| Summary: |
In the last decades, societies have been witnessing a rapid and profound metamorphosis in both work and family spheres (WF), leading to increasingly blurred boundaries between these two central areas of life. Currently, we assist to an increasingly common pattern of double-employment, which entails new responsibilities and challenges for fathers and mothers who must balance work and family while at the same time managing the large demands of the multiple roles as partners, parents and workers. This is particularly relevant in the case of Portugal, one of the EU countries with the highest rate of women working outside the home while raising children under the age of six (72,8%) and with one of the highest percentages of full-time dual-earner couples (1). Based on a systemic and ecological perspective (2), the main goal of this project is to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the work-family (im)balance complexities, by addressing one of the major gaps in existing research: the effects of WF dynamics on (a) parenting outcomes, (b) on parent-child relationship, and (c) on children´s socioemotional and behavioral outcomes. Contrasting with the limited examination of couple level WF relationships (3), this project will privilege a dyadic and family approach by targeting working couples with preschool children and analyzing crossover effects from one partner to the other and to the child. Families exist as systems of interdependent individuals, and therefore we find that the relationship between work and family is not an individual issue, but a couples and family issue.
A first objective of the present project is to understand how the conflicting and/or enriching balance of work and family roles echoes in parenting experience (STUDY 1). More specifically, we intend to analyze the impact of both negative (conflict) and positive (enrichment) WF interference in important parenting dimensions (stress and sense of competence), as well as in mother- an  |
Summary
In the last decades, societies have been witnessing a rapid and profound metamorphosis in both work and family spheres (WF), leading to increasingly blurred boundaries between these two central areas of life. Currently, we assist to an increasingly common pattern of double-employment, which entails new responsibilities and challenges for fathers and mothers who must balance work and family while at the same time managing the large demands of the multiple roles as partners, parents and workers. This is particularly relevant in the case of Portugal, one of the EU countries with the highest rate of women working outside the home while raising children under the age of six (72,8%) and with one of the highest percentages of full-time dual-earner couples (1). Based on a systemic and ecological perspective (2), the main goal of this project is to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the work-family (im)balance complexities, by addressing one of the major gaps in existing research: the effects of WF dynamics on (a) parenting outcomes, (b) on parent-child relationship, and (c) on children´s socioemotional and behavioral outcomes. Contrasting with the limited examination of couple level WF relationships (3), this project will privilege a dyadic and family approach by targeting working couples with preschool children and analyzing crossover effects from one partner to the other and to the child. Families exist as systems of interdependent individuals, and therefore we find that the relationship between work and family is not an individual issue, but a couples and family issue.
A first objective of the present project is to understand how the conflicting and/or enriching balance of work and family roles echoes in parenting experience (STUDY 1). More specifically, we intend to analyze the impact of both negative (conflict) and positive (enrichment) WF interference in important parenting dimensions (stress and sense of competence), as well as in mother- and father-child relationship (involvement and relational frustration). While research in this field often fails to consider individual differences and psychological characteristics that might influence the relationship between WF dynamics and individual/family well-being (4), in this study we will explore the potential moderating influence that some individual variables (namely, gender, adult attachment, personality and perceived role salience), and perceived social support from both work and family domains may play in this process.
A second major goal of this project is to explore longitudinally how WF conflicting and enriching dynamics may indirectly affect children´s developmental outcomes (namely, their behavioral and emotional regulation), through its influence on parenting and parent-child relationships (STUDY 2). The first years of life configure a key developmental period, in which small children need emotionally close, sensitive and responsive relationships in order to securely explore the self, the world and relationships (5), influencing children's socioemotional development and adaptive behavior. Moreover, the longitudinal design of this study will allow an exploration of the changing and fluid nature of how WF dynamics impact parenting processes and children developmental outcomes over time.
The sample of the present project consists of 150 dual-earner couples with preschool children (N=300 parents and 150 children) (STUDY 1). Hundred of these families (N=200 parents and 100 children) will be further studied longitudinally (STUDY 2). Participants will be recruited among b |