Work–Family Conflict and Health Among Working Parents: Potential Linkages for Family Science and Social Neuroscience

Abstract

In this paired article the authors review research on paid work, parenting, and health in order to isolate fundamental questions and issues that remain unaddressed. Next, consistent with the theme of this special issue, the authors introduce social neuroscience and highlight how this emerging multidisciplinary science offers substantial promise for advancing key unresolved issues in the paid work, parenting, and health literature. The article concludes with suggestions for promising areas of research wherein family scientists and social neuroscientists could build collaborative research to address gaps in the work–family literature.

Health-Related Consequences of Work-Family Conflict From a European Perspective: Results of a Scoping Review

“…The focus on cross-sectional analyses suggested by the available data means that causal association paths have not yet been considered in a sufficiently differentiated way. Since only less than a third of the publications use a population-representative database, results from studies on specific study populations have usually not been reproduced with population-representative data (16, 17, 20, 33). As the majority of studies examine these specific populations such as individual occupational groups, employees of a specific organization, or participants in a highly localized cohort study, the comparability of the results can be hampered.…”

“…Among others, results were presented on self-rated health, psychological strains, somatic and depressive symptoms (19). Other studies show an association to physical health, health-related behavior, and sleeping patterns (20). However, most of these studies are publications based on US data.…”

Work–family and family–work conflicts and health: the protective role of work engagement and job-related subjective well-being

“…posiadanie dzieci, wiek dzieci), a KPR -z wymaganiami w pracy, np. przeciążenie nią [1,6,14,15]. Podobne wnioski płyną z metaanaliz dotyczących uwarunkowań konfliktów [3].…”

“…Uzyskane wyniki przedstawiają podobne relacje między zmiennymi dla obu konfliktów. Zgodne są one z modelami zakładającymi, że skutki są podobne albo nawet większe w sferze, która jest źródłem utrudnienia [1,3,6]. Zaobserwowano jedynie 2 istotne różnice w odniesieniu do KRP i KPR: 1.…”

Nontoxic Family Stress: Potential Benefits and Underlying Biology

“…These systems, depicted in Figure , coordinate the body's response to environmental challenges and partially explain how the family environment can “get under the skin” and affect health. It is important to note that each system is governed by brain regions involved in processing social and emotional information that comprise a “medial prefrontal‐brainstem axis” (reviewed by Grzywacz & Smith, ; also Lane & Wager, ). In that axis, evolutionarily newer brain structures (e.g., the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate) process information about the social environment and send signals to evolutionarily older brain structures (e.g., the amygdala, hypothalamus) that are more directly involved in sending signals to the rest of the periphery through the ANS, HPA axis, and immune system (see Figure ).…”