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Understanding working mothers’ difficulty: From need frustration to family–work conflict

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2023

Fenghua Liang Open the ORCID record for Fenghua Liang [Opens in a new window] ,
Yujie Cai  and
Jinyun Duan
Fenghua Liang
Affiliation:
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China The School of Educational Science, ShangRao Normal University, JiangXi, China
Yujie Cai
Affiliation:
SKEMA Business School, China Campus, Suzhou, China
Jinyun Duan*
Affiliation:
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
*
Corresponding author: Jinyun Duan; Email: mgjyduan@hotmail.com
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Abstract

Previous research has primarily focused on the impact of basic psychological needs frustration on parenting styles and its effect on children. However, there is a lack of research on the impact of basic psychological needs frustration in mothers, particularly those who work full time. To fill the gap, this study explores how frustration of needs experienced by full-time working mothers in the family context relates to their experience of maternal stress and family-to-work conflict and the moderating role of financial motivation to work. In a three-wave study of 168 full-time working mothers, we discovered a positive correlation between basic psychological needs frustration and maternal stress, which in turn led to family-to-work conflict. These relationships were more pronounced among mothers with lower financial motivation to work, as opposed to those with higher. We conclude by discussing the implications of our research and suggesting areas for future study.

Keywords

working mothersbasic psychological needs frustration in family lifematernal stressfinancial motivation to workfamily-to-work conflict
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , July 2024 , pp. 1138 - 1152
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press in association with the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management

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