Date of Award

January 2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Krista Lynn Minnotte

Abstract

Recent studies have indicated an increased occurrence of dual-earner households, with the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics reporting that as of 2001, 64% of couples with children were dual-earners. This trend means less free time for working parents, resulting in many parents expressing concerns about finding adequate time for work and family (Galinsky, 2000). This is especially true for mothers, as evidenced in the additional pressures entailed in the prevailing ideology of intensive mothering (Hays, 1996). As such, these worries and concerns might impact parents while they are working, with people's feelings about their parenting potentially shaping their experiences in the workplace. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to determine how perceived parental success shapes spillover form family to the workplace. More specifically, this research examines how perceptions of parental success predict family-to-work conflict (negative spillover from family to work) and family-to-work enhancement (positive spillover from family to work) among dual-earner working mothers and fathers. The study is focusing solely on dual-earners with children because these families experience stressors stemming from juggling two jobs with parenting responsibilities. Based upon bivariate analysis and OLS regression results, preliminary findings indicate that perceived parental success was significantly and negatively associated with family-to-work conflict for both dual-earner mothers and fathers. The model predicting dual-earner father's family-to-work enhancement was not significant, however the results for mothers showed that perceived parental success was positively and significantly related to their family-to-work enhancement.

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