Spillover and Crossover Effects of Work-Family Conflict among Married and Cohabiting Couples

Abstract

The present study uses Wave 8 of the German Family Panel to test the spillover and crossover effects of work-family conflict on job satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, and mental health for individuals (actor effects) as well as their spouses/partners (partner effects) in dual-earning couples. We further contribute by assessing whether the results vary by gender and union type. Results suggest that among married couples, for job satisfaction, there are no gender differences in actor effects (but gender differences in partner effects), and actor and partner effects remain distinct. For relationship satisfaction, there are no gender differences in actor or partner effects, but both effects remain distinct. For mental health, however, there are gender differences in actor effects (but not in partner effects), and both effects remain distinct. Among cohabitors, there are no differences in actor effects by gender, and adding in partner effects does not significantly improve the models predicting all three outcomes. Some results also suggest differences in relationship dynamics between married and cohabiting couples.