Doctoral Dissertation Research; Family-Responsive Workplace Policies, Parenting, and Children's Well-Being

本论文改进研究项目考察了就业条件与家庭功能的关系。尽管双职工家庭正在迅速取代传统的养家糊口的家庭模式，但就业条件的广泛变化并没有伴随着家庭越来越多的挣钱责任。然而，一些雇主已经采取了针对家庭的工作场所政策，如灵活的工作时间安排、减少的工作时间和支持家庭的环境，这些政策旨在缓解在职父母面临的工作/家庭不协调问题。尽管存在一些证据支持这样的断言，即这些政策确实有助于缓解因工作/家庭不相容而产生的父母痛苦，但人们对这些政策如何影响家庭进程--特别是育儿行为和子女结果--知之甚少。在本研究中，与角色理论相关的各种概念被用来将家庭反应政策与父母的结果、父母的养育行为和孩子的结果联系起来。随机抽样的大约80对中西部有孩子的双职工夫妇将提供数据。将利用既定措施以及新措施和开放式问题进行面谈。多元回归将是主要的分析技术；开放式问题也将允许进行定性数据分析。除了这项研究将获得的科学成果外，这一奖项还将对一位非常有前途的学生完成博士论文的研究提供实质性的帮助。从而有助于对下一代社会科学家的深入培训。

This Dissertation Improvement research project examines the relationship between employment conditions and family functioning. Although dual-earner families are quickly replacing the traditional breadwinner-housewife family model, widespread changes in the conditions of employment have not accompanied families' increasing wage-earning responsibilities. However, some employers have adopted family-responsive workplace policies, such as flexible scheduling, reduced work hours, and family-supportive environments, which are designed to alleviate the work/family incompatibility that employed parents face. Although some evidence exists to support the assertion that these policies do serve to mitigate parental distress deriving from work/family incompatibility, little is known about how these policies affect family processes - in particular, parenting behaviors and children's outcomes. In this study, various concepts associated with role theory are used to relate family-responsive policies to parental outcomes, parenting behaviors, and children's outcomes. A random sample of approximately 80 Midwestern dual-earner couples with children will provide the data. Interviews utilizing established measures as well as new measures and open-ended questions will be conducted. Multiple regression will be the primary analysis technique; the open-ended questions will allow for qualitative data analysis as well. In addition to the scientific gains to be achieved by the research, this award will materially assist a highly promising student in completing research for the Ph.D. dissertation. Thus it contributes to the thorough training of the next generation of social scientists.