Youth supervision while mothers work: a daily diary study of maternal worry

Abstract

Using data from a daily diary study of hourly hotel employees in the US and their children, this study examined links between youth supervision arrangements and maternal worry while at work, examining both differences between individuals and day-to-day variation within individuals. Multilevel model analyses revealed both between- and within-person effects linking youth supervision to maternal worry. Mothers’ partner status functioned as moderator, and maternal knowledge also emerged as a protective factor when youth were in self-care, highlighting a potential target for future work–family interventions, particularly those for hourly employees with limited access to family-friendly workplace policies.

En utilisant les données d'une étude de journal quotidien des employés horaires de l'hôtel aux États-Unis et leurs enfants, cette étude a examiné les liens entre les modalités de supervision des jeunes et l'inquiétude maternelle pendant le travail, en examinant à la fois les différences inter individus et la variation intra individus au jour le jour. Analyses multi-niveaux ont révélé à la fois des effets inter et intra reliant la supervision des jeunes à l'inquiétude maternelle. Statut de partenaire des mères a fonctionné en tant que modérateur, et la connaissance maternelle est également apparue comme un facteur de protection lorsque les jeunes ont pris soins d'eux-mêmes, soulignant une cible potentielle pour des interventions de conciliation travail-famille, en particulier ceux conçus pour des employés horaires avec un accès limité à des politiques favorables à la famille.

Keywords:

• work and family
• youth supervision
• maternal worry
• daily diary
• parental knowledge

Mots-clés:

• le travail et la famille
• les modalités de supervision des jeunes
• l'inquiétude maternelle
• le journal quotidien
• les connaissances des parents

Acknowledgements

This research was conducted as part of the Work, Family and Health Network, which is funded by a cooperative agreement through the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U01HD051217, U01HD051218, U01HD051256, U01HD051276), National Institute on Aging (U01AG027669), Office of Behavioral and Science Sciences Research, and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (U010H008788). Special acknowledgement goes to Extramural Staff Science Collaborator, Rosalind Berkowitz King, PhD (NICHD) and Lynne Casper, PhD (now of the University of Southern California) for design of the original Workplace, Family, Health and Well-Being Network Initiative. We also thank Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (2004)-12–4), The W.T. Grant Foundation (9844), and the Penn State Social Science Research Institute for providing additional support for this research, as well as David Almeida, John O'Neill, Jeanette Cleveland, Laura Klein, Kelly Davis, Courtney Whetzel, and the team of superb graduate students (past and present) who have given so much to the project, and the families for their participation.