Reported Levels of Time-based and Strain-based Conflict Between Work and Family Roles in Europe: A Multilevel Approach

Abstract

What are the determinants of the subjective experience of conflict between work and family roles among dual-earner couples in Europe? Taking a demands-and-resources approach, this study investigates the individual and macro-level factors that generate perceptions of negative spill-over from work to family. Comparative survey data for 23 countries come from Round 2 of the European Social Survey. The empirical results support theoretical arguments for a conceptual distinction between time- and strain-based work-family conflicts. The findings also reveal important sex differences in the ways that perceptions of conflict are generated. Moreover, the results from multilevel analyses suggest that the experience of work-family conflict among dual-earner couples is only weakly moderated by institutional or cultural effects.