Caring for One's Elders and Family-to-Work Conflict

The authors investigated whether workers caring for elderly family members reported the same types of family-to-work conflict (FTW) as did workers caring for their children. The authors also tested the validities of common FTW measures using a single sample that included elder-and childcare providers. Full-time employees (e.g., staff, faculty, administrators) of a large university were surveyed; 571 useable surveys were returned. Participants included those with elder-and childcare responsibilities (n = 16), childcare but not eldercare responsibilities (n = 177), eldercare but not childcare responsibilities (n = 41), and those with neither childcare nor eldercare responsibilities (n = 330). The mean age of participants was 46 years. Elder-and childcare providers each reported time-and strain-based conflict. Childcare providers reported higher levels of FTW than did nonchildcare providers across FTW measures in this study, supporting the measures' construct validities. The authors did not find differences between eldercare providers and non-eldercare providers on three FTW measures. With eldercare providers, FTW measures may be better predictors of hours of work missed than of days of work or of physical symptoms. With childcare providers, FTW measures may be better predictors of physical symptoms. The authors discuss implications for employers.