Deniz Yucel’s research while affiliated with William Paterson University and other places

We study the association between caregiving demands and psychological distress using data on 538 employed parents in the United States from the 2016 wave of the National Study of the Changing Workforce. Despite prior evidence on the relationship between caregiving demands and psychological distress, less is known about what type of caregiving demands matter, and under what conditions these demands matter. With that in mind, this study extends prior research by considering elder care, along with different types of child care (such as typical and exceptional child care), into the discussion of caregiving demands and its relationship with psychological distress. Moreover, we test whether this association is moderated by employed parents’ level of work-role salience. Results show that working parents with exceptional child care demands and those with both elder care and child care demands (i.e., sandwich generation care demands) report higher levels of psychological distress than do those with only typical child care demands. In addition, work-role salience moderates the association between having sandwich generation care demands and psychological distress. Further, the moderating effect of work-role salience is significantly stronger for working mothers than for working fathers.

Amid the rising prevalence of working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, scholarly interest in the effects of working from home on the fit between work and family life has regained momentum. However, little is known about whether these effects depend on workers’ role salience levels. This study examines the association between the frequency of working from home and two types of work–family conflict: (a) work-to-family conflict (WTFC) and (b) family-to-work conflict (FTWC). We also examine whether these associations are moderated by the salience workers assign to their work and family roles, as well as by workers’ gender and parenting status. To explore these issues, we apply linear regression analyses to data from 4067 employees in Wave 12 (2019–2020) of the German Family Panel Survey. Results show that working from home more frequently is generally associated with both higher WTFC and FTWC for women but not for men. However, among fathers, we found a significant association between working from home and higher WTFC. A moderated association by role salience, where higher work-role salience reduced the positive effect of working from home on FTWC, also only emerged among women. These results suggest that the link between working from home and the fit between one’s work and family is heterogenous: it varies not only by gender and parenthood status, but also partly by the importance workers assign to their various life roles.

Prior research has explored the consequences of the sudden transition to remote work during the pandemic. Less is known, however, about how the mental distress of individuals who changed work locations during the pandemic differed from that of those who consistently worked from home or consistently worked on-site, nor to what extent these differences varied across worker characteristics, such as gender and caregiving obligations. This study addresses these gaps using data from the Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel survey and a Stress Process Model framework. Results show that those who transitioned into working from home during the pandemic reported greater mental distress than those who consistently worked from home or on-site. This association was larger among women with school-aged children. These findings suggest that structural changes in work location during the pandemic were more strongly related to mental distress. Moreover, the finding that this distress was unevenly distributed by gender and caregiving obligations has important implications.

Drawing on data from the 2008 U.S. National Study of the Changing Workforce, this study (1) examines the associations between access to three types of flexible working arrangements—flextime, flexplace, and culture of flexibility—and psychological distress, (2) tests the mediating roles of work–family conflict and work–family enrichment, and (3) investigates whether these relationships differ by workers’ childcare or elder-care obligations as they intersect with gender. Results show that a flexible workplace culture, but not access to flextime or flexplace, is associated with lower psychological distress. Work–family conflict and work–family enrichment partially mediate the relationship between culture of flexibility and psychological distress. In addition, the negative effect of culture of flexibility on psychological distress is stronger among workers sandwiched between preschool childcare and elder-care compared with those with neither caregiving obligations, a pattern especially pronounced among women. We discuss these results and their implications for organizational practices and worker well-being.

This study examines the underexplored relationship between union type and mental health for married, cohabiting, and living apart together (“LAT”) individuals. Further, we assess whether gender and age moderate (separately and jointly) this relationship. Using data from Wave 1 of the Generations and Gender Survey ( N = 34,833), results suggest that cohabitors and LATs have worse mental health than married individuals. The negative effects of cohabiting or living apart on mental health are stronger for women than men. Young and middle-aged female LATs (to an equal magnitude) have worse mental health than married women of the same ages, while there are no such differences among older women. Middle-aged and older male LATs have worse mental health than married men of the same ages (with the larger effect found for middle-aged men), but there are no such differences among younger men. Thus, we highlight previously undocumented gender and life course dynamics of union type and mental health.

Objective: This study tests the effects of work-family conflict, in both directions, on partners' agreement on fertility preferences among dual-earner couples, as well as whether this relationship varies by women's employment status. Background: Few studies have examined the relationship between work-family conflict and fertility preferences. Given the high percentages of women working part-time in Germany, it is important to investigate the role working women’s employment status plays to further understand this relationship. Method: Using data from 716 dual-earner couples in Wave 10 of the German Family Panel (pairfam), we use dyadic data analysis to test whether work-family conflict impacts one’s own ("actor effects") and/or one’s partner’s ("partner effects") reports of agreement on fertility preferences. We also run multi-group analyses to compare whether these effects vary in "full-time dual-earner" versus "modernized male breadwinner" couples. Results: There are significant actor effects for family-to-work conflict in both types of couples, and for work-to-family conflict in modernized male breadwinner couples only. Partner effects for family-to-work conflict exist only among modernized male breadwinner couples. While there are no gender differences in actor or partner effects, results suggest differences in the partner effect (for family-to-work conflict only) between these two couple types. Conclusion: These findings indicate that work-family conflict is associated with greater partner disagreement on fertility preferences and highlight the differential impact incompatible work and family responsibilities have on fertility decisions when women work full-time versus part-time.

This study contributes to the existing literature by testing the longitudinal effects of both types of work–family conflict (i.e., work-to-family conflict [WTFC] and family-to-work conflict [FTWC]) on depressive symptoms, using data from three waves of the German Family Panel (pairfam) survey collected over a four-year period. Using responses from 631 married or cohabiting heterosexual couples, the analyses are estimated using dyadic data analysis and auto-regressive and cross-lagged panel models. This analytical approach tests direct causation, reverse causation, and reciprocal relationships among WTFC, FTWC and depressive symptoms. The results suggest a reciprocal relationship with significant cross-lagged actor effects between WTFC (and FTWC) and depressive symptoms. However, there were no gender differences in the cross-lagged actor effects between men and women, and no significant partner effects. These results highlight the bidirectional nature of the relationship between work–family conflict and depressive symptoms, which has several implications for research and practice.

Previous studies have shown that societal norms around gender roles can shape gender-based outcomes of working from home. This paper extends these findings to see how individuals’ gender role attitudes can moderate the relationship between working from home and work–family conflict, but again with varying outcomes for men and women. We use data from around 3150 employees who participated in wave 10 (2017–2018) of the German Family Panel Survey (pairfam). Results suggest that compared to employees with fixed work locations, those who work from home report higher levels of family-to-work conflict, but not higher work-to-family conflict. Positive associations between working from home and both types of work – family conflict are found only for women, not for men. Specifically, the positive association between working from home and family-to-work conflict is mainly present among women with traditional gender role attitudes, while the positive association between working from home and work-to-family conflict is mainly present among women with egalitarian gender role attitudes. No such variation, however, was found for men. This study highlights the importance of taking gender and gender role attitudes into account when examining the consequences of working from home.

In post-conflict and segregated societies, overcoming high prejudice between groups is essential for peaceful coexistence. In this paper, we explore the roles of direct contact (face-to-face contact and cross-group friendship) and indirect contact (extended cross-group friendship) in reducing prejudice between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots living in Cyprus. Moreover, this study further explores whether the effects of direct and indirect contact vary between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, as well as across a ten-year period. To explore these issues, we analyze data from different representative samples of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots at two different time points (years 2007 and 2017). The results suggest that all three forms of contact have significant effects on prejudice. However, they also exhibit some variations by community (but not year of data collection) in the effects of direct (but not indirect) contact on prejudice.

Using 509 mother/father–child dyads drawn from Wave 8 of The German Family Panel (pairfam), this study examines the direct effects of mothers’ and fathers’ work–family conflict (WFC) on children’s internalizing (emotional) and externalizing (conduct) problem behaviors. We also test whether these effects are moderated by several child characteristics and family characteristics. Results suggest that both mothers’ and fathers’ WFC are associated with greater emotional problems, whereas only mothers’ WFC is associated with greater conduct problems. The detrimental effect of fathers’ (mothers’) WFC on emotional problems is stronger for older children and girls (households with a preschool-aged child and boys). While there is no direct effect of fathers’ WFC on conduct problems, results show that the detrimental effect of mothers’ WFC on conduct problems is stronger for boys, as well as in households with more children and those with a preschool-aged child.