Alcohol has tension reducing properties, and there is evidence that people consume alcohol to reduce stressors in their lives. Conflict between work and family is a common stressor for workers. This project analyzes the relationship between work-family conflict and alcohol consumption in a sample of 81 non-professional working parents. Contrary to our hypothesis, work-family conflict was not related to either the quantity or frequency of alcohol consumption. In contrast, family-to-work conflict was related to lower alcohol consumption

Bass, Brenda L.

Beecham, Jasmine

Butler, Adam B

University of Northern Iowa

University of Northern Iowa UNI ScholarWorks Research in the Capitol 2017 Research in the Capitol Mar 28th, 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM Alcohol and Its Relationship to Family Work Conflict Jasmine Beecham University of Northern Iowa Let us know how access to this document benefits you Copyright ©2017 Jasmine Beecham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/rcapitol  Part of the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Beecham, Jasmine, "Alcohol and Its Relationship to Family Work Conflict" (2017). Research in the Capitol. 3. https://scholarworks.uni.edu/rcapitol/2017/all/3 This Open Access Poster Presentation is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors Program at UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Research in the Capitol by an authorized administrator of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact scholarworks@uni.edu. DiscussionContrary	to	tension	reduction	theory	and	prior	research,	we	did	not	find	any	relationship	between	WFC	and	alcohol	consumption.	We	did	find	a	relationship	between	FWC	and	the	frequency	of	alcohol	consumption,	but	the	relationship	was	opposite	to	that	expected.	That	is,	greater	FWC	was	associated	with	less	frequent	drinking.	Finally,	a	personal	vulnerability	to	negative	emotional	states	did	not	moderate	the	relationships	with	interrole conflict.	The	results	call	into	question	the	robustness	of	prior	reported	relationships	between	WFC	and	alcohol	consumption.	Moreover,	the	negative	relationship	we	observed	between	FWC	and	drinking	suggests	factors	other	than	tension	may	be	responsible	for	this	relationship.	One	factor	may	be	family	values	that	hinder	drinking	(Wang	et	al.,	2010).	A	complementary	explanation	for	the	negative	relationship	could	be	greater	busyness	in	a	person’s	family	time,	resulting	in	less	time	or	convenience	to	consume	alcohol	as	well	as	more	time	being	spent	in	a	care	position	of	dependent	children	that	could	be	negatively	impacted	if	inebriated.ReferencesAmstad,	F.	T.,	Meier,	L.	L.,	Fasel,	U.,	Elfering,	A.,	&	Semmer,	N.	K.	(2011).	A	meta-analysis	of	work–family	conflict	and	various	outcomes	with	a	special	emphasis	on	cross-domain	versus	matching-domain	relations.	Journal	of	Occupational	Health	Psychology,	16(2),	151-169.	Frone,	M.	R.,	Russell,	M.,	&	Barnes,	G.	M.	(1996).	Work–family	conflict,	gender,	and	health-related	outcomes:	A	study	of	employed	parents	in	two	community	samples.	Journal	of	Occupational	Health	Psychology,	1(1),	57-69.	doi:10.1037/1076-8998.1.1.57Gutek,	B.A.,	Searle,	S.	&	Klepa,	L.	(1991).	Rational	versus	gender	role	explanations	for	work-family	conflict.	Journal	of	Applied	Psychology,	76,	560-568.Liu,	S.,	Wang,	M.,	Zhan,	Y.,	&	Shi,	J.	(2009).	Daily	work	stress	and	alcohol	use:	Testing	the	cross-level	moderation	effects	of	neuroticism	and	job	involvement.	Personnel	Psychology,	62(3),	575-597.	doi:10.1111/j.1744-6570.2009.01149.xShockley,	K.	M.,	&	Singla,	N.	(2011).	Reconsidering	work—family	interactions	and	satisfaction:	A	meta-analysis.	Journal	of	Management,	37(3),	861-886.	Wang,	M.,	Liu,	S.,	Zhan,	Y.,	&	Shi,	J.	(2010).	Daily	work–family	conflict	and	alcohol	use:	Testing	the	cross-level	moderation	effects	of	peer	drinking	norms	and	social	support.	Journal	of	Applied	Psychology,	95(2),	377-386.	doi:10.1037/a0018138Williams,	K.	J.,	&	Alliger,	G.	M.	(1994).	Role	stressors,	mood	spillover,	and	perceptions	of	work-family	conflict	in	employed	parents.	Academy	of	Management	Journal,	37(4),	837-868.	Wolff,	J.	M.,	Rospenda,	K.	M.,	Richman,	J.	A.,	Liu,	L.,	&	Milner,	L.	A.	(2013).	Work-family	conflict	and	alcohol	use:	Examination	of	a	moderated	mediation	model.	Journal	of	Addictive	Diseases,	32(1),	85-98.	doi:10.1080/10550887.2012.759856ResultsAnalysis:	The	data	were	analyzed	using	multiple	moderated	regression.	Initially,	separate	models	were	run	with	WFC	and	FWC	as	predictors.	The	addition	of	the	interaction	terms	involving	neuroticism	did	not	increase	the	explained	variance	in	either	the	quantity	or	frequency	of	alcohol	consumed.	We	re-ran	the	analyses	eliminating	the	model	terms	for	neuroticism	and	including	both	directions	of	conflict	in	the	same	model.	Results:	The	control	variables	explained	significant	variability	in	the	frequency	of	consumption	(R2	=	.13)	but	not	in	the	frequency	of	binge	drinking	(R2 =	.05).	Adding	WFC	and	FWC	to	a	model	containing	the	control	variables	significantly	increased	the	explained	variance	in	the	frequency	of	drinking	(△R2 =	.09)	and	in	the	frequency	of	binge	drinking	(△R2 =	.08).	As	shown	in	the	tables	to	the	left,	contrary	to	prediction,	WFC	was	not	related	to	either	of	the	alcohol	consumption	criteria.	FWC	was	negatively	related	to	both	alcohol	measures,	a	direction	opposite	to	that	predicted.MethodParticipants:	85	non-professionals	employed	full-time	with	dependent	children.	The	average	age	was	34,	51%	were	men,	they	had	an	average	of	2.29	children,	and	averaged	42	hours	of	work	per	week.Procedure	&	Measures:	Participants	responded	to	a	paper	survey.Controls:	Participants	reported	their	gender,	age,	and	age	of	dependent	children.Frequency	of	Alcohol	Use	and	Frequency	of	Binge	Drinking	were	measured	with	two	items	adapted	from	the	CDC.	The	frequency	item	asked	how	often	any	alcohol	was	consumed	over	the	previous	12	months	ranging	from	never	to	every	day.	The	frequency	of	binge	drinking	item	asked	how	many	times	4	(women)	or	5	(men)	or	more	drinks	were	consumed	ranging	from	never	to	every	day.Work-to-Family	and	Family-to-Work	Conflict	were	each	measured	with	four	items	using	a	response	scale	from	1	(strongly	disagree)	to	5	(strongly	agree)	(Gutek et	al.,	1991)	Neuroticism was	measured	with	four	adjectives	(e.g.,	moody)	used	in	the	MIDUS	study,	rated	on	a	scale	from	1	(not	at	all)	to	4	(	a	lot).Work-Family	Conflict	and	Alcohol	Use	by	Iowa	Parents	in	Non-Professional	JobsJasmine	G.	Beecham,	Adam	B.	Butler,	&	Brenda	L.	BassUniversity	of	Northern	IowaRegression Model of Frequency of Alcohol UseDescriptive statistics and correlationsNote.	p <	.05	for	r >	.21Regression Model of Frequency of Binge DrinkingIntroductionWork-family	conflict	(WFC)	occurs	when	the	demands	of	work	interfere	with	family	or	vice	versa	(Greenhaus &	Beutell,	1985).	WFC	is	a	known	stressor	associated	with	negative	emotional	states	(Williams	&	Alliger,	1994),	psychological	strain	(Amstad,	Meier,	Fasel,	Elfering,	&	Semmer,	2011),	and	both	job	and	family	dissatisfaction	(Shockley	&	Singla,	2011).	The	purpose	of	this	study	is	to	examine	the	relationship	between	WFC	and	alcohol	use	in	a	sample	of	non-professional	couples	who	are	parents.According	to	tension	reduction	theory,	people	consume	alcohol	for	its	tension-reducing	properties	(Cappell and	Greeley,	1987).	It	follows	that	people	will	be	more	likely	to	drink	when	they	experience	strain	or	negative	emotions.	Consistent	with	this	theory,	research	has	shown	that	work-family	conflict	is	associated	with	increased	alcohol	consumption	(Frone,	Russell,	&	Barnes,	1996;	Wang,	Liu,	Zhan,	&	Shi,	2010;	Wolff,	Rospenda,	Richman,	Liu,	&	Milner,	2013).	Based	on	tension	reduction	theory	and	prior	research,	we	predicted	that	both	work-to-family	and	family-to-work	conflict	would	be	related	to	increased	drinking.According	to	a	social	learning	perspective,	individuals	are	more	likely	to	drink	in	response	to	stressful	stimuli	if	they	do	not	have	appropriate	coping	responses	or	if	they	believe	that	alcohol	enhances	positive	mood	or	reduces	negative	emotions	(Cooper,	1990).	For	example,	Liu,	Wang,	Zhan,	and	Shi	(2009)	found	that	the	relationship	between	daily	work	stress	and	alcohol	consumption	was	stronger	for	people	high	in	neuroticism.	Therefore,	we	predicted	that	the	positive	relationship	between	work-family	conflict	and	drinking	would	be	stronger	for	individuals	high	in	neuroticism.Variable	 M	 SD	 1	 2	 3	 4	 5	 6	 7	1.	Frequency	of	drinking	 3.40	 2.03	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	2.	Frequency	of	binge	 1.85	 1.79	 .74	 	 	 	 	 	 	3.	Age	 33.95	 6.18	 .15	 .04	 	 	 	 	 	4.	Gender	 0.50	 0.50	 .27	 .19	 .16	 	 	 	 	5.	Age	of	oldest	child	 10.21	 6.05	 .12	 -.03	 .80	 .03	 	 	 	6.	Age	of	youngest	child	 6.20	 4.93	 -.03	 -.06	 .72	 .00	 .02	 	 	7.	Work-to-family	conflict	 2.65	 0.83	 .18	 .04	 -.01	 .10	 .18	 -.15	 	8.	Family-to-work	conflict	 2.17	 0.71	 -.30	 -.29	 -.12	 -.06	 -.06	 -.07	 .18		Predictor	 b	 SE	 p	Age	 .015	 .059	 .801	Gender	 .929	 .415	 .028	Age	of	oldest	child	 .074	 .062	 .238	Age	of	youngest	child	 -.096	 .067	 .158	Work-to-family	conflict	 .372	 .207	 .076	Family-to-work	conflict	 -.567	 .212	 .009	Note.	Intercept	=	2.23		Predictor	 b	 SE	 p	Age	 -.009	 .061	 .878	Gender	 .632	 .405	 .123	Age	of	oldest	child	 .030	 .065	 .645	Age	of	youngest	child	 -.056	 .069	 .424	Work-to-family	conflict	 .079	 .201	 .697	Family-to-work	conflict	 -.552	 .209	 .010	Note.	Intercept	=	1.91		00.511.522.533.544.55Low HighFrequency	of	Alcohol	ConsumptionInterrole	Conflict	LevelWFCFWC

Alcohol and Its Relationship to Family Work Conflict

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Alcohol and Its Relationship to Family Work Conflict

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