We theorize a stress proliferation process whereby the stress of job precarity translates into the stress of work-to-family conflict (WFC). We test whether this process differs by gender and household income. Using four cross-sectional waves of the General Social Survey (N = 2,340), we find a positive association between job insecurity and WFC for women but not men. Examined by household income levels, the association is found only for respondents in the lowest income tercile. Furthermore, gender intersects with household income to shape the stress proliferation process. While the insecurity–WFC relationship holds for women across all household income levels, for men this relationship shifts from positive for men in the lowest income tercile to negative for men in the highest income tercile. Our findings suggest that entrenched gendered expectations around work and family may lead women (regardless of household income) and lower-class men to be most vulnerable to stress proliferation.
AllisonP. D. (1999). Multiple regression: A primer. Newbury Park, CA: Pine Forge Press.
2.
ArnoldD.BongioviJ. R. (2012). Precarious, informalizing, and flexible work: Transforming concepts and understandings. American Behavioral Scientist, 57, 289-308.
3.
BalzA.SchullerK. (2018). Always looking for something better? The impact of job insecurity on turnover intentions: Do employables and irreplaceables react differently?Economic and Industrial Democracy. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/0143831X18757058
4.
BattR.ValcourM. (2003). Human resources practices as predictors of work-family outcomes and employee turnover. Industrial Relations, 42, 189-220.
ConnellR. W.MesserschmidtJ. W. (2005). Hegemonic masculinity: Rethinking the concept. Gender & Society, 19, 829-859.
11.
FroneM. (2000). Work-family conflict and employee psychiatric disorders: The National Comorbidity Survey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 888-895.
12.
FroneM.RussellM.BarnesG. (1996). Work-family conflict, gender, and health-related outcomes: A study of employed parents in two community samples. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 1(1), 57-69.
GlavinP.SchiemanS.ReidS. (2011). Boundary-spanning work demands and their consequences for guilt and psychological distress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 52, 43-57.
16.
GrzywaczJ. G.AlmeidaD. M.McDonaldD. A. (2002). Work-family spillover and daily reports of work and family stress in the adult labor force. Family Relations, 51(1), 28-36.
17.
GutierrezI. A. (2016). Job insecurity, unemployment insurance and on-the-job search. Evidence from older American workers. Labour Economics, 41, 228-245.
18.
HaysS. (1998). The cultural contradictions of motherhood. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
19.
HeisigJ. P. (2011). Who does more housework? Rich or poor?American Sociological Review, 76(1), 74-99.
20.
JacobsJ.GersonK. (2004). The time divide. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
21.
KalevA. (2014). How you downsize is who you downsize: Biased formalization, accountability, and managerial diversity. American Sociological Review, 79, 109-135.
22.
KallebergA. (2009). Precarious work, insecure workers: Employment relations in transition. American Sociological Review, 74, 1-22.
23.
KallebergA. (2011). Good jobs, bad jobs: The rise of polarized and precarious employment systems in the United States, 1970s to 2000s. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
24.
KallebergA. (2012). Job quality and precarious work: Clarifications, controversies, and challenges. Work and Occupations, 39, 427-448.
25.
KatzL. F.KruegerA. B. (2019). The rise and nature of alternative work arrangements in the United States, 1995-2015. ILR Review, 72, 382-416.
26.
KillewaldA.GoughM. (2010). Money isn’t everything: Wives’ earnings and housework time. Social Science Research, 39, 987-1003.
27.
KinnunenU.MaunoS. (1998). Antecedents and outcomes of work-family conflict among employed women and men in Finland. Human Relations, 51, 157-177.
28.
KinnunenU.MaunoS.NättiJ.HapponenM. (2000). Organizational antecedents and outcomes of job insecurity: A longitudinal study in three organizations in Finland. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21, 443-459.
29.
LamJ.FanW.MoenP. (2014). Is insecurity worse for well-being in turbulent times? Mental health in context. Society and Mental Health, 4(1), 55-73.
30.
LamJ.FoxK.FanW.MoenP.KellyE.HammerL.KossekE. (2015). Manager characteristics and employee job insecurity around a merger announcement: The role of status and crossover. Sociological Quarterly, 56, 558-580.
31.
McCallL. (2005). The complexity of intersectionality. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 30, 1771-1800.
32.
MoenP.LamJ.AmmonsS.KellyE. (2013). Time work by overworked professionals: Strategies in response to the stress of higher status. Work and Occupations, 40, 79-114.
33.
MoenP.RoehlingP. (2005). The career mystique: Cracks in the American dream. Boulder, CO: Rowman & Littlefield.
34.
PearlinL.AneshenselC. S.LeBlancA. J. (1997). The forms and mechanisms of stress proliferation: The case of AIDS caregivers. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 38, 223-236.
35.
PearlinL.MenaghanE. G.LiebermanM.MullanJ. (1981). The stress process. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 22, 337-356.
36.
PearlinL.SchiemanS.FazioE.MeersmanS. (2005). Stress, health, and the life course: Some conceptual perspectives. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 46, 205-219.
37.
ProbstT.StewartS.GruysM.TierneyB. (2007). Productivity, counterproductivity and creativity: The ups and downs of job insecurity. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 80, 479-497.
38.
PykeK. D. (1996). Class-based masculinities: The interdependence of gender, class, and interpersonal power. Gender & Society, 10, 527-549.
39.
RichterA.NäswallK.SverkeM. (2010). Job insecurity and its relation to work-family conflict: Mediation with a longitudinal data set. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 31, 265-280.
40.
SchiemanS.MilkieM.GlavinP. (2009). When work interferes with life: Work-nonwork interference and the influence of work-related demands and resources. American Sociological Review, 74, 966-988.
41.
SchiemanS.WhitestoneY. K.Van GundyK. (2006). The nature of work and the stress of higher status. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 47, 242-257.
42.
ShowsC.GerstelN. (2009). Fathering, class, and gender: A comparison of physicians and emergency medical technicians. Gender & Society, 23, 161-187.
43.
SjöbergO. (2010). Social insurance as a collective resource: Unemployment benefits, job insecurity and subjective well-being in a comparative perspective. Social Forces, 88, 1281-1304.
StoneP. (2008). Opting out? Why women really quit careers and head home. Oakland: University of California Press.
46.
TheodossiouI.VasileiouE. (2007). Making the risk of job loss a way of life: Does it affect job satisfaction?Research in Economics, 61(2), 71-83.
47.
VoydanoffP. (2004). The effects of work demands and resources on work-family conflict and facilitation. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 398-412.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
