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Organisational and Supervisor Support Links to Psychological Detachment from Work: Mediating Effect of Work-family Conflict on Dual-earner Couples

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Abstract

Dual-earner couples with adolescent children face increased challenges to manage work and family roles. This study aims to analyse the effect of two sources of support (organisational and supervisor support) on work-family conflict (WFC) and psychological detachment from work, according to a couple-dyadic model. More specifically, we propose a model in which WFC acts as a mediator for the relationship between organisational and supervisor support, and psychological detachment. A sample of 198 dual-earner couples with at least one adolescent child (aged 13–18 years) participated. We analysed actor, partner and gender effects using the Actor–partner interdependence mediation modeling and found that the association between supervisor support and WFC is stronger for women, while the association between organisational support and WFC manifests with the same intensity for men and women. In the case of men, it is organisational support (i.e., broad source of support) that is associated with psychological detachment through WFC, while in the case of women, it is supervisor support (i.e., specific source of support) that is associated with psychological detachment, also through WFC. No partner effects were found. Our results highlight the need for organisations to implement work-family balance measures that take dyadic interactions and gender differences into account.

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This work was funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology Portugal (CPUP/UIDB/00050/2020).

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  1. Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135, Porto, Portugal

    Carolina Garraio, Maria Inês Barradas & Marisa Matias

  2. Center for Psychology, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Marisa Matias

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  1. Carolina Garraio
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  2. Maria Inês Barradas
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Correspondence to Marisa Matias.

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Garraio, C., Barradas, M.I. & Matias, M. Organisational and Supervisor Support Links to Psychological Detachment from Work: Mediating Effect of Work-family Conflict on Dual-earner Couples. Applied Research Quality Life 18, 957–974 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-022-10124-1

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