Sex Roles, Vol. 53, Nos. 7/8, October 2005 (
C
2005)
DOI: 10.1007/s11199-005-7134-8
Relative Contributions of Childcare, Spousal Support,
and Organizational Support in Reducing Work–Family
Conflict for Men and Women: The Case of Turkey
1
Zeynep Aycan
2,4
and Mehmet Eskin
3
The overarching purpose of the study was to investigate the role of three types of social
support (i.e., spousal, childcare, and organizational support) in relation to work–family con-
flict (WFC) in dual-earner families with children ages 0–6 years. The relationship of WFC
to psychological well-being and well-being in the domain of family was explored. Finally, the
relationship of spousal support to psychological well-being and marital satisfaction was exam-
ined. A total of 434 participants (237 mothers, 197 fathers) in dual-earner families in Turkey
with at least one preschool child participated in the study. The relative impact of childcare,
spousal support, and organizational support on WFC and outcome variables was tested si-
multaneously for both men and women through structural equation modeling. Spousal sup-
port was related to WFC for women, whereas both spousal and organizational support were
related to WFC for men. WFC had a negative relationship with psychological well-being,
marital satisfaction, and parental role performance for both men and women. Implications of
the results in relation to changing gender roles in a cultural context that is characterized by
high collectivism and low gender egalitarianism are discussed.
KEY WORDS: work–family conflict; social support; men and women; Turkey.
Women’s participation in the workforce is
increasing all around the world (cf., Adler & Izraeli,
1994; Davidson & Burke, 2004). This trend is re-
sulting in the transformation of traditional gender
roles and raising concerns about the psychological
well-being of women and men who are experiencing
role overload and work–family conflict (Elloy &
Smith, 2003; Staines, Pleck, Shepard, & O’Connor,
1978). During the last three decades, numerous
studies have been conducted on the predictors and
outcomes of the conflict between work and family
1
The paper received a Caroline Dexter Best Paper Award Nomi-
nation, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, New Orleans,
August 2004.
2
Department of Psychology, Koc¸ University, Sariyer, Istanbul,
Turkey.
3
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Adnan Menderes
University, Aydin, Turkey.
4
To whom correspondence should be addressed at Department
of Psychology, Koc¸ University, Sariyer, Istanbul 34450, Turkey;
e-mail: zaycan@ku.edu.tr.
roles, which is generally referred to as “work–family
conflict” (WFC). WFC is a type of inter-role conflict
that occurs as a result of incompatible role pressures
from the work and family domains (Greenhaus
& Beutell, 1985; Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, &
Rosenthal, 1964). The direction of the conflict
between work and family is inherently bidirectional
(Gutek, Searle, & Klepa, 1991). That is, work may
interfere with the family domain (work-to-family
conflict; W-to-FC) and family may interfere with the
work domain (family-to-work conflict; F-to-WC). In
the W-to-FC, the demands of work interfere with
the performance of family responsibilities, whereas
in F-to-WC, familial demands interfere with the
performance of work-related responsibilities.
The purpose of the present study was to exam-
ine the role of social support in WFC for men and
women in dual-earner families in Turkey with chil-
dren ages 0–6 years. We had three specific aims to
examine: (1) the role of three types of social support
453
0360-0025/05/1000-0453/0
C
2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.
@Phil_Robichaud
@deepthiw
@JoseServera