Childhood Psychological Maltreatment and Work-Family Conflict Throughout Adulthood: A Test of Self-Concept and Social Mechanisms

This study uses a life course stress and attachment framework to examine the relationship between childhood psychological maltreatment and adulthood work interference with family (WIF) and family interference with work (FIW). We analyze longitudinal survey data across 20 years collected in the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) study (N = 307). We suggest childhood psychological maltreatment is associated with reduced perceptions of control (decreases in mastery, increases in perceived constraints) and social support (reduced supervisor and spouse support), which are then positively associated with WIF and FIW levels and increases over 20 years. Consistent with attachment theory, psychological maltreatment is associated with increased levels of WIF and FIW in adulthood through increased levels of perceived constraints and reduced levels of supervisor and spouse support. Results do not show support for life course stress proliferation ideas that suggest psychological maltreatment should be indirectly associated with escalating WIF and FIW over time. Our study illuminates novel developmental mechanisms that link childhood experiences with chronic WIF and FIW in adulthood. Our findings extend the known implications of psychological maltreatment to managing two central adulthood roles: work and family.