The article “The Implications of the Conflict between Work and Family in Strain Levels” was written by Ioannidi et al. dwells upon the interaction of work and family domains in the case of conflict in their relation to health (1139). It was stressed out that previously it was considered that the two domains should not be related and have no significant effect on each other, it was highlighted that no particular research was conducted on the issues of Work-Family Conflict (WFC) and Family-Work Conflict (FWC). The research findings revealed that there was a direct relationship between the two types and they were not mutually exclusive. Thus, both categories tend to interact with.
According to Ioannidi et al., many people have difficulty in combining the roles they have to perform at work and home (1141). It is connected to the emerging complexity of job requirements, the functions employees have to perform, and the growing complexity of social structures such as family. The result of this complexity is the impossibility to function effectively in each of the domains; meanwhile, work and family have an impact on each other as well notwithstanding the background. Previously, scientists used to research one path of the conflict, in particular, the influence of work on the family. However, the latest researches in the area have proved that the conflict is bidirectional. To be more precise, it means that WFC and FWC are different and they have a tendency to affect each other.
WFC implies that the interference of work hurts the person’s functioning at home and FWC – the reverse. Nevertheless, it turned out that when one family member experiences WFC he or she causes FWC in the case of the other person (Ioannidi et al. 1142). It was concluded that this bidirectional phenomenon results in strain in both participants and leads to both family and work distress.
The authors emphasize that the family domain has had crucial structural and functional changes. These alterations have not been accompanied by equally significant changes in the organizational policy. Basic approaches to conflicts consider their typology from the three different perspectives. For instance, the impact of work on the family has a particular specificity. Work is an independent variable, while the family is the dependent variable in most cases. Such aspects of work as professional distress, inconvenient work schedules, work overload, and general job dissatisfaction hurt the family domain (Ioannidi et al. 1142). While the influence of the family on the work has a different orientation. It should be noted that in this type of conflict, structural or evolutionary aspects of family influence the behavior in the labor setting. On the one hand, the family may mitigate the negative aspects associated with the work. On the other hand, a positive and a negative family environment can be a determinant of absenteeism and tardiness. Another type of interaction suggested by the study is the interaction between family and work. In this approach, there is no direct causal link between labor and family variables. This perception affects the compatibility or incompatibility of the two domains and examines the impact of the relationship between work and family on other processes.
One of the crucial areas of the research was connected to sleep and its influence on the WFC and FWC. It was evidenced that the lack of sleep has negative implications for both types of conflict and may have severe health complications. Importantly, the two types have an equally “negative impact on the quality of parent-child interaction and parental self-efficacy” (Ioannidi et al. 1140). In particular, children show less engagement in active activities in the case of WFC; however, the results do not apply to passive occupations.
There are several courses on conflict flow. The model of overflowing represents the first approach; it reflects the similarities between the processes of work and family. Labor installation is transferred to family life, affecting the basic attitude of people toward themselves and their family members (Ioannidi et al. 1143). The second one is the compensation model that assumes the existence of influences between work and family. According to this model, people use different aspects of their personality when interacting. In this approach, one area of life is compensated by another, such as a lack of something at work is compensated in the family. The third model is segmentation, which reveals a different perspective. Work and family are separate spheres that have no direct impact on each other. However, this model is rare due to its utopic nature.
In conclusion, both dimensions of conflict take its toll on the character of partner-partner and parent-child reciprocity. Families experiencing any type of conflict feel the strain and are not self-efficient enough. The situation is of similar importance for both males and females. WFC and FWC raise negative implications such as feelings of anxiety, anger, sadness, and so on. Additionally, they exacerbate indirect effects on depressive symptoms; thus, provoking the corresponding negative psychological responses.
Work Cited
Ioannidi, Dionysia-Eleonora, Ioanna Nikolatou, Evangelia Sioula, Michael Galanakis, George Chrousos and Christina Darviri. (2016) “The Implications of the Conflict between Work and Family in Strain Levels.” Psychology 7 (2016): 1138-1145. Print.