Dynamic work trajectories and their interplay with family over the life course

Han, Xiaoxu; Mortimer, Jeylan T.

doi:10.3389/fsoc.2023.1096109

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 99 publications

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“…However, our knowledge of work-family trajectories and their social stratification is still limited (for a review, see Machu et al, 2022 ; Han and Mortimer, 2023 ). When examining work-family trajectories and their social composition, most studies singled out a specific gender (e.g., women) in a certain country (UK: Aassve et al, 2007 ; Spain: Davia and Legazpe, 2014 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work-family trajectories across Europe: differences between social groups and welfare regimes

Firat,

Visser,

Kraaykamp

2023

Front. Sociol.

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IntroductionWork and family trajectories develop and interact over the life course in complex ways. Previous studies drew a fragmented picture of these trajectories and had limited scope. We provide the most comprehensive study of early-to-midlife work-family trajectories to date.MethodsUsing retrospective data from waves 3 and 7 of the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we reconstructed work-family trajectories from age 15 to 49 among almost 80,000 individuals born between 1908 and 1967 across 28 countries. We applied multichannel sequence and cluster analysis to identify typical trajectories and multinomial logistic regression models to uncover their social composition.ResultsThe results revealed six common trajectories. The dominant and therefore standard trajectory represents continuous full-time employment with having a partner and children. Women, the lower educated and persons from conservative and liberal welfare regimes are underrepresented in this trajectory, whereas men, higher educated people and those from social-democratic, Eastern European and Baltic welfare regimes are overrepresented. The other trajectories denote a deviation from the standard one, integrating a non-standard form of work with standard family formation or vice versa. Mothers in a stable relationship generally work part-time or not at all. When mostly in full-time employment, women are more likely to be divorced. Lower educated persons are less likely to have work-family trajectories characterized by full-time work and a non-standard family, yet more likely to be non-employed for large parts of their life with standard family formation. Younger cohorts are underrepresented in non-employment trajectories, but overrepresented in part-time employment trajectories along with a partner and children as well as full-time employment trajectories with divorce. Individuals from Southern European and liberal regimes are more likely to be non-working and self-employed partnered parents and those from social-democratic regimes are more likely to be full-time employed divorced parents. We also found pronounced gender differences in how educational level, birth cohort and welfare regime are associated with work-family trajectories from early to midlife.DiscussionOur findings highlight the socially stratified nature of earlier-life work-family trajectories in Europe. Potential implications for inequalities in later life are discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work-family trajectories across Europe: differences between social groups and welfare regimes

Firat,

Visser,

Kraaykamp

2023

Front. Sociol.

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“…However, our knowledge of work-family trajectories and their social stratification is still limited (for a review, see Machu et al, 2022;Han and Mortimer, 2023). When examining work-family trajectories and their social composition, most studies singled out a specific gender (e.g., women) in a certain country (UK: Aassve et al, 2007; Spain: Davia and Legazpe, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work-family trajectories across Europe: Differences between social groups and welfare regimes

Firat¹,

Visser²,

Kraaykamp³

2023

Preprint

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Work and family trajectories develop and interact over the life course in complex ways. However, previous studies drew a fragmented picture of these trajectories and had limited scope. Here, we provide the most comprehensive study of work-family trajectories to date. Using retrospective data from wave 3 and 7 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, we reconstructed work-family trajectories from age 15 to 49 among almost 80,000 individuals born between 1908 and 1967 across 28 countries. We applied multichannel sequence and cluster analysis to identify work-family trajectories and multinomial logistic regression models to uncover their social composition. Our results revealed six common trajectories. The dominant trajectory represents the standard path of continuous full-time employment and having a partner with children. Women, the lower educated and persons from conservative welfare regimes are underrepresented in this trajectory, whereas men, higher educated people and those from social-democratic and Eastern European welfare regimes are overrepresented. Other trajectories denote a deviation from the standard path, integrating a non-standard form of work with standard family formation or vice versa. Women who have a partner and children generally work part-time or do not work at all. When in full-time employment, women are more likely to be divorced. Lower educated persons are less likely to be full-time workers with non-standard families, yet more likely to be non-employed with standard family formation. Younger cohorts are underrepresented in non-employment but overrepresented in part-time employment with a partner and children. Individuals from Southern European regimes are more likely to be non-working partnered parents and those from social-democratic regimes are more likely to be full-time employed separated parents. We also found pronounced gender differences in how educational level, birth cohort and welfare regime are associated with work-family trajectories. Our findings largely highlight the socially stratified nature of work-family trajectories in Europe. We conclude by discussing the potential implications for later-life inequalities, and make our code producing the trajectory data publicly available to facilitate future research.

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Effects of Work–Family Conflict and Facilitation Profiles on Work Engagement

Carvalho,

Mónico,

Pinto

et al. 2024

Societies

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Achieving the balance between work and family life needs a holistic viewpoint on how these two aspects interact. It poses a significant challenge due to its impact on individuals, organizations, and society. Research suggests that employees engaged in both spheres tend to exhibit more favorable work attitudes, and experience improved health and wellbeing. In this study, we examined the interplay between work–family dynamics and work engagement among 654 university professors in Portugal. Using several statistical methods, including confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, cluster analysis, and multivariate analysis, we identified distinct conflict and facilitation patterns within work–family relationships. Our findings revealed four clusters representing different conflict-facilitation profiles: those characterized by either work → family facilitation or conflict, and, similarly, family → work facilitation or conflict. Notably, we observed a significant association between work engagement and work–family facilitation, particularly evident in dimensions such as vigor and dedication. Absorption showed fewer significant effects than the other dimensions. We discuss these results, suggesting interventions within the university professors’ careers, as well as further research directions.

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Dynamic work trajectories and their interplay with family over the life course

Cited by 4 publications

References 99 publications

Work-family trajectories across Europe: differences between social groups and welfare regimes

Work-family trajectories across Europe: differences between social groups and welfare regimes

Work-family trajectories across Europe: Differences between social groups and welfare regimes

Effects of Work–Family Conflict and Facilitation Profiles on Work Engagement

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