So much to do, so little time. When multiple priorities collide, it is often difficult to find the right balance between work and family life. At times, the demands of family responsibilities can impact our performance at work (family-to-work conflict), and at other times work demands influence the time we have to spend with family (work-to-family conflict). With the amount of time limited, we sometimes sacrifice one priority for the other, with the hope of finding the right balance.

The nationally representative survey of Household Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) was used to inform researchers about factors that influenced work-life balance. In this study, 2590 working parents reported on the amount of hours they preferred to work (i.e., fewer hours than now, about the same number of hours, more hours than now), their level of family-to-work conflict, their level of work-to-family conflict, and a number of work and family variables (e.g., satisfaction with work, importance of work and family, income, age, whether they had children under 6, etc.).

Using t-tests and multinomial logistic regressions, researchers found individuals with greater work-to-family conflict wanted to work fewer hours. This held true for both men and women. However, this effect was exaggerated for working mothers with children under 6, suggesting that the demands of younger children exaggerate the need for more time at home when conflict exists.

In addition to their hypothesized results, there were also several interesting gender differences. For example, men were more likely to report having work-to-family conflict. Men were also more likely to work more and value their jobs more compared to women. Women more often sacrificed job opportunities to care for their families, and were more likely to want to increase their work hours. Although women were more satisfied in their jobs, job satisfaction for both genders was associated with less desire to decrease job hours.

Putting this research into perspective, it is important to note that working norms in Australia may be different from those in other countries. Relative to the United States, for example, women are less likely to work full time outside of the home, which may explain Australian women’s greater desire to work. In sum, the results suggest that there are several factors that may affect your work-life balance.

Further Reading:

Reynolds, J., & Aletraris, L. (2007). Work-family conflict, children, and hour mismatches in Australia. Journal of Family Issues, 28, 749-772.