title: Leisure-time physical activity moderates the longitudinal associations between work-family spillover and physical health.
abstract: Previous research has documented cross-sectional associations between negative and positive work-family spillover and physical health. Using an effort-recovery model, the study tested the hypothesis that engagement in greater leisure-time physical activity would facilitate recovery processes that buffer the negative health effects of increasing work-family spillover. Employed adults (N= 1,354) completed two waves of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS). Results indicated that an increase in negative work-family spillover across nine years was associated with decreased physical health and increased number of chronic conditions at Time 2. Moreover, more time spent on moderate leisure-time physical activity buffered many of the associations between increasing negative spillover and declining health. Implications of the findings are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University.
authors.forename: Bora
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University.
authors.forename: Katie M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Lawson
authors.affiliation: Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management, The Pennsylvania State University.
authors.forename: Po-Ju
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Educational Quality Improvement (IQB), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Neuendorf
authors.affiliation: Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center.
authors.forename: Natalia O
authors.initials: NO
authors.lastname: Dmitrieva
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Almeida
keywords: MIDUS; leisure-time physical activity (LTPA); physical health; work-family spillover