Work-life balance: The experiences of Australian working mothers
Ibolya Losoncz
Research and Analysis Branch, Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Canberra ACT
Natalie Bortolotto
Research and Analysis Branch, Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Canberra ACT
PP: 122 - 138
Abstract
Research on working mothers to date has largely focused on particular aspects of the work-life balance, such as investigating family and work roles or the interaction between work and family life. This paper explores the use of cluster analysis to simultaneously consider the different aspects of the work-life nexus.
Utilising Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey data, six major homogenous groups of working mothers were identified, each with a distinctive profile in terms of their work-family experience. Subsequent descriptive analysis of the six groups found systematic differences between the groups in terms of their characteristics and circumstances.
The research found that the majority of working mothers managed their work-life balance successfully. Furthermore, women's aspirations for being a working mother were not consistently associated with how well they coped. Instead, work-life conflict was associated with long working hours, work overload and lack of support from others. Just under 30% of mothers experienced a high level of work-life conflict, and the strong association of work-life balance strain with poor physical and mental health and low satisfaction with work and family life was evident. The paper also explores future use of these clusters in forthcoming longitudinal analysis of the work-life nexus.[1]
[1] This article is based on a paper presented at the Australian Population Association 14th Biennial Conference, Alice Springs, 30 June - 3 July 2008. It uses unit record data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey (Release 6.0). The HILDA Project was initiated and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) and is managed by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (MIAESR). The opinions, comments and/or analysis expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
Keywords
work-life balance, work-life conflict, working mothers, working hours, role preference, spillover
References
Adlaf EM and Zdanowich YM (1999) A clusteranalytic study of substance problems and mental health among street youth. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse 25: 639-660.
Alexander M and Baxter J (2005) Impacts of work on family life among partnered parents of young children. Family Matters 72: 18-25.
Allan C, Loudoun R and Peetz D (2007) Influences on work/non-work conflict. Journal of Sociology 43(3): 219-239.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2001) Labour Force, Australia 2001. Catalogue 6203.0, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.
Barnett RC (1994) Home-to work spillover revisited: A study of full-time employed women in dual-earner couples. Journal of Marriage and the Family 56: 647-656.
Barnett RC (1998) Toward a review and reconceptualization of the work/family literature. Genetic, Social and General Psychology Monographs 124: 125-182.
Barnett RC and Marshall NL (1992a) Men's job and partner roles: spillover effects and psychological distress. Sex Roles 27: 455-472.
Barnett RC and Marshall NL (1992b) Worker and mother roles, spillover effects, and psychological distress. Women and Health 18: 9-40.
Baxter J, Gray M, Alexander M, Strazdins L and Bittman M (2007) Mothers and fathers with young children: paid employment, caring and wellbeing. Social Policy Research Paper No 30. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
Berry HL (2008) Twelve types of Australians and their socio-economic, psychosocial and health profiles. Paper prepared for the Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Canberra.
Berry HL, Butterworth P Caldwell, TM and Rodgers B (2007) Contemporary Australian archetypes: different types of people, different needs. Social Policy Research Paper No 32. Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Canberra.
Bittman M, Hoffman S and Thompson D (2004) Men's uptake of family-friendly employment provisions. Policy Research Paper No 22. Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Canberra.
Brunton C (2006) Work, family and parenting study: Research findings. Centre for Social Research and Evaluation. Ministry of Social Development, New Zealand.
Cinamon RG and Rich Y (2002a) Gender differences in the importance of work and family roles: implications for work-family conflict. Sex Roles 47: 531-541.
Cinamon RG and Rich Y (2002b) Profiles of attribution of importance to life roles and their implications for the work-family conflict. Journal of Counselling Psychology 49: 212-220.
Coltrane S (2000) Research on household labor. Journal of Marriage and the Family 62: 1209-1233.
Everitt BS, Landau S and Leese M (2001) Cluster Analysis (4th Edn.) New York: Oxford University Press.
Fagan and Burchell (2002) Gender, jobs and working conditions in the European Union. Dublin: European Foundation for Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.
Frone MR, Russell M and Cooper ML (1992) Antecedents and outcomes of work family conflict - testing a model of the work family interface. Journal of Applied Psychology 77: 65-68.
Frone MR, Yardley JK and Markel KS (1997) Developing and testing an integrative model of the work-family interface. Journal of Vocational Behavior 50: 145-167.
Galinsky E (2005) Children's perspectives of employed mothers and fathers: Closing the gap between public debates and research findings, in Halpern DF and Murphy SE (Eds) From work-family balance to work-family interaction. Changing the metaphor, pp.219-237. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, London.
Hakim C (1998) Developing a sociology of the twenty-first century' preference theory. British Journal of Sociology 49(1): 137-143.
Hakim C (2002) Lifestyle preferences as determinants of women's differentiated labor market careers. Work and Occupations 29(4): 428-459.
Hoskings A and Western M (2005) The effects of nonstandard employment on work-family balance. Paper: 9th Australian Institute of family Studies Conference, Melbourne, Victoria.
Jones FL and McMillan J (2000) Scoring Occupational Categories for Social Research: a Review of Current Practice, with Australian Examples. Work, Employment & Society 15(3): 539-563.
Kruesmann M, Hsu E, Vella K and Jones F (2003) Balancing parenting and work: Understanding women's work orientations and work realities, and pressures of balancing parenting and work. Paper: Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference, Melbourne, Victoria.
Losoncz I (2009) Personality Traits in HILDA. Australian Social Policy 8: 169-198.
Marshall NL and Barnett RC (1993) Work-family strains and gains among two-earner couples. Journal of Community Psychology 21: 64-78.
McRae S (2003) Constraints and choices in mothers' employment careers: a consideration of Hakim's Preference Theory. British Journal of Sociology 54(3): 317-338.
Messenger JC (2004) Working Time and Workers' Preferences in Industrialized Countries: Finding the Balance. Routledge, London.
Milkie MA and Peltola P (1999) Playing all the roles: gender and work-family balancing act Journal of Marriage and the Family 61(2): 476-490.
Morehead A (2005) Governments, workplaces and households: To what extent do they shape how mothers allocate time to work and family, and what role do preference play? Family Matters 70: 4-9.
Pocock B, Skinner N and Williams P (2007) Work, life and time. The Australian Work and Life Index, 2007. Centre for Work + Life, Hawke Research Institute, University of South Australia.
Reynolds J and Aletraris L (2007) Work-family conflict, children, and hour mismatches in Australia. Journal of Family Issues 28: 749-772.
Strazdins L, Lucas N, Mathews B, Berry H, Rodgers B and Davies A (2008) Parent and child wellbeing and the influence of work and family arrangements: A three cohort study. Report to the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
Strazdins L, Clements MS, Korda RJ, Broom DH and D'Souza RM (2006) Unsociable work?: Nonstandard work schedules, family relationships, and children's well-being. Journal of Marriage and Family 68(2): 394-410.
Watson N and Wooden M (2002) The Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey: Wave 1 survey methodology. HILDA Project Technical Paper Series. University of Melbourne. (No. 1/02).
Ware JE Jr (2000) SF-36 Health Survey Update, SPINE 25(24): 3130-3139.
Wooden M (2003) Balancing work and family at the start of the 21st century: evidence from Wave 1 of the HILDA survey. Paper presented at the Melbourne Institute Economic and Social Outlook Conference, Melbourne.
eContent Home
