Work-life balance and the psychosocial work environment in Finnish working life: The case of gender and family life stages.
Janina M Björk-Fant, Johanna Nordmyr, Anna K Forsman
PMID 38995745WHAT IT FOUND
For women, family life stages with young children were linked to lower work-life balance, while for men they were not.
For both sexes, higher social support at work was linked to better balance, and higher work demands to worse balance.
Key findings
01Family life stage was significantly associated with work-life balance for women, but not for men.
02Higher perceived social support at work was associated with higher odds of reporting high work-life balance for both men and women.
03Higher perceived work demands were associated with lower odds of reporting high work-life balance for both men and women.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
Cross-sectional design prevents causal inferences. Work-life balance was measured with a single item, which may not capture nuances. The dependent variable was dichotomized, potentially losing information. The family life stage classification excludes workers over 35 who are not parents. Data was collected in 2018/2019, which may not reflect recent changes in work-life dynamics.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that family life stage impacts work-life balance equally for men and women. This study found a significant association for women, particularly those with young children, but no significant association for men.