Revisiting the link between domain satisfaction and life satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic: Job-related moderators in triadic analysis in dual-earner parents with adolescent children

Intra- and Inter-Individual Associations of Family-to-Work Conflict, Psychological Distress, and Job Satisfaction: Gender Differences in Dual-Earner Parents during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the work-family interface dynamics in some families. For couples who kept earning a double income during the pandemic, their family demands may entail a loss of psychological resources that affect the work domain. This study explored the intra-individual and inter-individual (crossover) direct and indirect effects of family-to-work conflict (FtoWC) on psychological distress and job satisfaction in a non-probabilistic sample of 860 different-sex dual-earner parents with adolescent children from Temuco and Rancagua, Chile. Mothers and fathers answered an online questionnaire measuring FtoWC, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale, and the Overall Job Satisfaction Scale. The data were analyzed using the actor-partner interdependence model with structural equation modeling. Results showed that a higher FtoWC is linked to greater psychological distress and lower job satisfaction in both parents. In contrast, psychological distress is directly linked to lower job satisfaction in fathers. In both fathers and mothers, they and their partners' FtoWC were indirectly linked to lower job satisfaction via the fathers' psychological distress. These findings indicate the need for gender-sensitive social and labor policies aimed at reducing the conflict between family and work to increase job satisfaction in both parents and reduce psychological distress, particularly in fathers.

Life satisfaction in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic among middle school adolescents in France: findings from a repeated cross-sectional survey (EnCLASS, 2012-2021)

Background and aims

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, several studies have reported a decrease in adolescents' well-being. We aim to describe life satisfaction over the last decade and examine the factors associated with its variations between 2020 and 2021 among French students in their last year of middle school (around 14-15 years old).

Methods

Data were drawn from a repeated biennial cross-sectional national survey conducted in French schools over the last decade (EnCLASS study), using a self-administered questionnaire. After describing life satisfaction trends between 2012 and 2021 using the Cantril ladder, we examined individual changes in life satisfaction between 2020 and 2021 and their associations with housing and studying conditions during the COVID-19 lockdown, using multinomial logistic regression analysis (decrease, increase, no change as reference).

Results

Among the 17,686 survey respondents, an overall slight decrease in the prevalence of adolescents reporting high life satisfaction (i.e., Cantril score ≥6) was observed since 2012 with the lowest proportion reported in 2021 (77.4%). Between 2020 and 2021, 16.3% of French adolescents experienced an improvement in life satisfaction, while 17.7% experienced the opposite. Decrease in life satisfaction between 2020 and 2021 was more likely experienced by adolescents living in reconstructed families [aOR 2.09 (95%CI, 1.58-2.77)], those who did not have their own room [aOR 1.58 (1.16-2.15)], nor access to the Internet to interact with their friends during the lockdown [aOR 1.47 (1.09-1.98)]. Interestingly, more girls than boys were represented in both those reporting increase and decrease in life satisfaction [aOR 1.82 (1.40-2.37) and 1.43 (1.14-1.79), respectively].

Conclusions

This study shows that the way adolescents experienced the first 2020 lockdown in France was not uniform, and that one must consider sex as well as housing and studying conditions when interpreting adolescents' life satisfaction decrease during the COVID-19 pandemic.