Effects of Work-to-Family Conflict and Work Interference in the Parent-Child Relationship on Family Satisfaction of Dual-Earner Parents and their Adolescent Children

In work-family interface research, children are rarely included as stakeholders of their parents’ work-to-family conflict. Moreover, the children’s perceptions of this conflict contribute to shaping the family dynamics, which in turn can influence the assessment that family members make of their family life. This study establishes a systemic viewpoint in which the family satisfaction of dual-earner parents and their adolescent children is affected by the parents’ work-to-family conflict, and by the adolescents’ perception of their parents’ work interference with the parent-child relationship. A sample of 473 families composed of different-sex dual-earner parents and one adolescent child were recruited in Temuco, Chile. The parents responded to a measure of work-to-family conflict; the adolescents responded to a measure of perception of each parent’s work interference in the parent-child relationship; the three family members responded to the Satisfaction with Family Scale. Analyses were conducted using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model and structural equation modelling. Results showed that parents’ work-to-family conflict negatively affected their own family satisfaction, but not that of their adolescent child. However, parents’ work-to-family conflict was positively linked to the adolescent’s perception of the parents’ work interference in the parent-child relationship. This latter variable, in turn, had a mediating role between parents’ work-to-family conflict and the adolescent’s family satisfaction. Other effects of this perception of interference varied by the parent’s gender. These findings expand the knowledge on the relationship between work and family domains, showing that adolescents are actively involved in their parents’ experiences of the work-family interface.