OBSERVING GENDER ROLE SALIENCE AND GENDER ROLE FLEXIBILITY AS POTENTIAL BUFFERS BETWEEN LEVELS OF HOUSEHOLD RESPONSIBILITIES AND EXPERIENCES WITH WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT AND ROLE OVERLOAD

Despite the known link between the level of household responsibilities and negative experiences/outcomes (e.g. work-family conflict, role overload), few studies have observed how gender-role beliefs may impact these relationships. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between level of household responsibilities and experiences with work-family conflict and role overload. Further, we considered potential buffers of these relationships by examining the moderating effects of gender role flexibility and gender role saliency. Data for the study were collected from a sample of employed parents, 18 years old or older, residing in the United States, who were currently married or in a long-term committed relationship. Consistent with expectations, our results show that the level of household responsibilities was significantly related to experiences with work-family conflict and role overload. Additionally, our results show that gender role salience and the level of household responsibilities play a critical part in the levels of work-family conflict and role overload decreasing. The results of this study extend the limited work-family research on the importance of gender roles and individual differences. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the dual impact of the level of household responsibilities and gender-role beliefs. Furthermore, our results indicate that employees in dual-earner relationships with children would benefit from developing mutually beneficial couple-level coping strategies, along with suggesting that organizations need to be aware of the potential high level of work-family conflict experienced by their employees