Working parents must choreograph their lives around competing obligations to work and family. Many working parents feel they do not spend enough time with their children and wish for more family time (Milkie, Mattingly, Nomaguchi, Bianchi, & Robinson, 2004). Family time is important for promoting parents’ and children’s psychosocial adjustment, as well as the family’s sense of identity and cohesion (Crouter, Head, McHale, & Jenkins Tucker, 2004). Family routines, in particular, provide stability and continuity for family members (Boyce, Jensen, James, & Peacock, 1983). The goal of the present study is to examine how work, family time, and routines intersect in the lives of rural, low-income families.
Scholarship on the competing time demands of work and family proliferates the work-family field. This literature, however, is limited by a focus on (a) employment status and hours (with less attention to other work characteristics), (b) parent-child dyad caregiving time (typically maternal involvement), (c) middle class workers, and (d) families in urban contexts. Furthermore, very few studies have examined specifically the association between work conditions and family routines.
Given the importance of family time and routines for promoting individual and family health and well-being (Crouter et al., 2004; Fiese et al., 2002), it is imperative to understand which work conditions may facilitate or impede family routines, particularly for families in a rural context who face additional barriers compared to their urban counterparts (Bauer & Dolan, 2011). We use the work-home resources model (ten Brummelhuis & Bakker, 2012) to guide our study. This model explains how work demands and resources affect personal resources (e.g., time, energy, and mood) which, in turn, affects experiences at home.
We use data from the Rural Families Speak about Health (RFSH) study, a multistate, multidisciplinary collaboration to examine individual, family, community, and policy contexts on the health of rural, low-income families (Mammen & Sano, in press). RFSH has a mixed methods design: The survey sample is comprised of 444 mothers with at least one child under the age of 18 across 13 states, and a subset of 85 mothers who also participated in semi-structured, face-to-face interviews. First, we will use survey data to examine the association between family routines and various work demands (e.g., number of jobs, work hours, work schedule, wages) and resources (e.g., self-employment, paid personal days). Next, to gain a more in-depth understanding of mothers’ work-family experiences, we will analyze the interview transcripts for discussion surrounding the ways work interferes with or facilitates family routines. This study will bring attention to an understudied population to highlight unique work-family challenges in a rural context. We will make recommendations for policies and practices at the workplace, community, state, and federal levels to promote rural, low-income, working parents’ ability to integrate work and family successfully.
