MULTIPLE ROLES IN LATER LIFE: GENDERED IMPACTS OF ROLE STRESSORS AND WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT ON AGING IDENTITY

摘要

Understanding the psychological well-being of older individuals who work outside the home and have concurrent family roles is integral to the promotion a healthy, aging workforce. Maintaining these multiple roles may help shape aging identity, a perception of self over time and psychological resource in later life, with gender as a potential critical factor. Female and male workers 50+, with at least 1 of 4 family roles (spouse, parent of adult children, caregiver to a mother, and/or grandparent) were selected from the 2010 and 2012 Health and Retirement Study (n= 5,627). Dependent variables were positive and negative self-perceptions of aging. Independent variables were a) work/family rewards and stressors (job indices of satisfaction and stressors; perceived support from and negative interactions with spouse or adult children; caregivers’ perceived past relationship with their mother and assistance level; and grandparent’s leisure time with grandchild(ren) and grandchild care), and b) work-to-family and family-to-work enhancement/conflict. The impacts of each role reward/stressor on positive egative self-perceptions on aging were assessed as direct effects and indirect effects through each type of work-family enhancement/conflict, by gender, in path analysis and multiple groups analysis (p < 0.05). Family and work roles, particularly their stressors, were directly related to aging self-perceptions (positive and negative). The indirect effects of work-family conflict were gendered: Work-to-family conflict pertained to women’s aging self-perceptions whereas family-to-work conflict pertained to men’s. Interventions to reduce role stressors and both work-to-family and family-to-work conflict may help retain older workers with family roles and promote their psychological well-being.