiness can be conceptualized as the degree of personal satisfaction an individual feels about his/her marriage. It is widely believed that marital happiness is relatively high in the beginning and end of marriages, and relatively low in the middle of marriages (Cherlon, 1996). However, recent research suggests that the general trend for marital happiness is that this relationship is more negative than U-shaped, based on recent evidence from a comprehensive longitudinal panel study in the United States (Van Laningham, Johnson & Amato, 2001). Regardless of the general life cycle of marital happiness, previous research shows that marital happiness is an important ingredient for overall life satisfaction for married individuals in general and work-family balance in particular (Nickerson, schware, Diener, & Kahneman, 2003). Furthermore, marital happiness and workfamily balance are not just an important goal for married individuals in the United States, but throughout the world (Keng-Howe & Liao, 1999; Spector et al., 2004). Due to the influx of women into the paid workforce in the last half-century, the balance of family dynamics has shifted significantly. For the couple particularly, the impact of both spouses working increases the number of stressors in their relationship. The attempt to balance working outside home, taking care of children, and completing household chores and errands is likely to set motion a pattern of demands, stresses, and frustrations that shape man s and women s emotional lives and the nature of the

33 23 family relationships (Schulz, Cowan, & Brennan, 2004). This can result in marital conflict. Heller and Natson (2005) emphasized that an increased demand in one domain, either work or family, can cause strain on the other because of the overlap in these two roles and spouses limited time and energy; this is known as resource drain hypothesis. When one role affects a person s ability to contribute as a family member, spouse or employee, this concept is referred to as spillover. Spillover or the transmission of attitudes or reactions can have a positive or negative outcome (Mauno & Kinneanen, 1999; Rogers and May, 2003; Schulz, et al., 2004; Song, Foo & Uj, 2008). When spillover follows the path of work to home, it begins with a job stressormoving from affecting one s occupational well-being to his/her overall well-being and, finally, to his/her spouses marital well-being (Mauno & Kinnunen, 1999). Sweet and Moen (2004; 2007) noted that male spouses employment ended to take priority over female spouses workforce positions, especially if they decide to relocate. When a male s workload is greater, he is more likely to withdraw at home, whereas a female with greater workload is more likely to increase her anger at home. This demonstrates the gender difference when have the tendency to retract while women have a desire for further connection (Schulz et al., 2004). As a result, women report lower marital satisfaction due to decreased time shared with their husband (Sweet & Moen, 2007). Conversely spouses who work at the same institution but separate positions have a more positive perspective on marital satisfaction. This occurrence, referred to as a co-working, is a potential method to reduce marital conflict. Accordingly, because both spouses positions are of equal importance in the relationship, the husband s job is not favored over the wife s position, causing less stress. However, home and work

34 24 boundaries for a couple can become blurred when sharing the same employer (Sweet & Moen, 2004, Son et al., 2008). Grote and Clark (2001) found that in periods of stress and conflict, couples tend to focus on perceptions of unfairness in the relationship that leads to, and exacerbates marital distress, as well as dissatisfaction with the marriage. However, the ability to negotiate during times of stress and conflict so that neither partner feels over burdened with the demands of home and family should be beneficial to maintain acceptable levels of marital happiness during stressful periods. According to Greenstein (1995), there are several different kinds of effects of wives paid employment on marital stability. One school of though holds that there is something inherent in the employment of married women that serves to destabilize the marriage, for example, by upsetting traditional marriage norms or by decreasing the husband s marital satisfaction. Another school of thought argues that the employment of married women and the expectation of continuing employment outside of marriage serve to make divorce more attractive. This view-point posits the employment of wives as a facilitating factor in divorce, not actually producing marital conflict but making divorce more likely for those couples for whom conflict already exists. This refers to absence effect which argues that employment outside the home takes the wife away from traditional home making responsibilities, with possible effects of increasing stress and conflict within the marriage (Greenstein, 1995). These arguments suggest that a negative association exists between mothers work and marital quality, particularly when the time demands associated with both work and family roles are high. An example of this would be when mothers work full-time and there are more children in the household. Previous research provides evidence that time shortages created by the employment of married mothers have negative effects on marital relationship.

35 25 When wives work more hours per week, it affects marital quality by decreasing couples time together, increasing feelings of role conflict and overload amongst wives (Voydanoff, 1988, 1989). It further raises wives awareness of inequity in the household division of labour (Booth et al, 1984; Hochschild, 1989; Spitz & South, 1995 as cited in Rogers 1996).Duxbury and Higgins (2005) reported that four out of ten workers claim that the demands of work often negatively influence the hours which are spent with a spouse or partner and with her children. Mehrabain (2005), stated that the aspects of marital satisfaction will be common goals and values, mutual affection, agreement on finances, commitment to one another, and minimal conflict. Allen, Herst, Bruck, & Sutton (2000) conducted a review of the work-family literature and found fourteen studies examining the relationship between work-family conflict and marital satisfaction in the 1980 s and 1990 s. The researchers found a weak negative relationship (r = -.23) across all studies, such that increased conflict from work to family was related to lower marital functioning. Interestingly, the relationship between work-to-family conflict and marital satisfaction was slightly stronger than the relationship between work-to-family conflict and overall family satisfaction (r = -.17) although this difference between the two co-efficient was not tested for statistical significance. Subsequent research has also supported Allen et al. and meta-analysis (e.g. Brotheridge & Lee, 2005), although other studies have failed to find a significant relationship between, work-to-family conflict and marital satisfaction (e.g. Perone & Worthington, 2001, Voydanoff, 2004). Other research includes both positive and negative aspects of combining work and family, and marital satisfaction. Using a sample of Mexican-Americans, Barnett