Preliminary evidence suggests women may be better role jugglers than men

Women took only the positive from work into the home (and vice versa), while for men it was the stress that spilt over By Emma Young Juggling home and work commitments is never easy, and yet there’s been surprisingly little research into how either demands – or support – at home or work may spillover into the other context. Does a frustrating or combative workday negatively affect family life that evening, for instance? Or if your partner is emotionally supportive when you both get home, will you “pass it on”, and be more supportive of colleagues the next day? And, are men and women affected in the same ways? A new paper, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, provides some provocative answers.  In the first of two studies conducted in the Netherlands, Lieke ten Brummelhuis at Simon Fraser University and Jeffrey Greenhaus at Drexel University asked both members of 26 heterosexual working couples, most of whom had children, and who had been together for an average of 17 years, to fill in questionnaires each day for five days.  Immediately after work, they answered questions about their emotional work demands and support that day – whether they’d been confronted with demanding clients or co-workers, for example, or whether a colleague had made time to listen to their problems.  Just before going to sleep, they then filled in another questionnaire, which asked about interactions at home after work. (They had to indicate how much they agreed or ...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Gender Mental health Occupational Source Type: blogs