A Longitudinal Study on the Impact of Working From Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Self-Rated General Health, Stress, and Work-Family and Family-Work Conflict-Are There Gender and Parental Status Differences?

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study is to examine the impact of working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic on general health, stress, work-family, and family-work conflict over-time and identify differences by gender and parental status.

Methods: Trajectory analyses described outcomes over time. Multinomial logistic regression relates the effects of gender, children, and the interaction between them, on group membership based on the latent class growth analyses.

Results: Not all trajectories followed the expected cubic pattern. Females had less family-work conflict (high/low: OR = 0.29, 95% CI: 0.17-0.66; moderate/low OR = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.20-0.67). Children increased the odds of family-work conflict (high/low: OR = 8.48, 95% CI: 3.38-21.25; moderate/low OR = 2.98, 95% CI: 1.63-5.43). Work-family conflict was worse for those with children (high-to-moderate decline/low-stable: OR = 2.59, 95% CI 1.25-5.41).

Conclusions: Work from home has implications for health and well-being of employees with differences based on gender and parental status for stress, work-family, and family-work conflict.