Social Support as a Buffer of the Relationship between Work and Family Involvement and Work-Family Conflict

• Main Author: Monzon, Tracy Lynn
• Format: Others
• Published: PDXScholar 1995
• Subjects: Work and family; Helping behavior; Psychology
• Online Access: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/5156; https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6228&context=open_access_etds

With dual-career couples and single-parent families on the rise, adults may find themselves overloaded with work and family responsibilities, resulting in the experience of work-family conflict (WFC). Further, employers appear to be demanding more from their employees, while giving less. Therefore, it is important to discover ways in which to manage the conflict between the work and family domains. Since level of involvement within a particular domain has been previously demonstrated to have a positive effect on WFC, the present study examined the possible moderating effects of social support on the relationship between work and family involvement and WFC. Surveys assessing work and family issues and dependent care needs were distributed to a random sample of university faculty, staff, and students. Since WFC was a focus of the present study, surveys from those respondents who met the following criteria were analyzed: a) those who worked more than 20 hours per week, and b) those who had either a partner or a child, resulting in a sample size of 203. Based upon factor analyses results, social support and WFC were addressed in terms of their subscales. Specifically, social support was assessed from three sources: a) partner; b) supervisor/co-workers; and c) friends/relatives. WFC was assessed as work interference with family (WIF) and family interference with work (FIW) . Multiple hierarchical regression analyses indicated that family involvement was a significant predictor of both WIF and FIW, however, work involvement did not appear to have a positive effect on either type of WFC. Buffering effects of social support from all three sources were demonstrated for the relationship between family involvement and FIW. Additionally, social support from partner and from supervisor/co-workers moderated the relationship between work involvement and FIW. Further, social support from supervisor/co-workers moderated the relationship between family involvement and WIF. Finally, gender did not appear to have a significant effect on the buffering effects of social support. Limitations of the present study and future research implications are discussed.