Typology of Work-Family Interactions in Working Mothers in South Korea

Background and purpose:

This study aims to determine the underlying types of work-family interactions and to explore the relationship among the types of work-family interactions, work and family characteristics, and depressive mood.

Methods:The researchers used the data of 1,030 employed mothers with children under 18 years gathered by the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Families(KLoWF) in 2010. Latent Class Analysis(LPA) was applied to determine the underlying types of work-family interactions, based on four dimensions of work-family interactions: W-F Conflict(WFC), W-F Facilitation(WFF), F-W Conflict(FWC), and F-W Facilitation(FWF).

Results: The researchers identified five distinct multivariate profiles of work-family interaction through LPA: Middle conflict but no facilitation(50.7%); Low conflict and facilitation(21.6%), no conflict but extremely low WFF(7.3%); Balancing– high conflict but high facilitation(10.0%); and Easy-going– low conflict and high WFF(10.5%)

Half of the employed mothers constituted “middle conflict but no facilitation” profile. That is, the employed mothers in this group felt being pressured but were unappreciated from work and family. They were likely to be in the middle class, having part-time job, and raising preschoolers.

21.6% of employed mothers were identifiedas “low conflict and facilitation” group. Work-family lives were not demanding, though work and family did not provide energy and a sense of achievement, and resulted in the lowest level of depressive mood among 5 groups.

7.3% of employed mothers constituted “no conflict but extremely low WFF” profile, with highest level of depressive mood. This group includes more single mothers, more non-standard workers, more employees in part-time job, and insmall businesses than other groups .

10.0% of employed mothers demonstrated good balance between work and family and were categorized as “balancing– high conflict but high facilitation”. They were likely to suffer from long work and high childcare demand without a spouse, but enjoyed the advantage of high wages and benefits from secure jobs.

Lastly, 10.5% of respondents composed the “easy-going– low conflict and high WFF” profile. Most of them had low demand for school-aged children in dual-earner family and had a secure job with high wages/benefit and no excessive work hours, that resulted in low depressive mood.

Conclusions and Implications: These results highlight the importance of work-family facilitation to strike the work-family balance. Based on the research findings, theresearchers suggest implications for improving work-family balance and mental health of employed mothers, such as policy for decent job making, family-friendly support and improving workplace culture.