The Constant Caregiver: Work–family Spillover among Men and Women in Nursing

Marci D Cottingham, Jamie J Chapman and Rebecca J Erickson
Additional contact information
Marci D Cottingham: University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Jamie J Chapman: Westminster College, USA
Rebecca J Erickson: University of Akron, USA

Work, Employment & Society, 2020, vol. 34, issue 2, 281-298

Abstract: Work–family spillover is a central concept in the work and occupations literature, with prior research detailing its negative outcomes and gendered dimensions. With increased demands for careworkers and more men entering occupations such as nursing, we examine experiences and perceptions of spillover using qualitative data from a diverse sample of 48 US nurses. We find similarities across men and women in terms of exhaustion and stress as well as in anticipating spillover in their careers. Yet, we also find some differences, with men (but not women) highlighting the transfer of emotional capital between work and family. We extend work–family research by broadening the concept of spillover to include its anticipation and the transfer of emotional capital – both aspects that have been previously under-examined. These findings have implications for the retention and support of careworkers and refine the concept of spillover in ways that could apply to various employment sectors.

Keywords: anticipatory spillover; double-duty caregiving; emotional capital; gender; nursing; work–family spillover (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0950017019885084 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:34:y:2020:i:2:p:281-298

DOI: 10.1177/0950017019885084

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Work, Employment & Society from British Sociological Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().