Combining professional work with family responsibilities – a burden or a blessing?

Abstract

This paper investigates job‐related distress and satisfaction with the work‐‐family interface in various combinations of professional work and family responsibilities in Sweden. The study is based on the self‐reports of 1,764 male and female university graduates in paid employment and with children at home. For both women and men, conditions at work seem to be most important. However, the division of responsibilities between partners was also found to have an impact, but in different ways for women and men. Only in families where both partners are gainfully employed and share the domestic work and financial responsibilities, was the psychological well‐being and the work‐‐family interface satisfactory for both women and men. In other families, negative effects for either women or men are noticed. The conclusion is that multiple roles and shared responsibilities and demands in the private sphere promote health among both women and men.