How does work affect fathers' daily interaction with adolescents? An expanded self-regulation perspective

Abstract

The management of the daily rhythm of work and childrearing, two central responsibilities of working fathers, has received limited research attention. Drawing from an expanded self-regulation perspective, this study seeks to understand the within-person depletion and compensation mechanisms that explain how fathers' daily work experiences spillover to influence their next-day parenting interactions. We also posit that actual childrearing support by mothers and its unavailability may shape fathers' day-to-day caregiving rhythm by injecting resources and/or cuing demands for father parenting involvement. Using daily triadic data (N = 631 within-person observations) from 96 fathers, mothers and their adolescent children in the United States, we found that the lagged relationship between fathers' negative work events and next-day father–adolescent conflict was mediated by fathers' psychological distress. In addition, we found that negative work events were associated with increased father–adolescent routine activities the next day via time-based work–family conflict, but only when mothers worked the next day. We further found that negative work events were associated with decreased father–adolescent interactive activities the next day via psychological distress, but only when mothers provided less routine care than normal the next day. Our study portrays fathers juggling work and parenting as a sequenced balancing act. Importantly, incorporating mothers' daily work status and routine parent–adolescent interactions enriches our understanding of fathers' daily work-to-parenting spillover process.