Work–family conflict and parental strain among Canadian Armed Forces single mothers: The role of coping

Abstract

Introduction: Single-parent military families experience a combination of single-parenthood stressors and military life–related stressors, including work–family conflict and parental strain. Previous research has suggested that ineffective coping strategies in relation to maintaining work–family balance and dealing with parental strain may contribute to psychological distress among single military mothers. Methods: To address the research limitations, an electronic survey was administered to single Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) mothers in 2014. This study examined the role of work–family conflict, parental strain, and coping in the well-being of CAF single mothers ( N = 223). We expected that work–family conflict, parental strain, and coping strategies would play an important role in the well-being of single CAF mothers and that coping strategies would also moderate the path between single-parenthood difficulties (work–family conflict and parental strain) and psychological well-being. Results: Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that work–family conflict and parental strain have strong negative impacts on the well-being of single CAF mothers. Although coping strategies serve as important and unique predictors of well-being, they do not buffer the impact of military life–related stress on single mothers. Discussion: Recommendations for mitigating the impact of work–family conflict and parental strain for single mothers in the CAF are offered.

Family incivility and work-engagement: moderated mediation model of personal resources and family-work enrichment

“…Results suggested how key personal resources such as active coping could diminish the unproductive influence of family incivility. Through active coping, individuals may choose to focus less on stressors (Skomorovsky et al, 2019 ) and more on positive aspects emanating from their daily experience. Previous studies (Chen et al, 2018 ) have noted how a person’s coping style can mitigate or diminish stressful happenings in their life.…”

“…George & Moolman, 2017 ; Skomorovsky, Norris, Martynova, McLaughlin, & Wan, 2019 ) suggest a positive correlation between AC and healthy adjustment to stress, including buffering negative outcomes from stressors such as burnout (Chen et al, 2018 ). Thus, an individual engaging in AC typically deals directly with a problem through adaptation in their thinking or behavior (Chen et al, 2018 ) or changes the nature of stressors instead of being emotionally upset and incapable of taking concrete actions to dissipate the situation (Skomorovsky et al, 2019 ). It thus follows that this style of coping can also buffer the otherwise negative influence of FI on FWE and those individuals who practice AC focus more on generating solutions to dissolve unhealthy outcomes from family incivility.…”

Fertility Practitioners’ Coping Strategies When Faced with Intra-Role Conflict from Screening Aspiring Single Mothers by Choice

“…Regarding coping strategies, Van den Brande et al (2016) distinguish problem-focused and emotionfocused coping strategies. We find that fertility practitioners use both problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping (Skomorovsky et al 2019). Problem-focused coping is most visible in the actions used in the work routines at the fertility clinic.…”

“…Coping strategies can be generally categorized as problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping (Van den Brande et al 2016). In general terms, emotion-focused coping focuses on diminishing the emotional responses to strain, whereas problem-focused coping addresses the cause of the strain (Skomorovsky et al 2019). Sirgy et al (2019) argued that an emotion-focused coping strategy can be identified by the presence of venting emotions, denial, and behavioral disengagement, whereas problem-focused coping typically implies planning (i.e., planning how to act when confronted with dilemmas), active coping (i.e., taking active steps to diminish coping), and positive reinterpretations of straining events.…”

“…Environmental resources reflect the broader context in which an individual finds him/herself, which helps them to react to strain. As the research of Conner and Bohan (2018) and Skomorovsky et al (2019) and suggest, the role of peer support, which can be seen as a social resource, proves to be very helpful in a high-strain context. Therefore, the presence of co-worker support can be understood as being a social coping resource.…”