Role interference and subjective well-being among expatriate families

Abstract

The present study examined the relation of demands and social support, and positive and negative Work-Home (WHI) and Home-Work interference (HWI) with the subjective well-being of expatriates. Moreover, we were also interested in crossover effects of expatriate interference to the subjective well-being of their spouses. In a questionnaire study among expatriate couples (N = 72), we found that particularly home demands, and the negative spillover effects of expatriate roles at home on their work roles were related to expatriate and spouse subjective well-being. Crossover effects from one partner to the other seemed to run via subjective well-being in one partner to subjective well-being in the other, supporting the idea of emotional contagion among couples in times of stress.

Notes

For spouses the relationship between HWI^– of their partners and subjective well-being could be due to a direct link between their own problems and their subjective well-being. In other words, spouse stress may be the cause rather than the outcome of home-work interference among expatriates. However, controlling for the level of sociocultural adjustment (Black, 1988) among spouses did not change our results. Finally, WHI^– and HWI⁺ were solely related to psychological well-being of expatriates.

With respect to the latter finding, one could also argue that home demands of expatriates are a result of adjustment problems of their spouses. In other words, the relationship between expatriate demands and spouse subjective well-being may be explained away by a direct link between spouse problems and spouse subjective well-being. However, controlling for the level of sociocultural adjustment among spouses did not change our results. No influence of work demands on the subjective well-being measures was found among expatriates and spouses. Finally, home and work support solely seemed to contribute to psychological well-being among expatriates themselves.

Alternatively, we explored possible effects from expatriate demands and resources (instead of interference) via spouse home demands and support on spouse subjective well-being. Also from these analyses, we failed to find support for the criteria for mediation. Solely spouse home demands were related to indicators of expatriate demands (emotional demands and work support). However, both these variables were in turn unrelated to spouse subjective well-being.

Alternative models including additional direct paths from home pacing and interference to spouse subjective well-being did not result in a significant better fit.