Positive and negative work-family interaction and burnout: A longitudinal study of reciprocal relations

This study examined the longitudinal relationship between work-family interaction (WFI) in terms of the direction of influence (work-to-family vs. family-to-work) and type of effect (conflict vs. facilitation) and burnout. A sample of 2235 respondents from eight different occupational groups (lawyers, bus drivers, employees within information technology, physicians, teachers, church ministers, employees within advertisement, and nurses) supplied data at two points in time with a 2-year time interval. Building upon Hobfoll's (1989) Conservations of Resources (COR) theory, three causal models were proposed. The results of SEM-analyses revealed evidence for both a normal (WFI -> burnout), a reverse (WFI <- burnout), and a reciprocal (WFI <-> burnout) relationship. In general, there were lagged positive effects between the conflict dimensions of WFI and burnout and lagged negative effects between the facilitation dimension of WFI and burnout. One exception was a significant lagged negative effect between disengagement at Time 1 and work-to-family conflict at Time 2, suggesting that distancing oneself from job might act as a coping strategy causing lower levels of work-to-family conflict.