Exploring the gendered nature of work-family conflict on job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among correctional officers

ABSTRACT

Due to the difficult nature of correctional work, a large body of research has examined factors like job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among correctional officers. Although this research is valuable, there has been limited research examining how correctional work may differentially impact males and females, which is particularly true for work-family conflict (WFC) research. Given the increase in females working in correctional institutions and the barriers and conflict they faced, the current study assesses the gendered nature of strain-based and time-based WFC on job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among male and female correctional officers from two Southwestern state-run prisons. The findings reveal that the effects of WFC were similar and different in some ways for male and female correctional officers. Specifically, strain-based WFC was a significant predictor of job stress for male and female correctional officers, whereas strain-based and time-based WFC was only significant for male correctional officers. Finally, neither dimension of WFC was related to organizational commitment. These findings are contextualized and explored against a backdrop of research on WFC and gender.

Keywords:

• Gender
• Work-Family Conflict
• Correctional Officers
• Job Stress
• Job Satisfaction
• Organizational Commitment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Family-on-work conflict (FWC) is another form of WFC (Netemeyer, Boles, & McMurrian, 1996). FWC begins in the home and creates problems in the workplace. For example, if someone was going through a divorce, it may cause problems at work.

2. For a full review on females entering prison work, see the article written by Griffin (2013).

3. The original survey did not include measures of behavior-based conflict – a limitation which is addressed later.

4. The authors recognize that using sex as a proxy for gender is a limitation. A true measure of gender would be inclusive of all gender identities. This issue is further discussed in the section on limitations.

5. Although it was not included in the results section, the correlation matrix also did not suggest multicollinearity was an issue.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Weston J. Morrow

Weston J. Morrow is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at University of Nevada, Reno. He earned a B.S. in Social Science from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; an M.S. in criminal justice from California State University, Long Beach; and a Ph.D. in criminology and criminal justice at Arizona State University. He has conducted research on the Fourth Amendment, police use of force, courts and sentencing, and juvenile justice. Dr. Morrow’s work has appeared in the American Journal of Criminal Law, Criminal Justice Studies, the Criminal Law Bulletin, the Journal of Crime and Justice, Justice Policy Journal, Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, and Police Quarterly.

Britni L. Adams

Britni L. Adams is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at University of Nevada, Reno. She received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California Irvine. Her research focuses on family and youth experiences that are impacted by crime and the criminal justice system. Specifically, one branch of her research examines family networks who are connected to in incarcerated family member. The other main branch of her research highlights developmental outcomes and the evolution of relationships following family violence and child maltreatment. Her work has appeared in Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Family Relations, and Sociology Compass.

Samuel G. Vickovic

Samuel G. Vickovic is an Associate Professor in the School of Criminology, Criminal Justice, and Emergency Management at California State University, Long Beach. He earned a PhD in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Arizona State University in 2015. He has conducted research concerning media depictions of medical marijuana, media depictions of correctional officers, correctional officer organizational attitudes, and sentencing disparities. His current research interests include correctional officers and the intersection of criminal justice systems, media, and popular culture.