The Influence Of Family Relationship Satisfaction And Perceived Work Family Harmony On Mental Health Among Asian Working Mothers In Singapore

Women's participation in the labor force has increased in Singapore in the recent years. Research has suggested that women's attempt to relate their traditional roles as wife and mother with the expectations of their modern role as a paid employee may have an impact on their mental health. Data from a cross-sectional national probability sample of 284 employed mothers in Singapore were used to investigate the relationships between work hours, marital satisfaction, child relationship satisfaction, work-family harmony, and mental health.

This book delivers timely research on the various interfaces of family and work, and their impacts on individual wellbeing in East and Southeast Asia. It highlights changing family structures and processes, with special attention to inter-generational relationships, gender roles, cultural norms and employment. The book presents both qualitative and quantitative research works, adopting a comparative approach to analyze a number of demographics. In-depth field studies are also included, which present in detail the daily efforts of certain populations to attain better living standards by mobilizing available resources from within and outside the family. As such, the book is a valuable addition to contemporary research perspectives on family, work and living conditions in Asia.

INTRODUCTION The phenomenon of work-family conflict is a worldwide issue and attracts the attention of behavioural scientists and mental health specialists. Traditionally, men were breadwinners and women were homemakers who looked after and took care of family needs. In that respect, work and family domains were considered mutually exclusive and there was minor attention towards outcome of work-family interference. But in recent years, work scenario has changed as more and more women are joining various job positions. Modernizations in terms of economic growth, globalization and equality in opportunities have impacted the work life and employees' well- being (Panatik, Badri et al., 2011). Women workers have started contributing in volume in work sector, and this contribution is expected to rise with time. In India also, particularly before independence, the women from middle and upper classes were mostly confined to their homes. However, with the formation and implementation of many protective laws and legislations for women, enhancement of educational facilities and advent of globalization; there has emerged a newer professional class of women workers from middle and upper class of the economy. Thus, Indian women are also trying to attain a new place in the world of work. Women of the present time are performing multiple roles such as that of a mother, an employee and a homemaker etc. Thus, more and more women are juggling their dual roles of family and career. Woman at job has a dual role to play towards work as well as family and failure to extend her contribution with equal efficiency makes her feel tensed which in turn give rise stress and a threat to mental health. Therefore, it is required to balance work and life efficiently. The issue of work-family conflict is strongly inclined towards combining work and family related research. Research is focused now on issues like effect of work stressors on home life, and the link of family stressors with,

In this dissertation, based on conservation of resources (COR) theory, I aim to provide insight into the dynamic nature of work-family conflict among working mothers by exploring trajectories of work-family conflict in terms of work interference with family (WIF) and family interference with work (FIW) and the extent to which increases in job and family satisfaction buffer the effects of work-family conflict over time. The two commonly-used perspectives in the work-family literature are the matching-domain perspective (i.e., that the primary effects of conflict lie in the domain where the conflict emerged) and the cross-domain perspective (i.e., conflict emerging from one domain causes problems in another). According to COR scholars, it is important to view COR theory in context and to explore resource boundary conditions. I contribute to the conceptualization of resources by investigating the matching- and cross-domain perspectives with regard to resources and where such resources stem from. Specifically, I examine whether job and family satisfaction work better as buffer resources when they come from the same domain as the conflict (i.e., the matching-domain perspective) or when they come from another domain (i.e., the cross-domain perspective). Using an archival data set with a panel longitudinal design in which data were collected from 261 working mothers in dual-earner couples in South Korea at four time points over a period of six years, this dissertation shows the stability of WIF and FIW over time and generally supports the hypothesis that increases in job satisfaction buffer the effect of WIF on subsequent WIF; however, increases in job satisfaction did not buffer the effect of FIW on subsequent of FIW. Increases in family satisfaction also did not buffer the effect of WIF on subsequent WIF or the effect of FIW on subsequent FIW. Although not hypothesized, I found that family satisfaction amplified the effect of WIF on subsequent FIW. These findings suggest that although both job and family satisfaction have been viewed as positive constructs, family satisfaction may not always act as a resource but can also be a hindrance when it comes to working mothers managing work-family conflict.

Problem statement: Employee loyalty has long been an issue in the field of human resource since it is related to behaviors such as attendance, turnover, organizational citizenship, lost of organizational memory and effectiveness. Approach: This study was conducted to test the mediating effects of work-family facilitation and family satisfaction on the relationship between family-friendly work environment as the independent variable and intention to stay as the dependent variable. By using self-administered research questionnaire, data was collected from 240 mid-age single mother employees in Klang Valley, Malaysia through simple random sampling method. Findings: The findings indicated that there were positive significant relationships among variables. The results also established the presence of mediation effects between the independent and dependent variables. Conclusion: Organizations may utilize family-friendly work factors along with work-family facilitation and family satisfaction as mechanisms to promote longer retention among employees.

Child well-being is one of the least frequently studied outcomes in research on the work-family interface. This paper extends previous research by examining the relationship between parental work-family conflict and child well-being and possible mechanisms that explain these relationships. I hypothesize that parental work–family con¬¬flict negatively influences parents’ mindfulness, decrease children’s perceptions of parental-child attachment, which in turn affects child well-being (e.g., problematic internet usage, aggression and health). Questionnaire-based data from families (one parent and one child) were collected from three schools in Nigeria. Results showed the total and direct effect between work-family conflict and child well-being was not significant. The indirect effect between work-family conflict and aggression through mindfulness was significant; the indirect effect between work-family conflict and problematic internet usage through attachment was significant and the indirect effect between work-family conflict and health through attachment was significant. Lastly, the sequential indirect effect between work-family conflict and child problematic internet usage through both mindfulness and attachment was significant.

Over the past two decades, the issues relating to work/family balance have been the subject of various investigations. This focus is indeed warranted given the fact that work and family can result in conflict (work/family conflict) and enhancement (work/family enrichment). Critically however, the extant literature suggests that work/family conflict and work/family enrichment to be related yet in distinct constructs. Employing a mixed methodology, the present study aims to develop a comprehensive framework to model the relationships between work/family conflict and work/family enrichment in achieving work/family balance. In the first phase of the study, a cross-sectional survey design is employed and responses from 689 nurses from public hospitals in Malaysia were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test the relationship between two predictors (social support and self-esteem) to work/family conflict and work/family enrichment and their impact of overall satisfactions and work/family balance. The findings reveal that the work/family conflict is negatively related to work/family enrichment. In fact, it is found that social support and self-esteem are negatively related to work/family conflict and work/family conflict is negatively linked with overall satisfaction. Meanwhile, social-support and self-esteem are positively related to work/family enrichment and work/family enrichment has a significant positive relationship with overall satisfaction. With regards to direct relationships, social-support and self-esteem are positively related to overall satisfaction. The findings also indicates that work/family conflict serves as mediator between social-support and overall satisfaction. Work/family enrichment on the other hand only partially mediates the relationship between self-esteem and overall satisfaction. Contrary to expectations, overall satisfaction is significantly negatively related to work/family balance. The findings of the quantitative study was substantiated and supported by the findings of the second phase of the study in which 12 nurses were interviewed. In conclusion, the study contributes to the present knowledge of work/family balance by providing simultaneous relationships that integrate the causes and the effects of work/family conflict and work/family enrichment in a single framework.