Work-Family Conflict: A Study with Parents and Adult Children

Introduction: The conflict between work and family has been studied in different contexts. The studies for the Portuguese context identify its existence and demonstrate that it is more frequently felt by women. Objective: The aim of the study is to contribute to the understanding of this reality, together with Portuguese families with an adult child. It seeks to perceive to what extent factors associated with generation -comparing parents and children- and gender can change the perception of a conflict of roles. Method: The study was conducted with 48 family triads: father, mother, and adult child. Results: These indicate that the differences between generations are not evident since mothers and children have higher perceptions of work-family conflict, and they differ only in relation to fathers. Similarly, in terms of work- family conflict, the three groups (mothers and children) also have higher values in this dimension of the conflict and only differ from fathers. Conclusions: While the results do not support the hypotheses concerning possible generation and gender differences, they prove the importance of these dimensions in the analysis of work- family conflict and contribute to the understanding of work- family conflict in the Portuguese context.