The Influence of Reduced Psychological Detachment of Work on Work-family Conflict

Abstract

Most studies on work-family balance focus on time-related strains and resources. Employees in human service organizations are also confronted with emotional and social strains which could be still present at home with consequences for the family life. 1140 employees, working in human service organizations (education, youth care, nursing etc.) were asked for strains at work (time-related, emotional client work, social climate), organizational (overtime, shift) and social resources, psychological detachment of work and work-family conflict. Regarding the different parts of influences, a multiple hierarchical regression was used. There are high correlations between reduced psychological detachment of work and the emotional, social and time-related strains (r=.37-.42) and work-family conflict (r=.53). The full model explains 49% of the variance. Time-related strain, reduced psychological detachment of work and shift work are the highest predictors for work-family conflict. Besides the influence of time-related strains, the psychological detachment of work has an additional important impact on work-family conflict, especially for employees from the human services organizations.