Mothers' Workplace Inflexibility and Children's Behavior Problems

Background and Purpose

Flexibility in work arrangements, including flexible schedules and paid time off, is key to helping parents with young children balance work and caregiving responsibilities.  Prior research shows that workplace inflexibility is associated with higher levels of parenting stress and greater work-family conflict (Michel et al., 2011; Nomaguchi & Johnson, 2014).  Through these negative implications for parents’ mental health and parenting quality, workplace inflexibility may also adversely influence children’s socioemotional development.  Several studies suggest that parents’ work schedules, conditions, and work-family conflict are associated with children’s socioemotional outcomes (e.g., Johnson, Kalil, & Dunifon, 2012; Strazdins, O’Brien, Lucas, & Rodgers, 2013). Yet, little is known as to whether workplace flexibility may also matter for children’s socioemotional development. Additionally, prior research has tended to focus on two-parent families, although workplace inflexibility may be particularly challenging for single parents, who must manage all caregiving responsibilities without a partner.  The purpose of the current study is to estimate associations between mothers’ perceived workplace inflexibility and child behavior problems, examining differences in these associations by family structure.  

Methods

This study uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), an urban birth cohort study of children born to predominantly unmarried parents (N=2,245). Child externalizing (i.e., aggressive and disruptive) and internalizing (i.e., anxious and withdrawn) behavior problems were measured using multiple subscales from the Child Behavior Checklist.  Mothers’ perceived workplace inflexibility was measured with three scale items that assess mothers’ lack of flexibility at work to deal with family issues and work schedule-related stress. A categorical variable was used to allow inclusion of mothers who were not working: (1) not employed, (2) low, (3) moderate, (4) and high workplace inflexibility.  Residualized change models using OLS regression were used to estimate associations between mothers’ workplace inflexibility and child behavior problems when children were five years old, controlling for a large set of child, maternal, and family characteristics and prior levels of behavior problems.  The models estimate the effect of workplace inflexibility on an increase in behavior problems and adjust for unobserved child and family characteristics that contributed to prior levels of behavior problems. 

Results

Results show that children whose mothers reported high levels of workplace inflexibility exhibited increases in externalizing and internalizing behavior problems relative to children whose mothers were not employed or reported low levels of inflexibility.  Associations between high workplace inflexibility and externalizing behavior problems were more pronounced among children in single-mother families relative to children in married or cohabiting families. 

Conclusions and Implications

These results suggest that the adverse effects of workplace inflexibility spill over from parents to children and may take a toll on children’s socioemotional development.  In addition, workplace inflexibility appears to be more detrimental for children living in single-mother families.  Findings from this study suggest that policies that seek to expand workplace flexibility for working parents—through increasing workers’ control over their work schedules and expanding access to paid leave—would likely benefit children’s socioemotional development.