The relationship between school-work-family-conflict, subjective stress, and burnout

Purpose – School has been neglected as a source of stress and strain resulting from its inevitable conflict with work and family role demands among married, working students. The meager research available has examined only work-school (not school-work) conflict among adolescents and college students and only three studies (two unpublished) have developed measures of conflict involving work, family, and school without studying its antecedents and consequences. The purpose of this paper is to examine all six school-work-family interrole conflicts and their effects on subjective stress and burnout. It was hypothesized that the greater the conflict between family, work, and school roles, the greater the subjective stress and burnout and that women experience more work-family-school conflicts than do men. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 100 working married adult students completed self-report demographic questionnaire, school-work-family conflict, subjective stress, and burnout scales. Findings – Regression results revealed that school-work (but not work-school) conflict was the only one of the six interrole conflicts examined that contributed to subjective stress and burnout. Women reported greater work-family conflict and family-work conflict. There were no differences between men and women involving school; where gender plays no role, it causes no conflict. Research limitations/implications – Scholars interested in interrole conflict involving family and work should expand the scope of their theories and research to include the school role. Originality/value – The present study was the first to examine all six school-work-family interrole conflicts and their effects on subjective stress and burnout.