Firefighting and Fathering: Work-Family Conflict, Parenting Stress, and Satisfaction with Parenting and Child Behavior

Using a sample of fathers who are firefighters (N = 473), we first examined the link between work role stressors and fatherhood role salience in predicting work-to-family conflict. Second, we examined how each of those was associated with parenting stress and satisfaction with parenting and children’s behavior. Occupational stress, working over 60 hours per week, and lack of sleep were associated with greater work-to-family conflict, as was perceived childcare load. Work-to-family conflict was associated with higher parenting stress and lower parenting satisfaction. Working more than 60 hours per week significantly predicted lower satisfaction with children’s behavior. Fatherhood role salience factors were also associated with parenting stress and parenting satisfaction. These results highlight the importance of work-to-family conflict in fathering research and suggest that the salience of the fatherhood role provides a contextual understanding for the relationship between work and parenting in fathers’ lives.