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Work–Family Conflicts and Marital Satisfaction Among US Workers: Does Stress Amplification Matter?

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Abstract

The toll that the stress inherent in navigating work and family can have on marriages is well documented. While previous scholarship has highlighted the particularly salient roles of work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict, we know little about the impacts of the joint experience of these forms of conflict on marital satisfaction. Informed by stress amplification theory, this study considered the interaction between work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict in predicting the marital satisfaction of US workers. Using data from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce (N = 1,046 married men and 776 married women), we found work-to-family conflict’s negative association with marital satisfaction was amplified when family-to-work conflict was also high. Implications of the findings were discussed.

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  1. Sociology Department, University of North Dakota, 202 Gillette Hall, 225 Centennial Drive, Stop 7136, Grand Forks, ND, 58202-7136, USA

    Krista Lynn Minnotte

  2. Mathematics Department, University of North Dakota, 313 Witmer Hall, 101 Cornell Street, Stop 8376, Grand Forks, ND, 58202-8376, USA

    Michael C. Minnotte

  3. University Housing, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, 74 Circle Drive, Edwardsville, IL, 62025, USA

    Jordan Bonstrom

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Minnotte, K.L., Minnotte, M.C. & Bonstrom, J. Work–Family Conflicts and Marital Satisfaction Among US Workers: Does Stress Amplification Matter?. J Fam Econ Iss 36, 21–33 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-014-9420-5

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