Spillover (1).pdf

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It's about T im e

Work-fam ily spillover has important ram ifications for the functioning of the

workplace as well as th e well-b ein g o f employ ees and th eir fam ilies. For ex ample,

research show s that negative spillover and work-fam ily conflict relate to higher

rates of absenteeism , turnover, and exhaustion along w ith low er levels of pro-

duc tiv ity , job satis faction, and job commi tment.

3

H igh negativ e spillover and con -

flic t are also a ssocia ted w ith a lower qua lity o f fam ily life , g re ate r ma rita l conflic t,

poorer health, and higher levels of psychological strain, depression, stress, and

problem drinking .4

The goal of this chapter is to prom ote a fuller understanding of the concept

of spillover. In the first section, w e review the research on the spillover betw een

work and family; we discuss theoretical m odels of how people m anage their

work and fam ily ro les, hig hligh t the most impo rtan t empirical fin ding s, an d id en-

tify current lim itations in the literature. In the second section, w e draw on our

f indings from

The Cornell Coup les and Careers S tudy,

fo cu sing on the in cid ence

of spillover among couples and over the life course: H ow do the characteristics

of one spouse influence the spillover experienced by the other? How does

spillover vary across life stage? What fam ily and workplace variables affect the

spillover of the w orker and their spouse? T o answ er these questions, w e draw on

both quantita tiv e (su rvey ) and qualitativ e (fo cu s g roups and in -dep th in te rv iews )

data.

Historical Overview of the

S pillover L iteratu re

Scholarly understanding of w ork-fam ily spillover has grow n significantly

since the 1960s. Early research in the 1960s and 1970s focused on the correla-

tion betw een the quality and satisfaction of w ork life and the quality and satis-

fa ction o f nonwork life.

5

Thre e ma jor mode ls help u s unders tand th is re la tionsh ip :

com pensation, segm entation, and spillover. A ccording to the com pensation

m odel, people com pensate for dissatisfaction in one dom ain by trying to find

m ore satisfaction in the other dom ain (i.e., w ork and nonw ork satisfaction are

negativ ely co rre la ted).6 The segmenta tion model pos its th at employees compart-

m entalize w ork and nonwork life so that em otions and stresses from one dom ain

remain independent from the other domain (i.e., w ork and nonwork satisfaction

have a correlation of zero).? T he spillover m odel posits that experiences in one

dom ain spill over into and influence the other dom ain (e.g., w ork and non w ork

sat is faction are posit ive ly corre la ted) .

A lthough research evidence exists for all three relationships, the majority of

workers and fam ilies fit the spillover model.

8

For exam ple, using data from the

1977 Quality of Em ploym ent Survey, a 1994 analysis found that 68 percent of


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workers met th e criteria for spillo ver (work sa tisfa ctio n and nonwork satisfac tion

positively correlated), 20 percent for segmentation (m inimally correlated), and

12 percent for com pensation (negatively correlated).9 It is estim ated that the

correlation betw een work and nonwork satisfaction is betw een 0.40 and 0.48.10

Segmentation and compensation, when they do occur, are more likely to

characterize employees in nonprofessional occupations and workers who have

encountered disappointments in their career.

11

A majo r p roblem with corre la tiona l studie s is the d ifficulty in fe rring causa tion

from them. To circumvent this problem , scholars have developed measures

of spillover that directly assess the transfer of emotions, stresses, and behaviors

from one domain to the other domain (e.g., job worries distract you when

you are at hom e ). This perm its the direct assessm ent of spillover rather than

relying on a correlation to infer its presence. Moreover, scholars have

moved away from simple correlational studies to more complex research

designs and analyses (such as multivariate, longitudinal, and path analytic

studies).

W ork-Fam ily Conflict and Interference

The work-fam ily conflict and interference research is closely related to and

has developed concurrently with research on spillover. Studies on conflict

and interference are rooted in role theory, w hich argues that role conflict (and

role overload) occurs when there is a simultaneous occurrence of two

(or more) sets of pressures such that the compliance with one would make

more difficult compliance with the other.,,12 Work-family conflict and

work-fam ily interference are the direct result of incom patible pressures from

an individual's work and family roles. Both the conflict and interference

research and the spillover research examine the transfer of emotions and

behaviors from work to home and from home to work. However, the conflict

and interference research also assesses the intrusion of tasks from the work role

in to the family and vice v ersa. A second d iffe rence between the spillov er rese arch

and the conflict and interference research is that spillover denotes the transfer of

negative and positive emotions from one domain to the other. This is in

contrast to the conflict and interference research, which focuses solely on

the deleterious nature of the work-family interface (analogous to negative

spillover).

Because they are so closely related, we review here the evidence on both

spillover and conflict and interference. F or the sake of simplicity, we refer to this

sim ply as spillover, but when discussing specific findings we employ the term s

u sed by th e re search ers (conflict, interferen ce, o r sp illo ve r) to de scrib e th e work -

family relationship.


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It's abQut T ime

W ork and Family Career Dynamics:

The Impact of Career on Family and of

Fam ily on C areer

The extent and direction of the links between work and fam ily are impor-

tant issues for both employers and employees. A grow ing consensus finds

th at employmen t has more o f a negativ e impact on fam ily life th an fam ily life

has on work life. Four studies-one using daily reports recorded at random

in te rvals , and three using c ross-sec tiona l survey methods-show that, fo r both

men and women , work in terfere s with family more than family in terferes with

work.

13

One explanation for the greater level of work-to-fam ily spillover is the rela-

tive inflexibility of work life compared to fam ily life. In most cases, employees

are required to work a set num ber of hours, w ith the scheduling and location of

work relativ ely fixed . F am ily roles, however, hav e no ex ternal guidelines for the

amount of tim e that m ust be devoted to fam ily m embers or the location in w hich

family in te ra ctions must take p lace . When work -family con flic ts do a rise , workers

can hire others to perform many domestic duties (e.g., child care, cleaning, and

cooking), w hich is rarely the case for workplace responsibilities. A s a result of

th is relativ e in flex ib ility , d emands atwork tend to invade and d ictate th e pace and

tim ing o f fam ily life.

A second explan ation is that employees ty pically have less con trol o ver deci-

sions in their w ork life than they do in their fam ily life. For example, employers

dictate and m ay alter the hours, location, or conditions of w ork w ithout notice,

w hereas w orkers exert m ore control over such decisions on the hom e front. A

1995 study of health-care professionals (nonphysicians) show ed that w hen

employees have greater influence over decisions at w ork, they are m ore able to

balance w ork and fam ily dem ands.14 Sim ilar findings em erge in

The Cornell

Couples and Careers Stu dy.

Role Involvement

Factors Influencing Spillover

According to the scarcity hypothesis, the more comm itted a person is to a par-

ticular role, the greater the chance of conflict or interference w ith other roles.

15

Consistent w ith th is hypothesis, seve ra l studie s have found that sp illove r is re la ted

to level of role involvem ent. Scholars have found that the more involved or the

m ore central an individual's work role, the greater the reported level of w ork-

family conflict.

16

Hours spent a t work , typically v iewed as an objective measure

o f ro le invo lv emen t, h as also been positiv ely related to work -fam ily in terferen ce

an d neg ative spillo ver, p articularly among women.

17

Involvement in the fam ily


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ro le also p red icts work -family conflict. Ego invo lvemen t in paren ting (but not th e

actual hours spent in the parental role) and high levels of fam ily involvem ent

p redic t g reate r negative work -to -family sp illove r.18

Involvem ent in either w ork or fam ily roles increases not only the likelihood

of work-family conflict and negative spillover, but also the likelihood of

positiv e spillov er. In a study of Canadian manag ers and Canadian business schoo l

alumni, scholars found greater parental role involvement to be associated

with workers' perceptions of greater benefits, both at home and at work.

19

Note, however, that such benefits are not linked to the amount of time spent

in the parenting role. In fact, for this sam ple of business school alum ni, tim e

spen t in activ e paren ting is n egativ ely co rrelated w ith positiv e sp illover.2oThus,

positive spillover appears to be a function of the value that workers place

on the parenting role and the quality of the interaction between parents and

children, not the am ount of tim e that w orkers spend in parenting. This echoes

the mantra that it is the quality not the quantity of the family time that is

important.

Gender

The relationship between gender and spillover is complex and can best

be understood by exam ining fam ily-to-work spillover and work-to-fam ily

spillover separately. G iven that w omen identify more strongly w ith the fam ily

role than do m en21and spend m ore tim e with their children than do m en,22we

expect that women also experience more family-to-work spillover than do

men. Empirical evidence regarding this hypothesis is m ixed, however. A

long itudinal daily d ia ry s tudy23and two c ross -sectiona l surveys24found that men

experience greater fam ily-to-work spillover than women. However, tw o other

studies, one of w hich w as also a daily diary study, found that w omen experience

greater fam ily-to-w ork spillover than do men, particularly w omen w ith young

children.25 Three other studies show no difference between m en and wom en

on deg ree o f farn ily -to -work in terference.26These studies lead to th e conclu sion

that there is no definitive story linking gender w ith negative fam ily-to-w ork

spillover.

,

T here is a clearer p icture reg arding th e relation sh ip between gender and work-

to-fam ily spillover. Four studies find women experience greater levels of nega-

tive work-to-fam ily spillover and work interference w ith fam ily than do men.27

Three studies report no gender differences, and one provides evidence that men

experience more time -based work -to -family conflic t than do women .28Given that

women report levels o f work commitment sim ilar to men29and th at women spend

m ore tim e than m en engaged in housework and child care, it is not surprising

th at, in many studies, women report th e h ighest levels o f wo rk - t o-family sp illover

and interference.


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It's abou t T ime

Context: Work-Rela ted Variables

The contexts in which employees work and live influence their experience of

spillover. Several studies confirm that the m ore flexible and supportive the

workplace, th e less in terferen ce and negativ e sp illo ver th ere is from work to home.

Specif ically , hav ing a supportive supervisof 'l and hav ing supportive coworkers31

are rela ted to lower leve ls of negative work-to - family spillove r and conflic t. Degree

o f autonomy a t work ,32work variability ,33and employee con tro l ove r dec isions a t

w ork34 are also related to less w ork-to-fam ily spillover. Finally, substantial

ev id ence suggests th at th e u se o f flex time is related to lower lev els o f work -fam ily

interference.

35

These supportive practices and polic ies clearly help employees to

alleviate some of the stresses and conflicts associated w ith integrating work and

family roles .

O n the other hand, som e w orkplace conditions lead to higher levels of nega-

tive work-to-fam ily spillover. N ot surprisingly, jobs that are high in stress and

conflict are related to higher levels of negative spillover from work to h ome.36A

heavy work load and time pressures are also related to more work-fam ily con flict

and spillover.3 7Finally , among men, schedule inflex ibility is linked to greater

w ork-fam ily conflict.38Thus, a demanding, stressful, and inflexible job often

results in the spillov er o f stresses and frustrations into the home.

Context: Fam ily-Related V ariables

An important part of the context in which an individual lives is the fam ily

environment. Several characteristics of the fam ily have an impact on spillover.

N ot surprisingly, research suggests that employed parents experience greater

negative work -family sp illove r than employed nonpa rents.39P roblems with child

care are a special dilem ma that is linked to greater negative family-to-work

spillover.4o How ever, as children get older and the w orkload associated w ith

parenthood dec rease s, the family -to -work sp illove r a lso dec rease s.41The number

of children in the home is also related to spillo ver, w ith larger fam ilies repo rting

higher levels of work- to-family and family-to-work conflic t.42Surprisingly , s tudies

have not found g reate r leve ls o f family -to -work in te rfe rence among single parents

compared to partn ered paren ts.43A lthough single p aren ts h ave less support th an

parents w ith partners, they a lso have one le ss ro le (the ro le o f spousa l partner). This

trade-off m ay account for the sim ilarity of fam ily-to-w ork spillover am ong

partnered and unpartnered parents. M eshing w ork and parenthood can also be a

positive experience-a 1993 study found that parenthood was associated

w ith more positive as w ell as negative fam ily-to-work spillover, especially for

women.44

T he ways in which husbands and w ives balance their w ork and fam ily respon-

sibilities also influences spillover. M en w ith nonemployed w ives report low er


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Spillover 107

lev els o f neg ative sp illov er from work to fam ily compared to th ose in two-earn er

hou~eholds.45This is not surprising-men married to full-tim e homemakers are

likely to devote less tim e and attention to domestic tasks, w hich translates into

less spillover between the two dom ains. Finally, the m ore perceived support

individuals receive from fam ily m em bers, the less work-fam ily conflict they

report experiencing.46

Linked Lives: Marital and

Paren tal Relationsh ip s

To fully understand the relationship between work and fam ily, we need to

incorporate the perspective of linked lives. People do not live in a vacuum.

Rather, th ey are socially in terd ependen t. Relationsh ip s w ith spou ses and ch ild ren

im pact workers' experiences and relationships at work and vice versa.47 For

example, a 1993 study of Boston-area dual-earner couples found that the strains

associated w ith poor marital and parental relationships spill over into and nega-

tively affect relationships and experiences at w ork. C onversely, w orkers w ho

report having quality relationships w ith their children and spouse say that their

fami ly life enhances their experiences at work.

48

Stressors and relationships at w ork can also influence the quality and tone of

interaction s w ith fam ily members. Rena Rep etti and her co lleagues found that o n

days characterized by high workloads, both mothers and fathers are more behav-

iorally and emotionally w ithdraw n from their children w hen they return home

from work. In addition, among fathers, unpleasant interactions w ith coworkers

are often followed by more n eg ative in teractions w ith their child ren.49

Marital interactions are also affected by events at work. This is called

crossover or stress contagion. C rossover occurs w hen the stresses that people

experience at w ork lead to stresses for their spouse at hom e.

50

A 1989 long itudi-

nal study of dual-earner couples found that on days when men report feelin g over-

loaded at work th eir w ives repo rt feeling overloaded at home later that ev en ing.51

Wives' feelin gs o f ov erload at work, however, d id not appear to impact h usb ands'

feelings of stress or overload in the home. Sim ilarly, a 1993 study of dual-earner

couples also found the crossover of stress from work to hom e occurs prim arily

from the husbands' job to their w ives, but not v ice versa.

52

The mutual work arrangements of a couple matter as w ell. Jeffrey G reenhaus

and associates have found that work-fam ily conflict is greatest w hen husbands

and w ives have very different levels of job involvem ent. A nd conflict is low est

am ong couples in which both m em bers have a high level of job involvem ent.53

This suggests that if both members of a couple share a common orientation

toward work, they may be less likely to put pressure on one another to change

their arrangem ents. Problem s also arise w hen one spouse reports that his or her

career has h igher priority than his or her spouse's career .

54

Finally, Phyll is Moen


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It's about T im e

and an u found

less

conflic t and

stress

among dual earner couples if both

members work approximately the same full-time hours but neither spouse puts

in long (m ore than forty-five) hours.55

Spillover in

The Cornell Couples

and

Careers Study

In our study, w e extend the spillover research in several w ays. First, w e focus

on workers who share a particu lar contex t: dual-earn er m iddle-class coup les. The

demands of dual careers and professional w ork in our sample provide the oppor-

tunity to exam ine spillover w hen the range and intensity of spillover are likely

to be high. W e also exam ine gender differences between m en and wom en who

face quite sim ilar p ro fessional demands at work .

Second, m ost of the conflict and interference and the spillover research has

focused on the negativ e asp ects, the strains, o f integrating work and fam ily roles,

w hereas w e consider positive as w ell as negative spillover. We also identify the

stra tegie s that dua l-e arner couple s employ to maximize the benefits and min imize

the costs of m eshing w ork and fam ily life.

Third, by taking a couple-level perspective in our spillover analyses, we

exam ine the linked lives of working m en and wom en, a dim ension m ost schol-

ars have ignored. C ouple-level research suggests that spousal behaviors, emo-

tions, an d ch aracteristics are likely to playa sign ificant role in the other spouse's

experience o f work -family sp illove r. We there fo re use in fo rma tion gathered from

both m em bers of our dual-earner couples to understand the relative levels of

spillover experienced by husbands and w ives and how the w ork experiences of

one member of a couple affect their partners' sense of spillover.

Fourth, we take a life course perspective, which gives us a snapshot of the

work and fam ily career dynam ics that occur as m en and wom en m ove through

different work and fam ily roles. Previous studies that have taken a life stage

appro ach to understanding sp illo ver h ave, w ith few excep tions, only defin ed two

life stage s: parenthood and nonpa renthood.56Our seven life -cou rse stage s permit

a better understanding of how the benefits and stresses associated w ith work and

fam ily vary across the life course for both m en and w om en.

Finally, w e exam ine the effect of a variety of work and fam ily characteristics

on spillover and the strategies that people use for m anaging work and fam ily. We

consider fam ily constraints (such as the tim e spent in household chores and

dependent care), as well as work-related variables (such as hours of work, work -

load, and control over scheduling). O f particular interest are fam ily and w ork

strategies (the use of computer technology, telecommuting, and flextim e) for

increasing th e efficien cy of running the home and /or to increase the flexibility of

work. E ach of these characteristics is m easured for both self and spouse.


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Methods

Our resp ondents are dual-earner co uples

(N =

811) in

The Cornell C ouples

a nd Careers Stud y (see app.). We analyze the data using basic descriptive tech-

n iques as well as repeated-measures an alysis of variance (ANOVA) and o rdinary

least squares (OLS) h ierarch ical reg ressions. We use a repeated -measu res analy -

sis o f variance rather than one-way ANOVAs because husb and and w ife spillover

scores are not independent of one another. W ith a repeated-m easures A NO VA ,

the couple is treated as the unit of analysis and husband and w ife spillover scores

are treated as separate observations w ithin the sam e unit. Previous studies have

not compared the spillover scores of husbands and w ives; rather, they have com -

pared the scores of em ployed m en and wom en, without taking into account the

specific emp loymen t circumstances o f th eir spou se.

Measures

Spillover W e use a shortened version of the spillover scale developed by

the John D . and Catherine T. M acAruthur Foundation Network on Successful

M idlife A ging. The scale assesses four types of spillover, m easuring each type

w ith tw o questions (scored on a five-point scale w here 1 equals all the tim e and

5 equals never). Item s were recoded so that a higher score represented greater

spillover. T he item s w ere then averaged to form an index.

L ife S tage

Recall, the seven life stages consist of

tw o nonparent stages: young nonparents (ages 25-39) and older nonparents

(ag es 40+ )

four stag es w ith ch ild ren in th e home: launch ing, p reschoo l-age ch ild ren (ages

0-5); early establishm ent, young school-age children (ages 6-12); later

establishmen t, adolescen ts (ages 13-18); and adult children (over 18 in the

home)

one stage that includes parents of children who are grown and have left home:

empty nes t5?

Variables Used in Regression Equations

To predict w ork-to-fam ily

spillo ver, w e exam ine sev eral work-related v ariab les. Flex ible work strateg ies

include whether the respondent utilizes (1) flexible technology that allows

w orkers to com municate w ith w ork w hile at hom e (w hether respondents regu-

larly use technology to work at home, including email, fax, beeper or cell phone,

and a portable com puter or hom e com puter), (2) telecom muting (the ability to

work at home for some portion of work time), and (3) flextime (the ability to

arrange a w ork schedule to m eet fam ily or personal needs).


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We assess three dim ensions related to work conditions: w orkload, schedule

contro l, and averag e week ly hou rs.

Wo rkload . T his is assessed by asking respondents whether their job requires

them to work very hard and very fast and whether they are asked to perform

excessive amounts of w ork. R esponses are recorded on a four-point scale

(from 1, strongly agree, to 4, strongly disagree).

Schedule control. This is assessed by a shortened version of a measure of

con tro l ove r a reas a t work .58The e ight-item scale measu re s whether re spon -

dents are able to determ ine when to begin and end their workday, the

number of hours they w ork, w hether w ork can be done at hom e, the tim ing

of vacations, the amount and tim ing of work that must be taken hom e on

evenings or w eekends, w hen to take a few hours off, and w hether they are

able to make or receive personal p hone calls and emails while at work. Items

are scored on a five-point scale (from 1, very little choice, to 5, very much

choice).

Average num ber of hours worked per w eek. This is assessed by the respon-

dents estim ate of the am ount of tim e, on average, spent at work, com bin-

ing all jobs.

When predicting fam ily-to-work spillover, w e consid er four fam ily-related

variables: the am ount of free tim e, the tim e spent on dependent care, the tim e

spent on household ch ores, and the time spent caring for infirm fam ily members.

W ork to Fam ily versus

Fam .ily to W ork Spillover

Our findings on the re lationsh ip between work -to -family sp illove r and family -

to -work sp illo ver are consisten t w ith p rev ious studies. S pecifically , ev en in th is

m iddle-class sample, w e find that w ork has more of a negative impact on fam ily

than fam ily has on work (see figure 7.1) for both women and men. Most em-

ployees in our study bring more w orries and stresses hom e w ith them from w ork

than they take from home to work. T o function effectively at the workplace, most

people compa rtmentaliz e their family conce rns wh ile a t work . By contra st, family

members are less effective at shielding their concerns at w ork from home. Note,

however, that on average respondents report negativ e work-to-fam ily spillo ver

som ew here betw een rarely and som etim es, m eaning that for m ost people in our

sample, negative spillover from work to home (or vice versa) is not a major issue.

Moreover, respondents in o ur study also report that, for the most part, the ben-

efits of combining work and fam ily outweigh any drawbacks (see figure 7.1). On

average, respondents report that positive spillover from fam ily to work occurs


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more frequently (between sometimes and most of the time) than negative

spillover. Thus, fam ily life enhances more than it hinders an individual's perfor-

m ance at work. Further, the couples in our sample report that home life enhances

w ork life to a greater degree than work life enhances hom e life.

Spillover between Husbands and W ives

P revious research on gender differences in fam ily-to-work spillover has been

conflicting, w ith no clear pattern em erging. In our sam ple, w e find that w om en

repo rt g reate r leve ls o f negative family -to -work sp illove r and g reate r leve ls o f pos-

itive fam ily-to-work spillover than do men (see figure 7.1). A lthough relatively

sma ll, th ese d iffe rences a re sta tis tically significan t. The added sta tistical power o f

our couple-level analysis may have allowed us to detect a significant difference

that w as too subtle for other studies to detect. We are not surprised to find women

reporting slightly higher levels of fam ily-to-w ork spillover than m en. In our

sample, women spend more tim e on household chores (2.6 hours vs. 1.9 hours on

w orkdays) and, am ong parents, on child care (3.9 hours vs. 2.2 hours on w ork-

days) than do m en. The added roles in the hom e, com bined w ith their w ork role is

lik ely to tran sla te in to grea te r lev els o f both positiv e and negativ e sp illo ve r.

W e do not find a significant difference betw een husbands and w ives in nega-

tive work -to-fam ily sp illo ver. This contrad ic ts prio r stud ies th at tend to show th at

w ives display greater levels of negative work-to-fam ily spillover than do hus-

bands. It m ay be that the context for w orking wom en is changing. M iddle-class

fem ale workers m ay be becom ing more adept at leaving the concerns of the work-

plac e b eh ind when they are home, d ecrea sin g nega tiv e work -to -fam ily sp illo ve r.

A t the sam e tim e, as m iddle-class m en begin to invest m ore in the roles of parent

and spouse, they may be experiencing an increase in work-to-fam ily spillover.

W e do find a small, but significant, difference between m en and women on

positiv e work -to -family spillove r (s ee figure 7 .1 ). Midd le -c la ss wives, when com-

pared to their husbands, have a greater tendency to feel that being involved in

work outside of the home enhances their effectiveness and emotional well-being

in the home. Still, the sm all, and even nonsignificant, differences that w e found

between m iddle-class husbands and w ives on spillover levels are consistent w ith

a general trend in the work-fam ily literature. A s societal attitudes shift to reflect

the changing dem ographics of the w orkforce, the differences betw een m en and

women in their orientation to work and fam ily are disappearing.59

Patterns of Spillover

P rev iously , rese arch ers h av e trea ted positiv e sp illo ver and negativ e spillo ve r

as separate processes and have not explored how positive and negative spillover


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L 2 I

N e g a ti v e S p i l l o v e r

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P o s it i v e S p i l l o v e r

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It's about Tim e

into launching fam ilies. In our sam ple of young m arried couples w ithout chil-

dren, w ork evidently intrudes into the hom e at a relatively high rate. T hese m en

and women have few family commitments and tend not to separate their jobs

from their home lives.

In teresting ly , among dual-earn er couples, parenthood is associated w ith less

negative work-to-fam ily spillover compare9 to men and women of comparable

ages w ithout children (young nonparent and older nonparent stages). We specu-

late that the presence of children m ay act to buffer parents from the stresses at

work. Parents may be less willing to let the hassles and pressures from work

invade their life at hom e, m aking a conscious effort to separate their w ork life

from their fam ily life. C hildren m ay also act to distract parents from the issues

that they face at work. The bottom line, how ever, is that parenthood appears to

help m en and wom en achieve a greater separation of work from hom e (but not

v ice versa ). Overall, n egativ e work -to -fam ily sp illover tend s to g radually d im in -

ish across the life course. A s employees settle into their careers, they m ay learn

how to juggle work and family so that they do not interfere as much with one

ano ther. L ife stage is s tatistic ally unrelated to pos itiv e work -to -fam ily sp illover

for both m en and wom en.

Predicting Spillover

To identify which work- and home-related factors predict spillover, we

perform eight separate hierarchical regressions-four for m en (positive and

negative w ork-to-fam ily spillover and positive and negative fam ily-to-w ork

spillover) and four for w omen. E ach regression equation has three steps. First,

w e control for psychological disposition (negative affect) and life stage. For

fam ily -to-work sp illo ver, in th e second step we assess whether th e respondents'

home-re lated variab les and flexib le wo rk s tra tegie s in flu ence sp illove r. Third , we

exam ine w hether the spouse's behaviors at hom e and flexible w ork strategies

in flu ence spillover. This th ird s tep allows us to d isc ern how spouse s' o rien ta tions

to w ork and fam ily are linked to the respondents' ow n experience of spillover.

For work-to-fam ily spillover, we follow these same steps, except that in the

second and third steps w e exam ine the impact of work-related variables and flex-

ib le wo rk s tra tegies on work -to -fam ily spillover.

Predicting Fam ily-to- W ork Spillover

T he more tasks and roles that individuals perform in the hom e, the greater the

negative fam ily-to-w ork spillover. Specifically, m en who spend more tim e on

household chores, and m en and w om en w ho spend m ore hours at w ork (leaving

fewer availab le for th e home) report h ig her n eg ative fam ily-to -work spillov er. In


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119

the same vein, the more free tim e that husbands and w ives report having at home,

the lower the ir reports o f n eg ativ e fam ily-to -work sp illov er (rec all we control fo r

n eg ativ e mood and life stag e).6 2

Roles in the hom e also have im plications for positive spillover. H usbands

whose w ives care for an infirm relative report lower levels of positive fam ily-to-

w ork spillover than husbands whose w ives do not have this additional role. It is

likely that women who care for an ill relative are less available to perform house-

hold tasks and to m eet the needs of their im mediate fam ily, leaving their hus-

bands to perform some of these tasks, which then detracts from their experiences

at home. As the population ages and elder care becomes more prevalent, the

impact of care giving on worker and fam ily w ell-being w ill become a more acute

Issue.

Work strategies also impact fam ily-to-w ork spillover. T he more hours that a

w ife works, the more positive spillover reported by her husband. T his is consis-

te nt w ith previo us re se arch th at shows th at when husb ands and w ive s h av e sim ilar

high levels of commitment to work, husbands report lower levels of work-fam ily

conflict.63It m ay be that w ives w ho work relatively long hours are m ore sup-

portive of their husbands' w ork and more w illing to discuss work-related issues

in the hom e, resulting in m ore positive hom e-to-w ork spillover. The opposite

seem s to be true for w om en. W ives w hose husbands w ork relatively long hours

repo rt g reate r negativ e family -to -wo rk sp illove r. Becau se o f th eir husband 's long

hours (recall that the m en in our sample work longer hours than the women),

these w om en m ay shoulder a larger burden of hom e-related tasks, resulting in

greate r negative family -to -work spillover.

F lexib le work s tra tegie s have a paradoxical re la tionship with family -to -wo rk

spillover. Women who bring work home report higher levels of both positive and

nega tive spillo ve r. They feel bo th enhan ced and bu rd en ed by th is strategy . In con -

trast, men who brin g work home report gre ater p ositive family -to-work sp illov er

only. Am ong m en, w orking at hom e is a strategy that enhances their w ork life,

w ithout the corresponding downside that w e find w ith women. Women, w ho are

responsible for the m ajority of household tasks, m ay be overburdened at hom e

when they also have to perform work-related tasks, leading to greater fatigue and

stress in the w orkplace, w hich is not found am ong m en.

Predicting W ork-to-Fam ily Spillover

Several work-rela ted conditions s ignif icantly affect work-to-fami ly spillover .64

First, for both husbands and w ives, control over w hen and w here an individual

w orks is associated w ith higher positive spillover. O n the dow n side, a greater

work load is assoc ia ted with h igher negative work-to -family spillover. In add ition,

husbands w hose w ives have heavy w orkloads tend to have low er levels of posi-

tive work-'to-fam ily spillover. H igh workloads and a lack of control at w ork are


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120

It's abou t T ime

b o th s o u r c e s o f s t r e s s fo r e m p lo y e e s , whicha p p e a r s t o n e g a t iv e ly a f f e c t w o r k e r s '

experien ces at home.

A more complicated picture emerges when we examine the relationship

betw een spillover and w orkplace strategies that are designed to facilitate the

m eshing of w ork and fam ily. For husbands and w ives, bringing w ork hom e has

the paradoxical effect of in creasing both negative and po sitive work-to-fam ily

spillover. Further, w ives whose husbands bring work home tend to report low er

po sitive work-to-fam ily spillover. T he u se of telecommuting , another strategy

touted as an aid for working fam ilies, is related to lower levels of positive

spillo ver among w ives and also among w iv es whose husband s' telecommute. T he

use of flextim e also has some negative consequences. When husbands use flex-

time , wives report lower leve ls of pos itive work-to -fami ly spillover . In te resting ly ,

the use of these fam ily-friendly policies appears to have more of a detrim ental

effect on the w ive's spillover than on the husbands'. In addition, w ives appear to

be neg atively impacted by th eir husbands' use of these fam ily-friendly policies,

but husbands are not im pacted by their w ives' use of the policies.

A lthough flexible work strategies seem to help workers cope w ith the multi-

ple dem ands of work and fam ily, they are not a panacea for the w orking couple

(especially for the w ife) but seem to be a double-edged sword. Strategies such as

b ringing work home are simu ltan eously related to enhancing and detracting from

husbands' and w ives' experien ces at work and at home. O th er flex ib le work strate-

gies, such as telecommuting and flextim e, are related to decreases in positive

spillover for women and for w ives whose husbands use these strategies.

Sum m ing Up

In this chapter, w e build on and extend prior research on spillover in several

w ays. We use a unique sample of dual-earner m iddle-class couples to show how

shared contexts an d linked lives of couples promote an understan din g of positive

and neg ative spillover b etween work and fam ily. First, the most common pattern

of spillover is Fam ily Optim al; that is, almost 60 percent of respondents report

h igh levels o f positive family -to -work sp illove r and low leve ls o f negative family -

to -work sp illover. A lthough negative family -to -work sp illove r doe s exist, it is not

a major concern of workers in our m idd le-class, largely profession al sample.

Second, m ost couples fit a symmetric m odel of spillover (e.g., low negative

spillover for both husbands and w ives), w ith husbands' and w ives' experiences

w ith sp illo ver lin ked to a g reater d eg ree th an we expected . These findings suggest

that as women become more integrated into the workforce, differences in expe-

riences between men and women are becoming smaller. The structural lag

betw een the demography of the w orkforce and the social organization of w ork

may be similar for both men and women. There are, however, a significant


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121

number of couples who have asymmetric spillover. F or example, some husbands

report low negative spillover from home to work, whereas their w ives experience

re la tiv ely h igh negative sp illove r. Ou r in te rp re ta tion is that in a substantia l m inor-

ity o f ca ses th e tradition al rela tion sh ip o f asymmetry still ex ists; tha t is, the w ive s

bear the brunt of negative spillover for both partners.

Third, life stag e play s a sign ifican t role in how much sp illo ver work ing spouses

experien ce . L ife stag e captu re s th e dynamic in te rp lay b etween ind ividu als' work

ca re ers and family careers. Husb ands and wiv es w ith the grea test fam ily demands

are more likely to report higher levels of negative fam ily-to-work spillover. This

is particularly true for the w ives in our study. Both spouses in later life stages

tend to report less negative work-to-fam ily spillover. Surprisingly, however,

am ong husbands and w ives under the age of fifty, having children in the hom e is

re la ted to le ss negative work -to -family sp illove r. These findings suggest th at chil-

dren m ay buffer their parents from the stresses of w ork.

Fourth, hom e conditions, w ork conditions, and flexible w ork strategies are

significant determ inants of spillover. C ontrol over w ork schedules appears to

enhance pos itive spillover, whereas heavie r work loads predic ts negative spillover.

Flexible work strategies have complex effects that vary for m en and women. For

both husbands and wives, bringing work home acts as a double-edged sword,

related to higher levels of both positive and negative spillover. W ives who

telecommute and w ives whose husbands telecommute, use flextime, and/or work

at home tend to experience less positive spillover from their work and home lives.

Thus, not only do women's own use of flexible work policies influence spillover,

but their husband's u se o f those polic ie s a lso a ffects sp illove r. The re fo re , a lthough

these strategies m ake it easier for couples to combine work and fam ily responsi-

bilities, they may come at a cost to w ives' (and a lesser extent to husbands') sense

of spil lover .

Note that our findings should be interpreted in the context of the sample pop-

ulation. Our sample does not include single individuals or single parents-that

is, individuals who have opted not to marry or who have more challenges as single

parents in balancing work and fam ily. In addition, although a sample of m iddle-

class couples is expected to have high work dem ands, these professionals also

have more resources than do lower-income fam ilies. F uture research, therefore,

should include a w ider range of w orkers to test w hether our results can be gen-

eralized to individuals in o th er hou sehold and econom ic c ircumstance s.

Our analysis of positive and negative spillover among dual-career couples at

different life stages provides important insights into the complexities of work-

fam ily relationships. The effects of spillover from fam ily to w ork and w ork to

fam ily heavily depend on the characteristics and strategies of the household as

w ell as the circum stances at work, for individuals and for their spouses.

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