Work, stress, and relationships: The crossover process model

Abstract

Objective

Psychological crossover is the interpersonal transfer of stress. Details of how this transfer actually occurs are scarce, causing difficulties for advancement of crossover research. Crossover research has also suffered from a sampling bias, traditionally assessing the extent to which a husband's work stressors are transferred to his wife. Clearly, with the advent of both dual‐income and dual‐career partners, this research sampling method requires updating. The research reported here directly addresses these two issues and reports on an original model mapping the crossover process.

Method

The research adopted a qualitative method of enquiry in order to explore the crossover process afresh. Dyadic interviews were conducted with 16 dual‐earner couples who were both employed full time.

Results

Template analysis of the transcribed data revealed the existence of both negative (e.g., strain) and positive (e.g., well‐being) crossover experiences between the couples. These crossover experiences followed a five‐step process: (1) work event experienced; (2) impact of work event; (3) transfer of impact to partner; (4) impact on partner's well‐being and work performance; and (5) dyadic outcomes.

Conclusions

This research advances recent discussions of the crossover process by supporting the five‐step Crossover Process Model. The findings support the occurrence of both negative and positive crossover of emotions, although negative work stressors were found to be the most commonly experienced initiator of crossover. Importantly, this research demonstrated that neither the gender of the initiating partner nor the gender of the recipient partner significantly influenced the crossover process.

Key words:

• crossover
• dual career
• dyads
• qualitative
• stress