TY - JOUR
T1 - Parents' transitions into and out of work-family conflict and children's mental health
T2 - Longitudinal influence via family functioning
AU - Dinh, Huong
AU - Cooklin, Amanda R.
AU - Leach, Liana S.
AU - Westrupp, Elizabeth M.
AU - Nicholson, Jan M.
AU - Strazdins, Lyndall
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2017/12
Y1 - 2017/12
N2 - The demands arising from the combination of work and family roles can generate conflicts (work-family conflicts), which have become recognized as major social determinants of mothers' and fathers' mental health. This raises the question of the potential effects on children. The current study of 2496 Australian families (7652 observations from children aged 4–5 up to 12–13 years) asks whether changes in children's mental health corresponds with changes in mothers' and fathers' work-family conflicts. Using longitudinal random-effect structural equation models, adjusting for prior child mental health, changes in work-family conflict were examined across four adjacent pairs of biennial data waves. Children's mental health deteriorated when their mother or father experienced an increase in work-family conflict, but improved when parents' work-family conflict reduced. Results held for mothers, fathers and couples, and the key pathways appear to be changes in children's relational environments. These results contribute new evidence that conflicts between the work-family interface are powerful social determinants of mental health which have an intergenerational reach.
AB - The demands arising from the combination of work and family roles can generate conflicts (work-family conflicts), which have become recognized as major social determinants of mothers' and fathers' mental health. This raises the question of the potential effects on children. The current study of 2496 Australian families (7652 observations from children aged 4–5 up to 12–13 years) asks whether changes in children's mental health corresponds with changes in mothers' and fathers' work-family conflicts. Using longitudinal random-effect structural equation models, adjusting for prior child mental health, changes in work-family conflict were examined across four adjacent pairs of biennial data waves. Children's mental health deteriorated when their mother or father experienced an increase in work-family conflict, but improved when parents' work-family conflict reduced. Results held for mothers, fathers and couples, and the key pathways appear to be changes in children's relational environments. These results contribute new evidence that conflicts between the work-family interface are powerful social determinants of mental health which have an intergenerational reach.
KW - Children's mental health
KW - Family functioning
KW - Parent mental health
KW - Parent-child relationship
KW - Parental relationship
KW - Random effects
KW - Work family conflict
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85031805308&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.10.017
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.10.017
M3 - Article
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 194
SP - 42
EP - 50
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
ER -