Sharing Work Events With the Family

Abstract

Abstract. The present paper focuses on sharing work events with the family by interviewing dual-earner parents. Specifically, the aim of the study was to investigate to what extent experiences at work, both positive and negative, were shared with the family, depending on (a) characteristics of the event and (b) general characteristics of work and family life (e.g., chronic stressors, chronic resources in each domain). Results of multilevel analysis showed that the longer lasting (for positive events only) and less familiar (for positive and negative events) a work event was, the more intense the event was shared with family members. Furthermore, besides work events also general social support in the work and the family context predicted sharing such events with family members. That is, the more supportive family members were and the less supportive the work environment was in general, the stronger was the effect of sharing work events with the family. Combining qualitative and quantitative data was successful in uncovering the situational and general determinants of work–family processes.