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Balancing The Demands Of Employment And Family Life: Results Of The Family Caregiving Survey, Eileen M. Brennan, John Poertner

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article describes patterns of work and family balance that were examined for employed parents who give family care to children with serious emotional disorders. A secondary analysis of data from the Family Caregiver Survey was performed for a subsample of 184 caregivers employed outside the home or having a partner employed full time. Families having different work structures (patterns of part- or full-time employment and of parenting arrangements) reported significantly different levels of job stress, pleasure in work and intimate relationships, work used as coping, and satisfaction handling home responsibilities. Although reported child behaviors were significantly related to stress …