Work–family planning attitudes among emerging adults

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Abstract

Using social learning theory as a framework, we explore two sets of antecedents to work and family role planning attitudes among emerging adults: their work–family balance self-efficacy and their perceptions of their parents' work-to-family conflict. A total of 187 college students completed a questionnaire concerning their work–family balance self-efficacy, their perceptions of their parents' work-to-family conflict, and their work and family role planning attitudes. Participants' work–family balance self-efficacy was positively related to their knowledge of and commitment to future work and family roles. In addition, perceptions of their same-gender parent's work-to-family conflict were positively related to knowledge of, commitment to, and involvement in planning for future work and family roles. Results suggest that enhancing emerging adults' self-efficacy to balance work and family may improve their attitudes toward planning for future work and family roles. Also, emerging adults appear to be more knowledgeable of, involved in, and committed to planning for work and family roles when their same-gender parents expose them to, rather than shield them from, work-to-family conflict.

Highlights

► We study factors that affect emerging adults' work–family role planning attitudes. ► Social learning theory is utilized to understand work–family role planning attitudes. ► Work–family role planning attitudes are positively associated with self-efficacy to balance work and family. ► Work–family role planning attitudes increase with work–family conflict perceived from same-gender parent.

Introduction

According to a study by Yahoo! Hotjobs and Robert Half International (2007), three out of four young people soon to enter the workforce expect to balance career with a family. For managers seeking to hire these workers, the traditional focus on fitting jobs to individual skills may not be sufficient. Instead, jobs may need to fit not only with skills, but also with demands outside of work. When fit between a job and life outside of work is poor, work–family conflict can arise and result in reduced life and job satisfaction, increased burnout, higher turnover intentions, lower commitment, and higher absenteeism (Allen et al., 2000, Kossek and Ozeki, 1998, Kossek and Ozeki, 1999). Because balancing work and family is challenging, educators and practitioners have called for early intervention among traditional-aged university students, age 18 to 22, to support planning for these future roles (Cinamon, 2006, Weitzman, 1994). Arnett (2000) refers to individuals aged 18–25 as emerging adults. Emerging adults are in a unique developmental stage marked by identity experimentation and exploration. Full-fledged adulthood, in contrast, is marked by enduring beliefs and attitudes. Because attitudes are not yet fully formed in emerging adulthood, this is an ideal time to explore attitudes toward work and family planning and encourage choices that facilitate effective role planning.

Drawing from Bandura's (1989) social cognitive and social learning theories, we posit that emerging adults' self-efficacy beliefs and their perceptions of their role models' (typically parents') work-to-family conflict relate to their work and family role planning attitudes. Few studies (for exceptions, see McCracken and Weitzman, 1997, Peake and Harris, 2002) have examined factors that relate to emerging adults' attitudes toward work and family role planning. This is an important oversight given planning during emerging adulthood may facilitate better work–family management later on during adulthood. By examining different attitudes (i.e., knowledge, commitment, and involvement), this study provides insight into various facets of work and family role planning. Also, by exploring how emerging adults' perceptions of their parents' work-to-family conflict relates to their own work–family role planning attitudes, we answer calls to examine how one family member's work–family conflict (i.e., parent) relates to experiences of other family members (i.e., child) (Casper et al., 2007, Eby et al., 2005). Finally, we examine whether same-gender parents are seen as models more than opposite-gender parents when planning for future work–family roles.

Like Arnett's (2000) view of emerging adulthood as a transitional stage, Super's (1980) life-span model places university students in transition, moving from exploration (e.g., trial jobs in their vocation, planning for future family roles) to the establishment stage (e.g., entry into full time professional employment and family roles such as spouse and parent). Further, Super (1982) suggests attitudes toward life roles have cognitive, conative, and behavioral components. The cognitive component is manifested by knowledge of a life role without emotional attachment or active engagement. Commitment, the conative or affective component, denotes emotional identification with a life role. Finally, involvement reflects behavioral engagement in a life role. By defining career to include all life roles, including those outside of work, Super shifts the vocational psychology paradigm from how individuals fit into occupations to how work fits into individuals' lives (Savickas, 2001). Although the importance of holistic life planning has been echoed by other scholars (e.g., Hansen, 2001), research on the career plans of emerging adults has primarily focused on paid work, rather than both work and family roles.

Emerging adults who believe they are capable of combining work and family should have attitudes emphasizing engagement in both roles. Social cognitive theory suggests that individuals with high self-efficacy tend to approach rather than avoid tasks, persist when facing obstacles, and perform well at relevant tasks (Stajkovic & Luthans, 1998). Self-efficacy is defined as a person's belief regarding his or her ability to successfully perform a task or behavior (Bandura, 1977a). Work–family balance self-efficacy, then, is a belief that a person can effectively balance work and family roles simultaneously. Research has found that people with higher work and family self-efficacy report less work–family conflict (Erdwins, Buffardi, Casper, & O'Brien, 2001) and are more likely to plan to integrate work and family roles (Cinamon, 2006).

We assert that emerging adults with higher work–family balance self-efficacy will be more knowledgeable about combining work and family roles because they are more proactive in gathering information about roles than those with lower self-efficacy. In support of this, research has found that self-efficacy is positively related to career planning and gathering relevant career information, and negatively related to career indecision (Betz and Luzzo, 1996, Betz and Voyten, 1997, Guay et al., 2003, Rogers et al., 2008).

Self-efficacy regarding a task should lead to emotional engagement in that task or role because of a belief in one's ability to succeed (Bandura, 1977a). Cinamon, Wiesel, and Tzuk (2007) found that parents with higher parental self-efficacy were more committed to parenting while Chung (2002) found that career decision-making self-efficacy was associated with higher career planning commitment. Similarly, work–family balance self-efficacy should relate to higher commitment to future work and family roles.

Finally, work–family balance self-efficacy should also relate to involvement in future work and family roles. For self-efficacious individuals who believe they can handle both work and family roles, involvement in work and family role planning at a young age enables them to prepare and craft plans (i.e., appropriate education to prepare for work that allows for work/family balance) that will make these roles more feasible. Thus, we posit:

Hypothesis 1

Emerging adults' workfamily balance self-efficacy will be positively related to their self-reported (a) knowledge of, (b) commitment to, and (c) involvement in workfamily role planning.

As emerging adults consider combining work and family roles, their attitudes may be influenced by their role models. Emerging adults' work and family role models are typically their parents or caregivers whom they observed manage the work–family interface while growing up. Emerging adults may have observed models exhibit both negative and positive aspects of combining work and family. Work–family conflict is “a form of interrole conflict in which role pressures from the work and family domains are mutually incompatible in some respect” (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985, p. 77), while work–family enrichment is “the extent to which experiences in one role improve the quality of life in the other role” (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006, p.73). Although models may exhibit both work–family conflict and enrichment, the current study focuses on an emerging adult's perception of parental work-to-family conflict.

In considering how parental work-to-family conflict relates to their children's work and family role planning attitudes, we draw on social learning theory (Bandura, 1977b). An important element in social learning theory is the notion of vicarious learning, or modeling, in which “social learning occurs either deliberately or inadvertently by observing the actual behavior of others and the consequences for them” (Bandura, 1989, p.22). Learning from role models through observation enables faster learning (without actually performing tasks) and prevents costly mistakes (Bandura, 1977b).

Because the emerging adults we studied did not have their own children and spouses, they likely formed expectations of work and family roles by observing their parents. Their parents' experiences may relate to their perceptions of managing work and family and their own expectations for work–family conflict (Barnett, Gareis, James, & Steele, 2003). Emerging adults who perceived that their parents had little work-to-family conflict might assume preparation unnecessary and thus, be less knowledgeable about and involved in planning for work and family roles. In contrast, those who viewed their parents as having more conflict might acquire more knowledge and be more involved in work–family planning in an attempt to prevent the work-to-family conflict their parents had. Predictions regarding commitment are less clear. Children who observe their parents' work-to-family conflict may reduce commitment to combining work and family roles to avoid conflict themselves. Alternatively, children who observe their parents' high conflict may become more committed to work–family planning to help manage this challenging task of combining roles.

Emerging adults should see same-gender parents as role models more so than opposite-gender parents. That is, a mother's work-to-family conflict should relate more strongly to her daughter's attitudes and a father's conflict more to his son's. Both psychoanalytic theory and social learning theory suggest that the behavior of the same-gender parent should influence child attitudes more than that of the opposite-gender parent. Psychoanalytic theory argues that, by identifying with the same-gender parent, a child internalizes a parent's behaviors, values, and cognitions, causing the daughter to emulate her mother and the son his father (Chodorow, 1978). Social learning theory (Bandura, 1977b) argues that individuals choose role models on the basis of interpersonal attraction, which is often based on similarity. When the role model is the same gender as the observer, similarity heightens vicarious learning because the model's behavior is perceived as more indicative of one's own capabilities (Bandura, 1997). Thus, when her mother has high work-to-family conflict, a daughter may anticipate problems managing work and family and feel more need to prepare by acquiring knowledge and becoming involved in and committed to planning. A similar relationship between a father's work-to-family conflict and his son's attitudes toward work–family role planning is also expected.

Aside from the observer-model similarity, social learning theory posits that the degree of difficulty displayed by a role model influences vicarious learning (Bandura, 1969, Bandura, 1971). An individual who completes a difficult task is a more effective model as the observer identifies more with a model who strives to overcome difficulties. Thus, social learning theory suggests that a father's or mother's work-to-family conflict should relate to a sons' or daughters' increased knowledge of, commitment to, and involvement in planning for work and family roles. While parental work-to-family conflict could be argued to enhance or mitigate a child's commitment to work and family roles, psychoanalytic theory suggests the child would mimic the same-gender parent and commit to both work and family roles. Thus, we hypothesize that:

Hypothesis 2

Emerging adult women's (men's) perceptions of their mothers' (fathers') work-to-family conflict will be positively related to their self-reported (a) knowledge of, (b) commitment to, and (c) involvement in workfamily role planning.

Section snippets

Participants and procedures

Data were collected from 215 college students at a small private university in the central United States. The undergraduate population at this university is comprised of traditional college students who enter college from high school, with over 80% entering as first-time freshmen. Most report being dependents of parents on their student financial aid forms. Approximately 80% live on campus, and 98.9% attend school full-time.

Participants were students in undergraduate psychology classes who

Results

Table 1 shows means, standard deviations, and alphas of all variables and correlations by gender. We used Cohen's (1988) rule of thumb that correlations of 0.1 are small, 0.3 medium, and 0.5 large and noted significant correlations above 0.3.1 For both females and males, knowledge was significantly and positively correlated with involvement and work–family balance self-efficacy. For females, commitment was positively correlated with work–family

Discussion

Drawing from social cognitive theory, we identified two sets of variables that relate to work and family role planning attitudes among emerging adults- work–family balance self-efficacy and perceived parental work-to-family conflict. Emerging adults with higher work–family balance self-efficacy reported greater knowledge of and commitment to work–family role planning. Perceptions of a same-gender parent's work-to-family conflict were positively related to knowledge of, commitment to, and

Implications for practice

Emerging adults with higher work–family balance self-efficacy may have an edge in managing work and family roles later in their adulthood because they have planned for it at an early age. College campuses might offer interventions to promote success in future work–family management that focus on improving work–family balance self-efficacy. Since experiences of mastery are an important antecedent of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986), work–family balance self-efficacy may be improved by successes in

Limitations

As with all research, this study has limitations to consider when interpreting our findings. The cross-sectional design prohibits causal inferences as well as understanding relationships over time. Longitudinal studies could examine how work–family preparations of emerging adults relate to the work–family choices they eventually make later in adulthood.

Self-report data also raise concerns about common method bias. However, measuring parental work-to-family conflict from the emerging adult's

Directions for future research

Anticipated work–family conflict could also be examined in future research. For instance, research could explore what level of anticipated work–family conflict prompts engagement in work–family role planning among emerging adults. Such research will expand our understanding of emerging adults' expectations about future work and family roles.

Researchers might also examine alternative theoretical perspectives in further studies. Attribution theory (Weiner et al., 1971) could be used to explore

Conclusions

Given that emerging adults currently in college will soon enter the workforce, it is important to understand their attitudes toward future work and family roles. We found a positive relationship between emerging adults' work–family balance self-efficacy and their attitudes toward planning for future work and family roles. Though work–family conflict is associated with negative outcomes (Eby et al., 2005), an emerging adult's same-gender parent's work-to-family conflict appears to have a

Dynah A. Basuil is an Associate Professor of Management at the Asian Institute of Management. She received her Ph.D. in Management from the University of Texas at Arlington. She worked for over a decade in areas such as finance and account management and in industries such as banking and telecommunications. Her research interests are in the area of strategy- particularly, international business such as foreign acquisitions and human resources such as employee downsizing.

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    Dynah A. Basuil is an Associate Professor of Management at the Asian Institute of Management. She received her Ph.D. in Management from the University of Texas at Arlington. She worked for over a decade in areas such as finance and account management and in industries such as banking and telecommunications. Her research interests are in the area of strategy- particularly, international business such as foreign acquisitions and human resources such as employee downsizing.

    Wendy J. Casper is Associate Professor of Management at the University of Texas at Arlington. She received her Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from George Mason University in 2000. She has worked in internal human resource management positions, as an external consultant in human resources management, and has held previous faculty positions at the University of Tulsa and George Washington University. Her research in the area of work–family issues and family–family policies has been published in top journals and presented at many national conferences.

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