Education

Stress in Balancing Work and Family Felt at Home, Study Finds

By Deborah L. Cohen — September 15, 1993 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The stress parents feel when they have trouble balancing work and family is more likely to spill over into the home than the workplace, a new study shows.

The National Study of the Changing Workforce, conducted by the Families and Work Institute with financing by 15 corporations and foundations, queried nearly 3,400 workers on issues related to employment, family, and job satisfaction.

The study is believed to be the most extensive of its kind since the federally funded 1977 Quality of Employment Survey. The Families and Work Institute, a New York City-based nonprofit research group, plans to repeat the study every four years if funding permits.

Workers with children, the new report says, are often stressed by concerns about their children’s welfare: 62 percent of parents cited finding high-quality care as their biggest child-care problem, and 66 percent lamented not having enough time to spend with their children.

Such workers often face emotional “gridlock,’' said Dana Friedman, a co-president of the Families and Work Institute.

“People feel strongly about doing a good job at work; they also yearn to spend more time with their families, but arrive home exhausted,’' she said.

While some research suggests men’s share of work in the home has increased, the report says that “traditional divisions of responsibility’’ still prevail, with women still assuming primary responsibility for housework and child care.

But because such a large share of both male and female employees have family responsibilities, it concludes, benefits, policies, and programs to help workers balance their work, personal, and family lives “shouldn’t be viewed as special assistance for a small group of workers, but as general assistance for virtually all workers.’'

Families Bear the Brunt

Among the study’s findings:

  • While parents take relatively little time off for child-care reasons, “families tend to bear the brunt of work-family conflicts.’' The study found more than three times as much “job-to-home spillover’’ as “home-to-job spillover’’ of stress when conflicts between work and family arise.
  • More than a quarter of employed parents of children under age 13 said they had experienced a breakdown in their child-care arrangements in the past three months.
  • Workers who are offered flexible schedules or assistance with child care take more initiative, are more committed to doing their jobs well, and are more loyal to employers.

A report on the highlights of the study and a full sourcebook will be available next month. Copies of the highlights are $49 each and copies of the sourcebook are $99--or $119 for the total package--and can be obtained from the Families and Work Institute, 330 Seventh Ave., New York, N.Y. 10001; (212) 465-2044. There is a 10 percent discount for nonprofit groups.

A version of this article appeared in the September 15, 1993 edition of Education Week as Stress in Balancing Work and Family Felt at Home, Study Finds

Events

School Climate & Safety K-12 Essentials Forum Strengthen Students’ Connections to School
Join this free event to learn how schools are creating the space for students to form strong bonds with each other and trusted adults.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Standards-Based Grading Roundtable: What We've Achieved and Where We're Headed
Content provided by Otus
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
Creating Confident Readers: Why Differentiated Instruction is Equitable Instruction
Join us as we break down how differentiated instruction can advance your school’s literacy and equity goals.
Content provided by Lexia Learning

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Opinion The 10 Most-Read Opinions of 2023
Here are Education Week’s most-read Opinion blog posts and essays of 2023.
2 min read
Collage of lead images for various opinion stories.
F. Sheehan for Education Week / Getty
Education Letter to the Editor EdWeek's Most-Read Letters of 2023
Read the most-read Letters to the Editor of the past year.
1 min read
Illustration of a line of diverse hands holding up speech bubbles in front of a subtle textured newspaper background
iStock/Getty
Education Briefly Stated: November 1, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: October 11, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read