Work Demands and Work-to-Family and Family-to-Work Conflict

This article uses a demands-and-resources approach to examine relationships between three types of work demands and work-to-family and family-to-work conflict: time-based demands, strain-based demands, and boundary-spanning demands. The analysis is based on data from 2,155 employed adults living with a family member who were interviewed for the 1997 National Study of the Changing Workforce (NSCW). The results indicate consistent positive relationships between the three types of demands and work-to-family conflict. Strain-based demands show the strongest relationships with family-to-work conflict. In addition, work-to-family conflict partially mediates relationships between several demands and family-to-work conflict. Thus, work demands reveal direct and indirect relationships with family-to-work conflict.