Gender differences in the relationships between work-to-family conflict and satisfaction among dual-earner spouses

The study explores how gender affects the relationships linking work-to-family conflict to job and life satisfaction among dual-earner spouses. Data were collected from 157 paired Chinese managers and their spouses. Our findings supported a pattern of gender asymmetry in both the within-person effect and the crossover effect. For the within-person effect, we found the relationship between work-to-family conflict and job satisfaction was negative for wives, but null for husbands, the relationship between work-to-family conflict and life satisfaction was negative for husbands, but null for wives. As for the crossover effect, husbands' work-to-family conflict was negatively related to wives' life satisfaction, but wives' work-to-family conflict had a null relationship with husbands' life satisfaction. Theoretical implication and future research directions are discussed.