Paid work and parent-child relationship

Abstract

The increase in female labor force participation prompted a great deal of research on the ways in which work demands impact family life. In general these studies approached the topic from a “conflict approach” and (implicitly) argued that work absorbs time, energy, and attention that are necessary to foster a healthy parentchild relationship and sound parenting (e.g., Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; Huston & Rosenkrantz Aronson, 2005). Prior research studied a wide range of family outcomes, such as ▶child well-being, marital relationship quality, and parenting practices (see Bianchi & Milkie, 2011; Perry-Jenkins, Repetti, &Crouter, 2001 for reviews). This entry addresses existing knowledge on the association between paid work and parent–child relationship quality. In addition to setting out the ways through which paid work has been argued and found to harm parent–child relationship, it will address the enriching effects and discuss the mediating role of parents’ temporal involvement.