Daily Spillover of Low‐Income Mothers' Perceived Workload to Mood and Mother–Child Interactions

This study investigated associations of low-income working mothers ' daily perceived work-load and their reports of their own mood and their interactions with their young children. Sixty-one mothers were asked to report on their workload, mood, and interactions with their preschool-age children every day for 2 weeks (N = 520 work days). Low-income mothers reported significant day-to-day variability in workload. The results revealed a curvilinear pattern of negative work-to-family spillover: Both lower-than-average and higher-than-average workload days were associated with increased negative and tired mood, decreased positive mood, and increased harsh mother-child interactions. Although both younger and older mothers experienced a curvilinear pattern of spillover to daily mood, younger mothers in the period of emerging adulthood also experienced spillover to mother-child interactions, perhaps because they are still learning how to balance work and family demands. Both high and low workload are salient stressors in the daily lives of low-wage working mothers.Key Words: early childhood, families and work, family interaction, low-income families.In the last two decades, the United States has instituted major changes to public policies related to parental employment, including expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit and an overhaul of the nation's welfare system. These policy changes combined with a strong economy to greatly increase low-income, single mothers' employment (Blank, 2002). In 2006, nearly 85% of single mothers with children age 6 or older were employed (Cancian & Reed, 2009).In response to these demographic changes, researchers have examined the everyday lives of working women and how women's work conditions may spill over and affect their own and their family members' well-being (Crouter & Bumpus, 2001; Heymann, 2000; Hughes & Galinsky, 1994; Rogers, Parcel, & Menaghan, 1991). One work condition that has received attention is workload, the level of demands placed on workers (O'Driscoll & Brough, 2010). Although theory initially posited a curvilinear relationship between workload and well-being, that perspective has received only mixed empirical support (O'Driscoll & Brough). One reason that a curvilinear relationship may not have been observed in studies of spillover is that most work-family research has focused on higher income families (Karanika-Murray, 2010) , for whom very low workload may not be a salient stressor.This study focused on low-wage working mothers, making a number of contributions to the literature on workload and work-family spillover. First, it used a data collection method that is novel in studies of low-wage workers: daily reports over a period of 2 weeks regarding perceived workload, maternal mood, and mother-child interactions. Rather than comparing workers' typical or average workload, this study design allowed for the examination of within-family variability in perceived workload, providing information about how workload fluctuates in the everyday lives of low-wage workers. Furthermore, by focusing on withinfamily variation, results cannot be driven by any time-invariant differences between families, measured or unmeasured, including race; personality traits, such as self-esteem; or job characteristics, such as hourly wage. This is an improvement over cross-sectional studies, which can adjust only for measured between-person omitted variables. Second, this study examined both linear and curvilinear relationships between perceived workload and mood and mother-child interactions. Curvilinear relationships may be more likely because low-wage workers are more likely to experience both high and low levels of workload from day to day. Finally, this study investigated moderation by maternal age, comparing spillover for mothers during the distinct developmental period of emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2000) to older mothers and adding to our understanding of work-family balance and development across the life span. …