Assessing the relationship between work-family conflict and smoking.
OBJECTIVE
We examined the relationship between smoking and work-family conflict among a sample of New England long-term-care facility workers.


METHODS
To collect data, we conducted in-person, structured interviews with workers in 4 extended-care facilities.


RESULTS
There was a strong association between smoking likelihood and work-family conflict. Workers who experienced both stress at home from work issues (i.e., work-to-home conflict) and stress at work from personal issues (i.e., home-to-work conflict) had 3.1 times higher odds of smoking than those who did not experience these types of conflict. Workers who experienced home-to-work conflict had an odds of 2.3 compared with those who did not experience this type of conflict, and workers who experienced work-to-home conflict had an odds of 1.6 compared with workers who did not experience this type of conflict.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study indicate that there is a robust relationship between work-family conflict and smoking, but that this relationship is dependent upon the total amount of conflict experienced and the direction of the conflict.
Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Candace C
CC
Nelson
Yi
Y
Li
Glorian
G
Sorensen
Lisa F
LF
Berkman
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009511:New England / Q000453:epidemiology; D009735:Nursing Homes; D015995:Prevalence; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014937:Work / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult