Work-home interaction and psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediation effect of cyberloafing

Abstract

Novianti and Sjabadhyni (Work-home interaction and psychological distress during covid-19 pandemic…)undermining, and a more significant effect on men than women (Eddleston & Mulki, 2015). The condition causes negative feelings and thoughts, including fear, anxiety, and depression (Kyron, Rikkers, LaMontagne, Bartlett, & Lawrence, 2019). Psychological distress results from general life situations experienced by individuals consist of two main affective components: depression and anxiety (Kessler et al., 2002). This research only focused on psychological distress in the workplace setting.Conflicts arising from work-home interactions (WHIs) (Oshio et al., 2017) as the burden on work affects the obstruction of things that individuals have to do at home cause psychological distress, affecting both physical and psychological health (Davis, Gere, & Sliwinski, 2017). Working from home causes interactions between an individual's work and home life (Bilodeau, Marchand, & Demers, 2019;Darouei & Pluut, 2021;van der Lippe & Lippényi, 2020). An imbalance can place a burden on one of these domains, which in turn can affect another domain such that an individual may fail to meet their obligations at work and home (Oshio et al., 2017). This condition triggers work-family conflicts for employees; thus, they must manage conflicting work and home demands (Geurts et al., 2005;van der Lippe & Lippényi, 2020).WHIs, occur when the behavior function of a worker in one domain is influenced by reactions (either positive or negative) in other domains (e.g., the home is affected by positive or negative reactions from the office) (Geurts et al., 2005;van der Lippe & Lippényi, 2020). Balanced work and home domains can effectively help individuals save energy, develop optimal abilities in both, and assume more responsibility for their situations (Rothmann & Baumann, 2014). The dimensions of WHIs include negative work-home interactions (NWHIs), negative home-work interactions (NHWIs), positive work-home interactions (PWHIs), and positive home-work interactions (PHWIs) (Geurts et al., 2005). An NWHI is an unfavorable reaction that develops in the workplace that can inhibit function at home. An NHWI is a reaction to a negative burden developed at home that can inhibit function at work. An NWHIs are related to workers' mental health (Klumb, Voelkle, & Siegler, 2017) even previous study has indicated that NWHIs and NHWIs affect depression and anxiety (Davis et al., 2017). A PWHI is a reaction to positive loads obtained at work that can help function at home. Finally, a PHWI is a reaction to positive loads obtained at home that can help workplace functions. Abubakar (2018) revealed that PHWIs and PWHIs had more significant effects on depression than NHWIs and NWHIs. High PHWIs and PHWIs have a more significant effect in reducing depression than NHWIs and NWHIs have in increasing depression.Working from home (WFH) needs to be independent due to lack of communication with colleagues and lack of supervisor support resulting in stress that impacts both t...