You Can’t Have it all, Can You? : Self-Regulation as a Linking Mechanism between Job Stressors and Experiences in Romantic Relationships

Abstract

This dissertation examines the role of self-regulatory processes in the interplay of job stressors and experiences in romantic relationships. Thereby, I do not only investigate job stressors’ effects on relationship experiences but also reciprocal associations. Concerning stressors in the work domain, I examine working time as well as challenge and hindrance stressors. In the private domain, I shed light on central relationship experiences such as relationship satisfaction, intimacy, and reactions to negative behavior of one’s romantic partner. The consequences of positive and negative relationship experiences are not necessarily restricted to the private domain. Thus, work-to-home as well as home-to-work effects are relevant for psychologists with an interest in organizational behavior. I endorse the self-regulatory perspective on the work-life interface to investigate the link between both domains because it further completes the conflict perspective that dominated research in the field until now.In the first study, I examined the long-term association between working time and relationship outcomes. In particular, I proposed a positive indirect effect of working time on relationship satisfaction and self-disclosure via selective optimization with compensation (SOC) in private life. Furthermore, I hypothesized that both relationship satisfaction and self-disclosure cross over within a romantic couple. To test the hypotheses, I surveyed 286 dual-career couples in a two-wave study with a time lag of six months and performed a multi-level analysis using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model. The results showed a positive indirect effect of working time on relationship satisfaction and self-disclosure via SOC in private life. Furthermore, I found that relationship satisfaction crossed over within couples, while there was no transmission for self-disclosure.The second study took a closer look at a cross-domain self-regulatory strategy with a shorter time frame, namely the daily time allocation between work and private life of dual-earner couples. I tested whether employees reduce versus increase their daily working time after having experienced low relationship quality and a high degree of relationship hassles in the morning. On the one side, employees might spend more time with their partner by reducing their working time. On the other side, employees could flee to work and increase their working time to avoid spending time with their partner. Finally, I also examined whether time spent with the partner (i.e., relationship time) is associated with intimacy and social support. Seventy-six dual-earner couples took part in a diary study. I analyzed the data with multi-level analyses, again applying the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model. Results showed that employees with a comparably low relationship quality and a high degree of relationship hassles in the morning tended to work fewer hours. Working time in turn was negatively related to relationship time. Finally, I showed that relationship time was positively associated with intimacy and social support.The third study applied the ego-depletion paradigm on the association between day-specific job stressors and accommodation (i.e., constructive and non-destructive reactions to negative behavior of one’s romantic partner) in the evening. Thus, similarly as in the second study, I applied a rather short time frame. I proposed that depleted cross-domain self-regulatory resources mediate the effect of hindrance stressors, challenge stressors, and working long hours on less constructive and more destructive reactions to negative partner behavior. Using ordinary least square regressions, I analyzed the data of 231 respondents who took part in the study two times on one working day. The results showed that hindrance stressors were negatively related to self-regulatory resources. In turn, self-regulatory resources were negatively associated with destructive reactions. There was mixed support for the hypothesis of self-regulatory resources mediating the indirect effect of hindrance stressors on destructive reactions. Challenge stressors and working time were not associated with self-regulatory resources. Moreover, there was no relationship of self-regulatory resources and constructive reactions.In sum, the results of this dissertation shed light on the interface of work and private life from different angles. In the past, the interface of both domains has been mainly investigated from a conflict point of view. In contrast to this literature, Study 1 and Study 2 show that employees choose adaptive self-regulatory strategies to deal with job stressors and negative experiences, which is even associated with gains in romantic relationship. The concept of work-family conflict cannot explain these findings. Furthermore, the three studies demonstrate how job stressors and negative experience in the romantic relationship relate to self-regulatory processes that span the boundaries of work and private life and how job stressors and negative experience in the romantic relationship relate to changes in the other life domain. Therefore, it is worthwhile to investigate self-regulatory processes and strategies because of two reasons: First, they are bridging the interface of work and private life. Second, they are relevant for role satisfaction and performance in both domains and are, thus, crucial for those concerned with the work-nonwork interface either from a theoretical or practical point of view.