Flexible Work Arrangements and Work-Family Conflict After Childbirth

Details

• Personal Author:
  Alexander BH ; Grice MM ; McGovern, Patricia M.
• Description:
  Purpose: Since 1970, women of childbearing age have increasingly participated in the workforce. However, literature on work-family conflict has not specifically addressed the health of postpartum women. This study examined the relationship between work-family conflict and mental and physical health of employed mothers 11 weeks after childbirth. Methods: Employed women, 18 years and older, were recruited while in the hospital for childbirth (N = 817; 71% response rate). Mental and physical health at 11 weeks postpartum was measured using SF-12 version 2. General linear models estimated the associations between the independent variables and health. A priori causal models and directed acyclic graphs guided selection of confounding variables. Results: Analyses revealed that high levels of work interference with family were associated with significantly lower mental health scores. Medium and high levels of family interference with work revealed a dose-response relationship resulting in significantly worse mental health scores. Coworker support was strongly and positively associated with better physical health. Conclusions: Work-family conflict was negatively associated with mental health but not significantly associated with physical health. Availability of social support may relieve the burden women can experience when balancing work roles and family obligations. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Demography Epidemiology Family Fatigue Mental Disorders Mental Health Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological Women Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Occupational Health Demographic-characteristics Emotional-stress Employee-health Families Mental-fatigue Mental-health Mental-stress Physiological-measurements Pregnancy Psychological-fatigue Psychological-stress Sociological-factors Statistical-analysis Work-environment Worker-health Workplace Workplace-studies

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• ISSN:
  0962-7480
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Minnesota ; New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  468-474
• Volume:
  58
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20035421
• Citation:
  Occup Med 2008 Oct; 58(7):468-474
• Contact Point Address:
  Mira M. Grice, Graduate Program in Public Health, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Box 43, Brooklyn, NY 11203-2098
• Email:
  mira.grice@downstate.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• NORA Priority Area:
  Work Environment and Workforce: Organization of Work
• Performing Organization:
  University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19990930
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational Medicine
• End Date:
  20050929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0c2b97bdbfec2c6cc0465416d8afde3296cada621c8107d788ed263f203f67b935e844894b380965c4c4b3f4e986a47909d6cf49133ec026b80f33d0e40360b7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/187283/cdc_187283_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 83.16 KB ]