Balancing budgets and bedtime stories: perceived work-family conflict and psychological wellbeing

Recently, research into work-family conflict has highlighted a) the importance men and women place on work and family roles and b) the stress that occurs from experiencing work-family conflict. While differences are found between men and women in their experience of work-family conflict, it is not known whether this is anticipated by emerging adults who are in the developmental process of forming their future aspirations or whether this perceived work-family conflict is associated with heightened stress and poorer mental health. Further, it is unclear whether confidence in achieving career aspirations is related to emerging adults’ mental health and stress about the future. This thesis aims to extend the current literature on work-family conflict and emerging adulthood, investigating the extent to which perceived work-family conflict and confidence in achieving aspirations predict future stress and current mental health. It was predicted that high scores on perceived work-family conflict would be associated with heightened anticipated stress and poor mental health, while high confidence in achieving career aspirations would be associated with lower anticipated stress and better mental health. In addition, it was hypothesised that gender and confidence in achieving career aspirations would moderate the relationship between perceived work-family conflict and the dependant variables. Specifically, it was predicted that the relationships between high perceived work-family conflict and both poor mental health, and high perceived stress would be strengthened for women, yet attenuated when participants have high confidence in achieving career aspirations. To test these predictions, emerging adults (18-29 years, N=344) completed an online survey. Results revealed significant main effects, with perceived work-family conflict and confidence in achieving career aspirations significantly predicting anticipated stress and scores on mental health. However there were no significant moderated relationships. Implications of these findings, as well as suggestions for future research, are discussed