Mothers’ and Fathers’ Differential Experiences of Work-Family Conflict: The Importance of Evidence using Longitudinal Design

• In Event: 2266 - Family Section Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 8. Gender and the Division of Household Labor

Abstract

Recent studies suggest that the gender gap in work-family conflict (WFC) is closing, with fathers’ WFC potentially higher than mothers. We argue that this finding may be an artifact due to (a) previous research’s reliance on cross-sectional data; (b) nonresponse bias and selection effects of mothers into community surveys asking about WFC; and, (c) fathers’ and mothers’ differential vulnerability to WFC. We use individual-level panel data from the Canadian Work, Stress and Health study (2011-2017)—a nationally representative longitudinal sample of employed parents’ work and family conditions—to test our arguments. We restrict our analyses to married or cohabiting parents. Our results support previous evidence of similar WFC experiences by gender at each wave. However, we also find that—over the six-year period—mothers are more likely to opt out of paid work because of either WFC itself or family-related obligations that strongly predict WFC. We argue that these results reflect nonresponse bias and the selection of certain mothers into subsequent survey waves, including those who may already have lower levels of WFC. Finally, using fixed-effects panel regression, we document that work- and family- related conditions distinctively affect mothers’ and fathers’ reports of WFC, placing mothers at a disadvantage. These latter results underscore key processes of differential vulnerability to WFC previously neglected in gender equality reports. Our results extend knowledge about the shifting work-family gender dynamic in modern North American households.

Authors

• Marisa Christine Young, McMaster University

• Melissa A. Milkie, University of Toronto

• Scott Schieman, University of Toronto