“Being Stuck between Two Worlds” – Identity Configurations of Occupational and Family Identities

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptives of background information about the participants across identity configurations.

	Working to make a living
	10–35h/w	36–44h/w	45–60h/w	Parental leave	Studies	Sick leave	Unemployed	Combinations of part time work, parental leave, studies, sick leave, unemployment	In a romantic relationship	Have/expect children
Family first	1 (3%)	23 (64%)	1 (3%)	4 (11%)	1 (3%)	1 (3%)	–	5 (14%)	29 (82%)	26 (72%)
Everything is important	–	13 (50%)	6^a (23%)	4 (15%)	–	–	–	3 (12%)	25 (96%)	23 (88%)
Struggling to prioritize	1 (4%)	13 (57%)	8 (35%)	–	–	–	–	1 (4%)	21 (91%)	14 (61%)
Now family comes first	2 (13%)	7 (47%)	–	1 (7%)	2 (13%)	–	–	3 (20%)	14 (93%)	15 (100%)
Inability to prioritize	2 (14.3%)	6 (42.9%)	2 (14.3%)	–	1 (7.1%)	–	3 (21.4%)	–	10 (71%)	4 (29%)
Work first	–	2 (20%)	5 (50%)	–	1 (10%)	1 (10%)	–	1 (10%)	4 (40%)	–

^a Two of these participants also reporting taking parental leave alongside working more than full time.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics (M and SD) for degree of conflict and satisfaction with life across identity configurations separated by gender.

	Total					Women					Men
		Degree of Conflict		Satisfaction With Life Scale			Degree of Conflict		Satisfaction With Life Scale			Degree of Conflict		Satisfaction With Life Scale
	n (%)	M	SD	M	SD	n (%)	M	SD	M	SD	n (%)	M	SD	M	SD
Family first	36 (29)	1.58	.91	5.44	.96	20 (32)	1.53	.72	5.40	.98	16 (26)	1.25	.58	5.49	.95
Everything is important	26 (21)	2.65	1.16	5.85	1.02	17 (27)	2.75	1.18	6.07	1.00	9 (14.5)	2.44	1.24	5.42	.96
Struggling to prioritize	23 (19)	3.39	.72	5.52	.63	12 (19)	3.45	.69	5.58	.66	11 (18)	3.36	.81	5.45	.63
Now family comes first	15 (12)	2.53	1.13	5.73	.63	8 (13)	2.13	1.13	5.95	.53	7 (11)	3.17	.98	5.49	.68
Inability to prioritize	14 (11)	1.79	1.12	4.77	1.50	5 (8)	2.20	1.30	4.68	2.25	9 (14.5)	1.56	1.01	4.82	1.06
Work first	10 (8)	2.00	1.05	4.64	1.18	-	-	-	-	-	10 (100)	2.00	1.05	4.64	1.18
Total	124 (100)	2.31	1.19	5.44	1.04	62 (100)	2.39	1.18	5.63	1.08	62 (100)	2.16	1.20	5.24	.96

Table 3. Descriptives, p-values, and effect sizes from the Bonferroni post hoc test of conflict and life satisfaction across the identity configurations.

	Degree of Conflict							Satisfaction With Life Scale
	M (SD)	1	2	3	4	5	6	M (SD)
1. Family first	1.58 (.91)	-	1.000/.41	1.000/.10	1.000/.36	.499/.53	.373/.74	5.44 (.96)
2. Everything is important	2.65 (1.16)	.001/1.03	-	1.000/.39	1.000/.14	.019/.84	.019/1.10	5.85 (1.02)
3. Struggling to prioritize	3.39 (.722)	< .001/2.20	.169/.77	-	1.000/.33	.394/.65	.294/.93	5.52 (.63)
4. Now family comes first	2.53 (1.13)	.038/.93	1.000/.10	.165/.91	-	.145/.83	.112/1.15	5.73 (.63)
5. Inability to prioritize	1.79 (1.12)	1.000/.21	.151/.75	< .001/1.70	.701/.66	-	1.000/.10	4.77 (1.50)
6. Work first	2.00 (1.05)	1.000/.43	1.000/.59	.005/1.54	1.000/.49	1.000/.19	-	4.64 (1.18)

The numbers represent p-values followed by Cohen’s d. Conflict results are presented below the diagonal, and Satisfaction With Life above.

Figure 1. Z-scores of conflict and life satisfaction across configurations in total, and separated by gender.

Figure 2. Model of the identity configurations.