Conflicts Between Work and Family Life

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A substantial number of workers living in families have experienced some type of conflict between their work and their family life. This is a conclusion of the Quality of Employment Survey conducted for the U.S. Department of Labor by the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan. Three surveys were conducted between 1970 and 1977 to measure the quality of employment in the United States, and were the first to include questions that examined the extent to which work interferes with family life.

One-fourth of all workers who are married or living with children under age 18 reported moderate work-family conflict and another one-tenth reported severe work-family conflict. Women and men reported similar amounts of conflicts. Women heading one-parent families reported conflict somewhat less often than women or men in two-parent families, parents reported more conflict than childless couples, and parents of preschoolers reported more conflicts than parents with school-age children.

The specific working conditions that contributed most to the work-family conflict were: excessive working hours, scheduling incompatibilities, and physically or psychologically demanding duties that cause fatigue and irritability.

Husbands were more likely than wives to report excessive work time as the major cause of the work-family conflict, whereas wives were more likely than husbands to report fatigue and irritability. Employed women in one-parent families were more likely than husbands or wives to report schedule incompatibilities as the major problem.

The greater family responsibilities for women may be the reason for higher reports that the physical and psychological consequences of work caused family problems. Fatigue and irritability brought home from work often make performing family tasks more difficult, thus creating problems for the entire family. Husbands generally spend longer hours on the job but perform fewer home tasks. Having the opportunity to rest after work may help make fatigue and irritability less of a problem for husbands.

There are several consequences of the conflict between work and family life. The most significant are lower satisfaction with the job, lower satisfaction with the family, and lower contentment with life in general. This survey's data show that the schedule and demand of the job do affect the worker's life, and results suggest that minimizing these conflicts should be one of the many goals in the design of work schedules.

Source: Pleck, Joseph H., Graham L. Staines, and Linda Lang, 1980, "Conflicts Between Work and Family Life," Monthly Labor Review 103(3):29-32, U.S.Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Ronald Pitzer
Family Sociologist

Originally published in September 1981

College of Human Ecology in cooperation with the University of Minnesota Extension Service

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