Job satisfaction as a mediator between family-to-work conflict and satisfaction with family life: a dyadic analysis in dual-earner parents

Family-to-work conflict has received less attention in the literature compared to work-to-family conflict. This gap in knowledge is more pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the documented increase in family responsibilities in detriment of work performance, particularly for women. Job satisfaction has been identified as a mediator between the family and work domains for the individual, but these family-to-work dynamics remain unexplored at a dyadic level during the pandemic. Therefore, this study tested the relationship between family-to-work conflict and job and family satisfaction, and the mediating role of job satisfaction between family-to-work conflict and family satisfaction, in dual-earner parents. A non-probability sample of 430 dual-earner parents with adolescent children were recruited in Rancagua, Chile. Mothers and fathers answered an online questionnaire with a measure of family-to-work conflict, the Job Satisfaction Scale and Satisfaction with Family Life Scale. Data was analysed using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model with structural equation modelling. Results showed that, for individuals, a higher family-to-work conflict is linked to lower satisfaction with both their job and family life, and these two types of satisfaction are positively associated with one another. Both parents experience a double negative effect on their family life satisfaction, due to their own, and to their partner’s family-to-work conflict; however, for fathers, this effect from their partner occurs via their own job satisfaction. Limitations and implications of this study are discussed, indicating the need of family-oriented workplace policies with a gender perspective to increase satisfaction in the family domain for workers and their families.