Work-family enrichment and psychological health

Abstract

Orientation: This study examines the beneficial aspects of the interface between work and family and its relationships with psychological health from a positive psychology perspective.

Research purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate whether work-family enrichment helps to predict psychological health, specifically increased subjective well-being and decreased feelings of emotional exhaustion and depression.

Motivation for the study: The burgeoning literature on the work-family interface contains little on the potentially positive benefits of maintaining work and family roles.

Research approach, design and method: The authors used a descriptive research design. Employees in two national organisations in the financial retail and logistics industries completed a self-administered survey questionnaire. The authors analysed responses from those who reported both family and work responsibilities (N = 160).

Main findings: Consistent with previous research, factor analysis revealed two distinct directions of work-family enrichment: from work to family (W2FE) and from family to work (F2WE). Multiple regression analysis showed that F2WE explained a significant proportion of the variance in subjective wellbeing, whilst W2FE explained a significant proportion of the variance in depression and emotional exhaustion.

Practical/managerial implications: The findings of this study revealed the individual and organisational benefits of fostering work-family enrichment.

Contributions/value add: This study presents empirical evidence for the need to focus on the positive aspects of the work-family interface, provides further support for a positive organisational psychology perspective in organisations and hopefully will encourage further research on interventions in organisations and families.