Chapter 10 Multi-Faceted Household Dependency, Work–Family Conflict, and Self-Rated Health in Five High-Income Countries

Abstract Under the Demand-Resources framework, more household dependents and higher levels of work–family conflict are demands on workers in high-income countries, yielding negative effects on worker wellbeing. The authors investigate how living in a household characterized by multiple types of dependency – where children and other adults are living with married, working respondents – shapes self-rated health. The authors further investigate whether work–family conflict mediates or moderates the relationship between this multi-faceted dependency and self-rated health, as expected. The authors exploit data from the 2014 General Social Survey and 2015 International Social Survey Program on over 2,000 individuals in Austria, France, Iceland, Switzerland, and the United States – the available countries with indicators appropriate to their research purpose. The authors employ logistic regression techniques to estimate individual self-rated health. The authors find that living in a multi-faceted dependent household is actually associated with better self-rated health, while work–family conflict has a negative influence on self-rated health. There is also no evidence of strong mediating or moderating effects of work–family conflict on the positive association between living in a multi-faceted dependent household and health. These results suggest that individuals experience similar effects with regard to dependents and work–family conflict, regardless of their country of residence. Policy implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.