An Examination of Positive Work-Family Spillover Among Dual-Earner Couples in the Sandwiched Generation

Krista Brockwood

ABSTRACT
The majority of work-family literature has focused solely on the conflict and stress associated with combining work and non-work roles, often ignoring the potential benefits. This study attempts to correct this oversight by providing a comprehensive, longitudinal examination of the antecedents and outcomes of positive work-family spillover. Another shortcoming identified in the work-family literature has been the lack of consideration for role quality and, instead, only including role occupation or time spent in a role (Barnett & Hyde, 2001). The effects of four primary roles (job, child care, parent care, and marital) were examined as direct predictors of positive work-family spillover and as moderators of the relationship between positive work-family spillover and role satisfaction over time.

The data for this longitudinal study was from a nation-wide sample of 234 dual-earner couples in the Sandwiched Generation. These are employed couples who have simultaneous caregiving responsibilities for children and aging parents. At present little is known about how these couples cope with their multiple role demands, and even less is known about the positive aspects of being part of this demographic group.

Results of the study indicate that, for both wives and husbands, job role quality was related to positive work-to-family spillover, while child care role quality was related to positive family-to-work spillover, but not marital or parent care role quality. In addition, positive work-to-family spillover predicted family satisfaction over time, while positive family-to-work spillover predicted job satisfaction over time.

Only one of the hypothesized interactions was significant for wives, that of marital role quality and positive work-to-family spillover predicting family satisfaction. Specifically, for wives reporting low positive work-to-family spillover, family satisfaction increased when marital role quality was high, whereas there was little effect on family satisfaction for wives with high positive work-to-family spillover.

Monday, July 8, 2002
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE
Leslie Hammer, Chair
Margaret Neal
Robert Sinclair
Wayne W. Wakeland
Alan Cabelly, Graduate Studies Rep.