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PertanikaJ. Soc. Sei. & Hum. 16(2); 257-268 (2008) ISSN: 0128-7702© Universiti Putra Malaysia Press

Women at Work: Work Family Conflict and Well Being

Sarvinder KaurJabatan Pengajian Kenegaraan dan Ketamadunan, Fakulti Ekologi Manusia,

Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, MalaysiaE-mail: sarvinder@putra. upm. edu. my

ABSTRACT

Many women have diverted from their traditional single role as home makers who are financiallydependent on their husbands to the double roles of being home makers and wage earners. In fittinginto their second role as wage earners, women are often confronted with their main challenge ofbalancing work and family. This study looked into the work conditions of employed women, namelytime at work, workload, conflicts at work, and the lack of support at work, as well as family conditionssuch as the number of children, presence of young children and lack of support at home, and work-family conflict. This study determined the effects of the predictors on employed women's well-being.The participants of this study were limited to women secretaries/clerks who are married >with childrenin the Klang Valley. The research was conducted using the survey method of questionnaire and thedata was analysed using the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). In conclusion, this studyfound that the above mentioned predictors, namely work conditions, family conditions and work-family conflict did affect employed women's well-being; these predictors affected thetn in differentways including psychological distress, physical health symptoms and low job satisfaction.

Keywords: Women, home makers, wage earners, conflict, family, work

INTRODUCTIONThe highest form of challenge, faced by today'semployed women, is balancing family and worklife. Family and work are inseparable in that familyis central to work and work is central to family.A recent study of the changing workforce, theFamilies and Work Institute reported that work-lifebalance was ranked among the most importantfactors considered by individuals in accepting anew position (Galinsky et al, 1996).

Work generally refers to instrumental humanactivity, whose aim, at the minimum, is the provisionof goods and services for supporting human life(Piotrkowski et al., 1998). In the theoreticalcontext, the term 'family' is used to-.designatepersons sharing a residence and household, thosewho are related by biological ties, marriage, socialcustom, or adoption (Piotrkowski et a/.,'. 1998).

According to Greenhaus and Parasuraman(Greenhaus and Parasuraman, 1999), workexperience can affect involvement, behaviour,attitudes, and outcomes in the family domain.Positive work experiences, such as high autonomyand control, work schedule flexibility, and socialsupport, can enrich family life atid promote work-family integration. The absence of these resources,as well as the presence of extensive stress withinthe work environment, may produce work-familyconflict which has harmful effects on the family.

Women's family responsibilities can severelylimit their careers in ways that do not generallyaffect men. Women tend to choose occupationswhich are compatible with their family's needs.They also limit their aspirations for careeradvancement, reduce their behavioural andpsychological involvement in work, adjust their

Received: 13 December 2007Accepted: 27 August 2008*Corresponding Author

Sarvinder Kaur

work schedule for family reasons, and turndown opportunities for career development andgrowth which would interfere with their familyresponsibilities (Greenhatis et ai, 1999).

Work-family conflict or interference refers tosimultaneous pressures from the work and familydomains which are mutually incompatible insome respect such that meeting the demands ofone role makes it difficult to meet the demandsofthe other role (Greenhatis and Singh, 2003).Factors associated with increased work-familyconflict inchide high level of job involvement,heavy workload, as well as conflict at work or athome and low level of supervisor support (FoxandDwyer, 1999).

The present study predicted that workconditions such as time at work, the amountof work (work overload), conflict at work andstipport at work, were negatively related to well-being; whereas, family conditions such as thepresence of children, the presence of youngchildren and support at home were negativelyrelated to well-being; and work-family conflictwas negatively related to well-being. Well-being inthis study was meastired in terms of psychologicaldistress, physical health symptoms and low jobsatisfaction.

WORK CONDITIONS

Time at Work

Workplace and government policies in themid-1900s were made based on the assumptionthat someone was at home full-time to carefor the needs of the family, leaving the workerunenctimbered by outside demands (Moen,2003). Today, many women have joined theworkforce without leaving their primary job ashomemakers. In Malaysia, many women preferworking for various reasons, with the main onebeing economic reasons (Noraini M. Noor, 1999).Therefore, women are now playing a great rolein improving the economy of the households.However, problems arise when employed womenare faced with difficulties in balancing time athome and time at workplace.

Michie and Williams (2003) in a researchconducted in the United Kingdom, found thatthe most common work factors associated withpsychological ill health were work demand whichincluded long hours at work. Although the lengthof the average work week has slightly changedover the past twenty years, the aggregate amount

of time that conples spend at work has increaseddramatically (Jacobs and Gerson, 2001). Thus, inorder to balance work-family time, many womenopt for available alternatives such as part-timeemployment or flexible working honrs. However,these benefits are normally marginalised withother negative impacts such as lower wages andslower career advancement.

Work Overload and Conflict at Work

Literature has fotind that among the factorsassociated with psychological ill health werework demand such as workload and presstireand the lack of control over work (Michie e.t ai,2003). A study conducted in Malaysia (AmatTaap Manshor et ai, 2003) found that althoughmany organisations have reduced the workingdays in a week, often going from six to five days,the workload has not changed in most cases.The study also found that high work demandsand rapid changes in the workplace resulted inhigher role conflict and role ambiguity amongmanagers.

Work overload normally occurs when jobdemands exceed the human limits, and peoplehave to do too much, in too little time, with verylimited resources. It is characterised by a numberof conditions such as long and difficult workinghours, unreasonable workloads, increasedexcessive performance monitoring, additional(often) inappropriate tasks imposed on top ofthe 'core' workload (more than one job) andwork conflict (Lyndia etal, n.d). Meanwhile, workconflict occurs when two or more roles cannotbe performed simultaneously (stich as in anorganisation where an individual must satisfy thedemands of two or more teams or stipervisors)(Dtixbtiry and Higgins, 1999). Policies willnot work in companies where workload is aproblem. For instance, employees who work inan organisation with a ctilture around 'face time'and hour at work (i.e. believe that they will notadvance if they cannot work long hours, thatfamily responsibilities make it difficult to advance,and that it is not acceptable to say no to morework) are less able to balance between work andfamily (Duxbury and Higgins, 2005).

Support at Work

Literature has shown that poor support frommanagers is a common factor which is associatedwith psychological ill health (Michie et ai, 2003).

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Women al Work: Work Family Conflict and Well Being

In another study, supervisor support was identifiedas a critical moderator of work-life conflict(Thomas and Ganster, 1995).

A research by Duxbury and Higgins (2003)in Canada found that employees with supportivemanagers were significantly and more likely tobe satisfied with their jobs, committed to theorganisation, and involved with their work. Theyfurther reported less overall stress, less job stress,less role overload and less interference from workto family.

Grzywacz and Mark (2000) found that familylife has a positive effect on work; for example,participants with spouses or children were foundto be more likely to report that talking withsomeone at home had helped them deal with workproblems and that support at home made themfeel confident about themselves at work.

In view of the above, it is therefore importantfor companies to ensure that proper support isprovided as it is evident that the companies willbenefit from it in the long run. This could be doneby implementing policies such as family-friendlywork environment. In terms of family support, anequal sharing of family responsibility is needed.

FAMILY CONDITION

The Presence of Children and Young Children

The attitude towards working women seems to bethat, while people have no objection to availingof their talents and abilities outside the home,women are not allowed to compromise on theirhome life (Mehrotra, 2002). Among dual-earnercouples, wives typically experience higher levels ofwork-family conflict than husbands, particularlywhen young children are in the home (Roehlinget al., 200^).

According to Reynolds and Aletraris (2005)both men and women react to work to familyconflict by wanting to reduce the number of hoursthey work, but among women, the strength of therelationship varies considerably with the age of theyoungest child in the household. In particular,work to family conflict is most likely to makewomen want fewer hours of work when there areyoung children in the household (i.e. childreneight years old or younger).

However, it is no longer uncommon to seefathers dropping their children off or pickingthem up from childcare centres. Although manyfathers were engaged in dropping children offor picking them up, mothers perceived the

responsibility for dealing with childcare providersas resting entirely on their shoulders (Hattery,2000).

In Australia, a nationwide survey datashowed how common it was for the employeeswith dependent care (children under 15 years ofage) responsibilities to have to take time off work(Website of EOWA). The survey found that nearlyone third of employed caregivers had claimedthat care-giving commitments caused repeatedinterruptions at work, resulted in their having towork fewer hours, or both; almost one-quartertaken periods of unpaid leave; 16% taken lessresponsible jobs; and 13% refused promotions.

While being in charge of child-care, health isalways a priority for mothers, like selecting theirchildren's doctor, taking children to keep doctor'sappointments, as well as follow-up care (http://www.kff.org/womenshealth) and care for a sickchild (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2003).

Many working mothers, particularly low-income mothers, have major concerns about theconsequences of missing work to care for childrenon their jobs and career paths, fearing that theircolleagues will not be understanding enough whenthey miss work (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2001 ).According to Mehrotra (2002) very often motherswho have to go back to work are not happy leavingtheir children at such a young age. They feel guilty,anxious and their anxiety is transmitted to thechildren. The mother will phone home ten timesa day to find out what is happening and try to giveinstructions over the phone. This can cause thewhole family to develop neurotic tendencies, anddue to this reason, working mothers easily succumbto children's demands, mostly out of guilt.

However, a woman's employment has beenshown to enhance her emotional well-being(Baruch and Barnett, 1986) particularly if shewishes to work (Ross et al., 1983) and her job isinteresting and challenging (Valdez and Gutek,1987). Research has also indicated that a woman'semployment needs not have deleterious effects onher children (Piotrkowski etal., 1998).

Support at Home

To reduce work-family conflict or family-workconflict of an employed woman, it is importantthat she gets sufficient support. This supportincludes spousal support (Piotrkowski et al., 1987)family support (Friedman and Greenhaus, 2000)(children, parents, in-laws or other relatives) and

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Sarvinder Katir

social support (commtmity). The types of supportinclude emotional support, help in householdchores and child care. Spousal support has beenfound to reduce interrole conflict (Carlson andPerrewe, 1999) and be negatively related to family-work conflict (Eagle et ai, 1997). Similarly, it hasalso been proposed that spousal stipport mayserve as a buffer against role overload experience,originating either within the work environmentor family environment (Aryee, 1999). Spousalsupport has also been observed to serve as amediating role in response to work and familyconflict (Burley, 1995) as well as enhancing careersatisfaction (Aryee and Luk, 1996).

In Canada, employed women's main concernis child care support. Apart from spousal stipport,many women rely on other forms of support,usually, family and community. Families are deeplyconcerned about the stipply, quality and cost ofchild care available in their communities. Familiescontinue to rely on non-parental childcare as thechildren enter their school-aged years (6 to 11years). One in four children (26%) was in non-parental childcare for some time dtiring the week,while 10% were cared for by a sibling, about 3%looked after themselves while their parents wereworking or studying. In other words, parents havegreat difficulty finding stiitable childcare (TheBureau of National Affairs, 1989).

Work Eamily Conflict

Work-family conflict is a type of inter-role conflictin which the role demands, stemming from onedomain (work or family), are incompatible withthe role demands stemming from another domain(family or work) (Greenhatis and Beutell, 1985)Work-family conflict is bi-directional. That is, workcan interfere with family (referred to as work-to-family conflict) and family can interfere withwork (referred to as family-to-work conflict). Tofurther explore work-family conflicts, both familyand work situations which an individttal confrontswith, should be taken into consideration.

Moreover, work conditions can have a negativeimpact on family life. Similarly, family conditionssuch as an unsupportive spouse, inequities in thedivision of housework and childcare, significanthealth problems in family members, and changingchildcare arrangements, are some of the familyproblems which can contribttte to work-familyconflict (Kiger and Riley, 2000).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This study used the convenience samplingmethod, whereby participants were all volunteersfrom various organisations. The final sample wasmade up of 180 women. All the women in thefinal sample were married with children and theywere either secretaries or clerks working in theKlatig Valley, in line with the aim of this study,i.e. focusing on the middle income earners asopposed to the higher or lower income earners.

The qtiestionnaire method of survey wasused and data gathered were analysed using theSPSS {Statistical Package for the Social Science). Thequestionnaire consisted of general demographics,work conditions, family conditions as well asinterface of work and family and well-being.The demographic information included age,marital status, level of education, occupation, thenumber of years in the present employment, thetotal number of years in employment, salary ofparticipants only (per month), combined salaryof the participant and her husband (per month),childcare, hours spent at workplace (per day), aswell as the number of children and their age.

Working condition was measured by timeat work, i.e. the number of hours spent at workreported by these women. Meanwhile, the amottntof work was measured using the 4-item scale ofIndex of Organisational Reactions (IOR) designedby Smith (1976). In addition, conflict at work wasmeasured using the 8-item scale of Role Conflictdeveloped by Rizzo, House and Lirtzman (1970).Sttpport at work consisted of four items adoptedfrom House (1981); each item had five responseswhich were to be answered individually. Exceptfor the time at work, these items were measuredusing the 4-point Likert scale format {l="Not atair to 4="very much indeed").

Family condition was measured ttsing twopredictors. The first included the number of andages of children as indicators of family. Secondly,the marital experience measure, adopted fromthe 14 item scale by Baruch and Barnett (1986)was used. For this purpose, a 4-point Likert scale-format was used, with higher scores indicatingbetter marital experience.

Interface of work and family was measuredusing the 22-item measurement of work andfamily conflicts designed by Kelloway, Gottlieb andBarham (1999). A 4-point Likert scale format wasused, with higher scores indicating higher work-family conflict.

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Women at Work: Work Family Conflict and Well Being

Well-being was ttsed as the outcome,which was measured in terms of psychologicaldistress, assessed by the 12-itetn General HealthQuestionnaire (GHQ 12) designed by Goldberg(1972) scored using the conventional 0-1-2-3Likert scores; higher scale indicated a highlevel of distress. Physical health symptoms weremeasured from the the original 12-item scalesdesigned by Gooper, Sloan and Williatns (1988)measured using the 4-point Likert scale, withhigher scores indicating higher physical healthsymptorns. Job satisfaction was derived from the5-item scale designed by Hackman and Oldham(1975) measured using the 4-point Likert scaleformat, with higher scale indicating higher levelof job satisfaction.

RESULTS

In this study, the age of the participants rangedfrom 20 to 52 years old, with a mean of 34.28 yearsand a standard deviation of 7.09 years. Sixty eightpercent of the participants were clerks and 32% ofthem were secretaries. In terms of their edticationlevel, all the participants had at least completedform five education. The gathered data showedthat 38% of the participants had their educationup to form five, 15% pttrsued to form six, 35%obtained diplotna, 9% were graduates and only3% post-graduates.

The participants' nttmber of years at thepresent employment showed a range of one to20 years, with a mean of 6.36 years and a standarddeviation of 4.22 years. The total number of yearsin employment showed that the participants hadworked in the range of one to 25 years in total,with a mean of 9.88 years and a standard deviationof 5.61 years. In addition to these, the participât!tsindicated to spend 7 to 11 hours per day onpaid employment, with a mean of 8.19 hoursand a standatd deviation of 0.82 hours. All theparticipants earned between RMl, 001 to RMl,500 per month. However, the total hottseholdincome (combined income of the participant andher husband) was between RM 3,000 to RM5, 000per month.

As having children was a criterion of thisstudy, every participant had at least one child,with the maximum number of children reportedby participants as being seven. Eighteen petcentof the participants had one child, 40% had twochildren, 28% had three childten and 14% hadmore than four children. The ages of the children

were between two months and 27 years old. Inrelatioti to this, 48% of the participants hadchildren below six years old, 23% between sevento ten years old, 15% between 11 to 15 years oldand 14% above 15 years. The participants mainlyrelied on their parents/in-laws to take care oftheir child(ren) when they were at work (35%),followed by day care centres (27%), others (24%)(e.g. children who did not require baby sitting orwho had older siblings to care for the youngerones at home or others) and maids (14%). Thereliance of the participants on their parents/ in-laws to care of their young was pt obably due to thefinancial constraint as participants earned onlyRMl, 500 or below.

INTERCORRELATIONS OF MEASURES

Intercorrelation of measures, which is presentedin Table 1 below, was analysed ttsing the Pearsoncorrelation coefficients. The correlations betweenthe demographic and predictors (work condition,family condition and work-family cotiflict) and theoutcomes are as stated below.Intercorrelations between Demographic Variables andOutcomes (Psychological Distress, Physical HealthSymptom and Job Satisfaction) as well as Work-EamilyConflict.

The number of years in the present employtnentand combined salary were negatively related withpsychological distress; indicating that the longerthe number of years in the present employmentand the higher the combined salary, the lower thepsychological distress wottld be. This is explainedby the fact that as women are more experieticedin their work, their work pattern becomes moreorganised and therefore, they tend to experieticelesser psychological distress. Likewise, highersalary allows the affordability of better facilities,thus reducing psychological distiess.

The total nttmber of years iti einploymetitwas also fottnd to be negatively related to work-fatnily conflict; this means the longer the totalyears in ernploytnent, the lesser the work-familyconflict. This could be explained by the factthat participants who have worked longer aremore organized and familiar with their jobs witha better pattern of work, and likewise, the samehas probably applied at home, suggesting thatthey are more experienced than the yottnger onesand are believed to handle work-family cotiflictbetter. Meanwhile, combined salary was negativelyrelated with work-family conflict, indicating that

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Sarvinder Kaur

the higher the combined salary, the lower the workfamily conflict would be. This was expected ashigher wages would amount to affordability of betterstandards of living such as domestic helpers.

Intercorrelations between Predictors and Work-FamilyConflict

Workload was positively correlated with work-family conflict, stiggesting that the higher theworkload, the higher the work-family conflict.Conflict at work indicated positive correlationswith work-family conflict and implied that thehigher the conflict at work, the higher the work-family conflict would be.

Unexpectedly, support at workplace (byothers) was positively correlated to work-familyconflict. This means the higher the supportat workplace (by others), the higher the work-family conflict will be. This could be because thesupport given by others are support from thepeople who are not related to the women's work,and therefore, their support may not be what isexpected; instead it may be detrimental due tothe lack of knowledge or understanding about thejob nature of the employees, for instance, wrongadvice may be rendered unintentionally.

Number of children was negatively correlatedto work-family conflict; it was shown that the morechildren a woman had, the lesser her work-familyconflict would become. Since the results alsoindicated that older women had more children,but lesser young children, it could be impliedthat the women here meant that older womenwith lesser young children who were generallymore experienced and could handle work-familyconflict better. Marital experience showednegative correlations with work-family conflict, thisindicated that the higher the marital experience,the lower the work-family conflict would be.

Inter-correlations between Predictors and Outcomes(Psychological Distress, Physical Health Symptoms and

Job Satisfaction)

Table 1 indicates the correlation between thepredictors and the outcomes (psychologicaldistress, physical health symptoms and jobsatisfaction). In particular, workload was positivelycorrelated with psychological distress and physicalhealth symptoms; indicating that the higherthe workload, the psychological distress andphysical health symptoms would also becomehigher. On the contrary, workload was negatively

correlated with job satisfaction; suggesting thathigh workload amounted to low job satisfaction.Conflict at work was found to be correlated to alloutcomes, positively correlated to psychologicaldistress, as well as physical health symptoms andnegatively correlated to job satisfaction. Similarly,support at workplace (by workers) was negativelycorrelated to psychological distress and physicalhealth symptom, but this was positively correlatedto job satisfaction.

Meanwhile, the number of children wasnegatively correlated to psychological distressand physical health symptoms; indicating thatthe more children a woman had, the lower herpsychological distress and physical health symptoms.However, marital experience was con elated withpsychological distress and physical health symptoms,proving a negative correlation; whereas the higherthe marital experience, the lower the psychologicaldistress and physical health symptoms.

Marital experience was correlated with jobsatisfaction; this indicated a positive correlation,i.e. higher marital experience amounts tohigher job satisfaction. Work-family conflict wascorrelated with all the outcomes, with positivecorrelation to psychological distress and physicalhealth symptom and negative relations to jobsatisfaction. This showed that a higher work-family conflict amounted to higher psychologicaldistress and physical health symptoms, but lowerjob satisfaction.

INTERCORRELATIONS

REGRESSION ANALYSES

The data were analysed using the hierarchicalregression analysis. For this purpose, the variableswere entered into the regression equation asfollows. In step 1, the demographic variableswere entered as control variables. Only twodemographic variables were ultimately used,namely the combined salary and the numberof years in the present employment, becausethe other demographic variables accounted fornegligible variance in the outcome scores andwere therefore dropped from this analyses. Instep 2, work predictors were then entered (timeat work, workload, conflict at work, and supportat work by workers and by others). Meanwhile instep 3, family predictors were entered (number ofchildren, presence of young children and maritalexperience). Finally in step 4, work-family conflictvariable was entered. These four steps were applied

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Women at Work: Work Family Conflict and Well Being

for every outcome (psychological distress, physicalhealth symptoms andjob satisfaction). The resultsare shown in Tables 2 (I), (II) and (III).

Psychological Distress [Table 2 (I)]

Step 1 shows that combined salary was negativelyrelated with psychological distress, i.e. the higherthe combined salary, the lower the psychologicaldistress. In Step 2, only conflict at work predictedpsychological distress, i.e. the higher the conflictat work, the higher the psychological distress.In Step 3, the marital experience predicted anegative relationship with psychological distress;the higher the marital experience, the lower thepsychological distress. In Step 4, work-familyconflict predicted a positive relationship withpsychological distress; the higher the work-familyconflict, the higher the psychological distress

Physical Health Symptoms [Table 2 (II)]

In Step 1, the demographic variables were foundto be unrelated to physical health symptorris.

Meanwhile in Step 2; time at work, conflict atwork and support by others were positively relatedto the physical health symptoms; longer time atwork, higher conflict at work and more support byothers (people outside workplace) indicated highphysical health symptoms. In Step 3, the numberof children and marital experience (support athome) showed negative relations with physicalhealth symptoms; indicating that the higher thenumber of children and marital experience,the lower the physical health symptoms. InStep 4, work-family conflict predicted a positiverelationship with physical health symptoms, i.e.the higher the work-family conflict, the higherthe physical health symptoms.

Job Satisfaction [Table 2 (III)]

In Step 1, demographic variables were found to benot related to job satisfaction. Meanwhile in Step2, workload showed a negative relation with jobsatisfaction; indicating the higher the workload,the lower the job satisfaction. Support by people

TABLE 2 (I)Regression analysis in relation to well-being (N=180)

Outcome = Psychological DistressK^ increment F p Beta

Step 1No. of years in

employmentCombined salary

Step 2Time at workWorkloadConflict at work

Support (workers)

Support (others)

Step 3No. of children

Young children

Marital experienceStep 4WFCCumulative R'-̂

.047*

.087*

.068*

:045*

.247**

3.69

6.93

4.43

<1

8.59

3.42

<^

2.94

<1

9.94

ns

ns

.001

-.102*.028

.033ns.004

ns

ns

ns

ns

-.158*

.002

-.102*

-.055.094*

-.1.59*

-.029

-.051

-.026

.270**

Note: ns = not significant. Betas are the standardised regression coefficients from the final stage of the regression analysis.*pi.05;**p<.0\

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Sarvinder Kaur

at workplace indicated a positive relationship, with job satisfaction, while in Step 4, work-familyi.e. the more support hy people at workplace, the conflict was negatively related to job satisfaction,higher the job satisfaction would be. In Step 3, showing that the higher the work-family conflict,none of the variables showed any relationships the lower the job satisfaction.

TABLE 2 (II)

Outcome = Physical Health SymptomsR2 increment F * Beta

<1

5.66

Step 1No. of years in

employmentCombined salaryStep 2Time at workWorkloadConflict at workSupport (workers)Support (others)Step 3No. of childrenYoung childrenMarital experienceStep 4WFC

Cumulative R̂

.014

.160*

.068*

.128*

.370**

2.95

<19.223.745.60

4.411.92

ns

.018

.003

.008ns

.200*ns.003ns.019

.029ns-.051

-.043

-.015.071*

-.195*.087*

-.062*-.057

6.11

33.93 .000 .456*

Note: ns = not significant. Betas are the standardised regression coefficients from the final stage of the regressionanalysis.>c.O5; **/)<.Ol

TABLE 2 (III)

Outcome =Job SatisfactionR2 iticrement F * Beta

<1

2.76

Step 1No. of years in

employmentCombined salaryStep 2Time at workWorkloadConflict at workSupport (workers)Support (others)Step 3No. of childrenYoung childrenMarital experienceStep 4WFCCumulative R̂

.003

.205*

.011

.020*

.239**

<1

4.922.516.893.82

<1<1

ns

ns

ns

.029ns

-.109*.015*ns.000**ns

nsns

.028

-.060

-.159*-.029.318**-.098

.005

.0401.67

4.17 .039 -.179*

Note: ns = not significant. Betas are the standardised regression coefficients from the final stage of the regression analysis.*p<.0b;**p<.0\

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Women at Work: Work Family Conflict and Well Being

DISCUSSIONPersonal particulars (demographic information)were obtained from the participants and appliedin this study as control variables. However, thisstudy found that the combined salary of theparticipants and their spouses to be the onlysignificant variable. Nonetheless, combinedsalary was negatively related to psychologicaldistress. This could be explained by the factthat the wives were earning below RMl, 500.00a month. This salary seemed to be insufficientconsidering the cost of living in the Klang Valley.With this salary alone, the wives might not beable to afford services such as a maid or a goodnursery. Therefore, the wives had to rely on theirhusbands to increase the financial resources fortheir household expenses. In the present study,the total household income was between RM3,000 and RM.5, 000, indicating that the husbandswere earning more than their wives. A study byZedlewski (2002) found that low family incomeand limited benefits had negative influences onpersonal, child and family well-being. The reasonfor this was because higher income improved bothmen's and women's sense of control (Ross andMirowsky, 1992) such as deciding on the preferredtype of child care arrangements.

Among the work condition variables, conflictat work predicted positive relations to psychologicaldistress and physical health symptoms. Time atwork and support at work by persons outsidethe workplace predicted positive relations withphysical health symptoms, but workload wasnegatively related to job satisfaction. Severalstudies have supported the view that long hoursare detrimental to personal and family well-being(Cooper, 2000). The fact that conflict at workpredicted psychological distress and physicalhealth would mean that employed women's well-being was affected when faced with situations suchas coping with an assignment alone, unclear workobjectives or when working with two groups whooperated differently. Past research also found thatconflict at work such as employees struggling tocomplete orders, meet deadlines and deliberateobstructive workforce faced high level of stressand reduced feeling of well-being, physically andpsychologically (Lewis, 2005).

Interestingly, support by persons outsideworkplace reported a positive relationship withphysical health symptoms, indicating that themore support received from persons not atworkplace (husband friends and relatives), the

higher the physical health symptom. This finding,nevertheless, contradicted with the previousfindings such as by Stripling (1990) who foundthat social support imposed a strong influence onwell-being (mental health).

Workload was negatively related to jobsatisfaction; this indicated that heavy workloaddecreased job satisfaction. This finding isconsistent with the findings of Burke (2003)and Lyons, Lapin and Young (2003). Support bypersons at workplace indicated positive relationswith job satisfaction, which is consistent with thefinding of a study by de Jonge (2000).

As for family conditions, marital experiencewas negatively related to psychological distressand physical health symptoms. These could beexplained by the fact that spousal support playsan important role in managing a family. When awoman receives support from her husband, herinter-role conflict is reduced (Carlson et al, 1999)while those women who receive spousal supportsuch as share housework reported increased well-being (psychological distress and physical health)(Harenstam and Bajerot, 2001).

The results of this study also indicated thatthe more children the participants had, the lesserthe physical health symptoms. Cenerally, Asiansprefer having more children and appreciatethem as gifts from God. The presence of childrenbrings happiness and contentment; in this way,mothers seldom complain about caring for theirchildren but complain when they cannot makegood childcare arrangements. In this study, mostof the participants relied on their parents or in-laws to care for their children, which also meantthat their childi'en were in 'good hands'; thisthus reduced the participants' anxiety towardschildcare. This explanation could also be thereason why the number of children did not affecttheir psychological distress. It was found that noneof the family condition predictors affected jobsatisfaction.

Finally, work-family conflict was negativelyrelated to all the outcomes. This result was expectedas many previous researches had shown work-familyconflict to affect psychological distress (Matthew etal, 1996) physical health (Frone et al, 1996) andjob satisfaction (Casper et al, 2002) of women.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

The present study was limited to certain aspectssuch as locality, designation, salary and gender.Therefore, a wider aspect of participants will

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ensure a better and clearer reflection of thecttrrent problems and the significance with well-being, such as a nation wide survey involving bothrural and urban participants. A comparison ofthe city/urban life would also contribute to thisarea of study. Another cotnparison which can bemade is between the different races in Malaysia.Furthermore, since the present study was limitedto secretaries/clerks earning below RMl, 500.00per month, a further research could includewomen, who hold other jobs and earn more thanRMl, 500, should be included. In future, a studyon male employees in women dominated jobs willalso be able to prove whether women are treatedless fairly due to stereotyping, and the effects ofwomen stereotyping jobs on male employees.Apart from determining the employed women'swell-being, it will also be an advantage to analysethe implications of maternal employment onthe children's well-being. In addition, the workculture at workplace is also a good predictor todetermine the well-being of working women.

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