Does Religiosity Buffer the Adverse Mental Health Effects of Work-Family Strain? Examining the Role of an Overlooked Resource

Abstract

North American employees face substantial challenges in managing their work and family lives. Drawing from Hobfoll’s 2001 conservation of resources (COR) theory, work-family scholars have argued that some resources can be effective in buffering conflict in the work-family interface. We analyze data from a national sample of Canadian workers ( N = 3,431) to assess how two components of religion/spirituality—religious attendance and divine control—buffer the mental health effects of work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC). Results suggest that both work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict were associated with higher levels of psychological distress. Our results further reveal that religious attendance buffered the pernicious effects of both WFC and FWC for psychological distress, while divine control only buffered the effects of FWC. These patterns did not appear to differ by gender. Given increasing rates of work-family strain in the North American context, out findings call for a broadening of the literature on the work-family interface, one that takes into consideration the overlooked role of religion and spirituality.

Divine Compensation? Gender, Religiosity, and the Link Between Feeling Underpaid and Psychological Distress

“…This body of work has shown that the impact of stressors on mental well-being is blunted for individuals with greater religious involvement. One recent study documented that religion can be protective for the mental health of workers dealing with work-family interference (Upenieks, Schieman, and Ellison 2023). In the present study, we draw on just world beliefs theory (Jost et al 2014) to extend these arguments to worker underreward.…”

Masculine Discrepancy Stress, Subjective Well-Being, and the Buffering Role of Religiosity

“…The second way is that religiosity could attenuate or buffer the inverse association between masculine discrepancy stress and well-being. Numerous studies have documented a pervasive stress-buffering role of religiosity ( Abu-Raiya et al, 2016 ; Acevedo et al, 2014 ; Ano & Vasconcelles, 2005 ; Bradshaw & Ellison, 2010 ; Brewster et al, 2016 ; DeAngelis et al, 2021 ; Ellison et al, 2019 ; Ellison & Henderson, 2011 ; Ironson et al, 2020 ; Jung, 2014 , 2018 ; Kendler et al, 1997 ; Krause, 1998 ; Krause, 2006 ; Krause et al, 2017 ; Lechner et al, 2013 ; Lee et al, 2021 ; Park et al, 1990 ; Schnittker, 2001 ; Shah, 2019 ; Strawbridge et al, 1998 ; Stroope et al, 2017 ; Tavares et al, 2019 ; Upenieks, 2021 ; Upenieks et al, 2023 ; Whitehead & Bergeman, 2020 ). In this literature, religiosity has been shown to mitigate the effects of a wide range of stressors, including, for example, stressful life events, health problems, race-based discrimination, internalized heterosexism, financial hardship, work-related demands, work-family conflicts, childhood abuse, relationship loss, neighborhood stressors, negative media portrayals, and religious and spiritual struggles.…”