Assessing the Relationship Between Work–Family Conflict and Smoking

Abstract

Objectives To examine the relationship between smoking and work-family conflict among a sample of New England long-term care facility workers. Methods Data were collected using in-person, structured interviews from workers in four extended care facilities. Results There was a strong association between smoking likelihood and work-family conflict. Workers who experienced both stress at home from work issues (i.e., work to home conflict) and stress and work from personal issues (i.e., home to work conflict) had 3.1 times higher odds of smoking compared to those who did not experience these types of conflict. Workers who experienced home to work conflict had an odds of 2.3 compared to those who did not experience this type of conflict, and workers who experienced work to home conflict had an odds of 1.6 compared to workers who did not experience this type of conflict. Discussion The results of this study indicate that there is a robust relationship between work-family conflict and smoking, but that this relationship is dependent upon the total amount of conflict experienced and the direction of the conflict.

Association Between Work-Family Conflict and Smoking Quantity Among Daily Smokers

“…Consistent with the two previous studies that examined cigarette smoking as an outcome (Frone et al, 1994;Nelson et al, 2012), the results from our study suggest that individuals who experience more work-family conflict are more likely to engage in smoking behavior with a higher level of health risk. For example, Nelson et al (2012) found a positive relation between work-family conflict and likelihood of any smoking, and our data demonstrate a positive relation between work-family conflict and smoking quantity among daily smokers. Moreover, our study extends this area of research in important ways.…”

“…However, we found no significant main effect of home-to-work conflict on smoking quantity. Interestingly, this is the opposite of what Nelson et al (2012) found in their study of this issue among nursing home workers. They reported a strong relationship between home-to-work conflict and smoking likelihood, but a weak relationship between work-to-tome conflict and smoking likelihood.…”

“…Previous research has shown that the direction of the conflict can be an important distinction (Frone et al, 1996;Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). In the study of Nelson et al (2012), home-to-work conflict, but not work-to-home conflict, was significantly associated with likelihood of smoking. Moreover, those who reported conflict in both directions were more likely to smoke than those who reported one type of conflict.…”

“…In addition, individuals may engage in unhealthy behaviors as a way to cope with stress (Ng & Jeffrey, 2003). Recent work has demonstrated an association between work-family conflict and cigarette smoking (Nelson, Li, Sorensen, & Berkman, 2012). Among a sample of mostly female long-term care workers, those who reported conflict in both directions, that is more work-to-home conflict and more home-to-work conflict, were significantly more likely to smoke.…”

“…Following the strategy used by Nelson et al (2012), we controlled for several potential confounders of the relation between work-family conflict and cigarette smoking. These included demographic characteristics such as gender, age, and educational attainment.…”