Workplace Flexibility, Work-Family Guilt, and Working Mothers’ Parenting Behavior

Despite the important implications for families, limited research has examined how workplace environments may influence parenting behavior. Situated within the Work-Home Resources Model, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether workplace flexibility, a contextual resource, predicts positive parenting behavior, a home outcome, and whether work-family guilt mediates this relationship. This study also investigated whether the relationships between workplace flexibility and parenting behaviors and between workplace flexibility and work-family guilt varied as a function of child age. A sample of working mothers with children between the ages of 1 and 18 living in the home (N = 302) completed an online survey. Linear regression analyses indicated perceived workplace flexibility predicted overall positive parenting, positive reinforcement, and warmth behaviors in working mothers, but not positive reinforcement or supportiveness. Ordinary least squares path analyses indicated work-family guilt did not mediate these relationships, but was significantly associated with workplace flexibility, indicating workplace flexibility had a significant negative effect on work-family guilt. OLS path analyses also indicated child age did not moderate the relationships between workplace flexibility and parenting behaviors nor between workplace flexibility and work-family guilt. The results of this study provide preliminary evidence that mothers’ workplace flexibility may influence positive parenting behaviors; thus, workplace policies that promote flexible work arrangements could promote positive family outcomes and reduce feelings of guilt related to work and family life.