The Long Haul Home: The Relationship between Commuting Distance, Work Hours, Work-to-Family Conflict, and Psychological Distress

Abstract

Our study reevaluates the impact of commuting on mental health, challenging the prevailing view of commuting solely as a job-related demand or stressor that leads to increased mental health problems. Using the 2011 Neighbourhood Effects on Health and Well-Being Study from Toronto, we explore the dual perspectives of commuting distance as a stressful demand versus a potentially beneficial resource among parents of minor children (n = 299). Multivariate results reveal that commuting distance alone is not significantly linked to mental health as measured by psychological distress. However, the nature of commuting—whether it is viewed as a demand or a resource—depends on other factors in parents’ lives. Specifically, our results indicate that an increase in commuting distance exacerbates the negative effects of work hours on psychological distress while simultaneously buffering against the impact of work-to-family conflict on this outcome irrespective of gender.