Home characteristics, nonwork–work interference and well–being of dual earner parents

Abstract

Emotional home demands, cognitive home demands, home pressure, development possibilities, autonomy, social support, nonwork–work interference, spouse–work interference, parent–work interference, religion/spiritual–work interference, domestic–work interference, health, exhaustion, cognitive weariness, life satisfaction, dual earner parents Dual earner parents have become the norm in today’s workplace (Weigel, Weigel, Berger, Cook, & Delcampo, 1995). Dual earner parents face many challenging roles that they have to try to balance; these include being a parent, spouse, employee, being involved in religious practices and juggling domestic responsibilities. According to Duxbury and Higgins (1991), it is very difficult for such parents to balance their various roles and multiple demands. All these challenging demands (home characteristics) can cause non work–interference which can, in turn, lead to well–being problems (Magnus & Viswesvaran, 2005). The general objective of this study is to investigate the home characteristics, non work–work interference and well–being of a sample of dual earner parents. A convenience sample of dual earner parents (N=207) was taken in the Vaal Triangle area in Gauteng. The following scales was used within this study: the Home Demands Scale (Peeters et al., 2005), Home Resources Scale (Demerouti et al., 2010); the Work–non work Interference Scale (Koekemoer, Mostert, & Rothmann, 2010); the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) (Goldberg, & Williams, 1988); and the OLBI (Oldenburg Burnout Inventory) Scale measuring exhaustion, Cognitive weariness (Van Horn et al., 2004); and life satisfaction (Diener et al., 1985). Descriptive statistics, Cronbach alpha coefficients, product moment correlations and multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the data. The results indicated that emotional home demands and lack of autonomy significantly predict physical ill health; emotional home demands and spouse–work interference significantly predict anxiety; and emotional home demands significantly predict depression. Gender, home pressure, developmental possibilities and parent–work interference were, in turn, significant predictors of exhaustion. Recommendations were made for future research and also, on a more practical level, for dual earner parents. One of the recommendations is that one needs to investigate the possible cross–over and spillover effects of work–non work interference between wives and husbands. Another is to investigate the positive side of work–non work interference.