Work Demands, Work–Family Conflict, and Child Adjustment in African American Families: The Mediating Role of Family Routines

Using data from a sample of 455 African American children (ages 10 to 12 years) and their parents, this study tests a hypothesized model linking (a) maternal work demands to family routines through work–family conflict and depressive symptoms and (b) maternal work demands to children's externalizing and internalizing problems through family routines. Partial support for our hypotheses was found in single-mother families, but not in two-parent families. Work demands decreased family routines in single-mother families by increasing work–family conflict. In addition, higher levels of work–family conflict and maternal depressive symptomatology predicted an increase in children's externalizing problems and these relations were mediated through a decrease in family routines. Contrary to prediction, work demands bore no relation to children's behavior problems either directly or indirectly through family routines. Family structure differences in mediating processes are discussed in relation to mothers' subjective experiences of work and the roles of adults in the household.