IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/espost/331214.html

Parents’ Work–Family Conflict and Children’s Emotional Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Parenting Behaviors

Author

Listed:
  • Lim, Misun
  • Pollmann-Schult, Matthias
  • Li, Jianghong

Abstract

Despite growing evidence that parental work–family conflict (WFC) affects children’s emotional well-being, little is known about the multiple pathways underlying such effects. This study examines the association between parental WFC and children’s emotional well-being and the potential mediating role of parenting behaviors in this process. Using the German Family Panel data from wave 6 (2013/2014), wave 8 (2015/2016), wave 10 (2017/2018), and wave 12 (2019/20), we use random-effects and multiple mediation models to analyze how parental WFC influences parenting behaviors and children’s emotional well-being, and whether parenting behaviors mediate their association. Parental WFC is linked to more negative communication and conflict and less parental warmth, especially among mothers. Parental WFC is linked to children’s emotional well-being, with a more pronounced association for mothers’ WFC. Mediation analyses showed that parenting behaviors partially mediate this association. Our results underscore the importance of reducing WFC among working parents to promote children’s emotional well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Lim, Misun & Pollmann-Schult, Matthias & Li, Jianghong, 2025. "Parents’ Work–Family Conflict and Children’s Emotional Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Parenting Behaviors," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue OnlineFir, pages 1-26.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:331214
    DOI: 10.1177/0192513X251389214
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/331214/1/Full-text-article-Lim-et-al-Parents-work-family.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0192513X251389214?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kaiser, Till & Li, Jianghong & Pollmann-Schult, Matthias, 2019. "Evening and night work schedules and children's social and emotional well-being," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 22(2), pages 167-182.
    2. Cooklin, A.R. & Dinh, H. & Strazdins, L. & Westrupp, E. & Leach, L.S. & Nicholson, J.M., 2016. "Change and stability in work–family conflict and mothers' and fathers' mental health: Longitudinal evidence from an Australian cohort," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 24-34.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anu Molarius & Alexandra Metsini, 2021. "Domestic Work, Self-Reported Diagnosed Depression and Related Costs among Women and Men—Results from a Population-Based Study in Sweden," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-11, September.
    2. Minseop Kim & Nanxun Li & Min Hu & Nahri Jung, 2025. "Measurement Matters: Prevalence and Consequence of Parental Nonstandard Work Schedules," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 523-538, May.
    3. Andrea Rørvik Marti & Eirik Degerud & Tom Sterud, 2022. "Onset of Work-Life Conflict Increases Risk of Subsequent Psychological Distress in the Norwegian Working Population," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-9, October.
    4. Richardson, Robin A. & Harper, Sam & Schmitz, Norbert & Nandi, Arijit, 2018. "The effect of affordable daycare on women's mental health: Evidence from a cluster randomized trial in rural India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 32-41.
    5. Oshio, Takashi & Inoue, Akiomi & Tsutsumi, Akizumi, 2017. "Does work-to-family conflict really matter for health? Cross-sectional, prospective cohort and fixed-effects analyses," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 36-42.
    6. Zhenduo Zhang & Li Zhang & Xiaoqian Zu & Tiansen Liu & Junwei Zheng, 2019. "From Neighboring Behavior to Mental Health in the Community: The Role of Gender and Work-Family Conflict," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-15, June.
    7. Markus Brueckner, 2016. "Mortality and Urbanization: An African Tragedy," CAMA Working Papers 2016-66, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    8. Hewitt, Belinda & Yerkes, Mara A. & Cooklin, Amanda & Strazdins, Lyndall, 2022. "Reciprocal relationships between time pressure and mental or physical health in Australian mothers of preschool aged children," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    9. Bonnie Janzen & Laurie-Ann Hellsten, 2021. "Household Income and Psychological Distress: Exploring Women’s Paid and Unpaid Work as Mediators," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-15, June.
    10. Dinh, Huong & Cooklin, Amanda R. & Leach, Liana S. & Westrupp, Elizabeth M. & Nicholson, Jan M. & Strazdins, Lyndall, 2017. "Parents' transitions into and out of work-family conflict and children's mental health: Longitudinal influence via family functioning," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 42-50.
    11. Laritza Machín-Rincón & Eva Cifre & Pilar Domínguez-Castillo & Mónica Segovia-Pérez, 2020. "I Am a Leader, I Am a Mother, I Can Do This! The Moderated Mediation of Psychological Capital, Work–Family Conflict, and Having Children on Well-Being of Women Leaders," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-22, March.
    12. Han, Bilin & Kim, Jinhee & Timmermans, Harry, 2023. "Work schedule arrangements in two-adult households with children," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:331214. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.