{"title":"Making low-wage work and family fit: Perceptions and strategies among working families.","authors":"Angela Bruns, Hilary Wething, Heather D Hill","doi":"10.1080/13668803.2025.2505719","DOIUrl":"10.1080/13668803.2025.2505719","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Workplaces have changed dramatically over the past 50 years. Jobs have become more precarious, particularly for workers at the bottom of the income and occupational distributions, and this shift has created new challenges for balancing work and family roles. Previous research suggests that precarious work can make it difficult for families to manage childcare and schedule family time, but questions remain about the subjective experiences and perspectives of workers in low-wage jobs juggling work and family responsibilities. Using a work-family fit and balance perspective, which emphasizes individuals' subjective appraisals of the work-family interface, and data from three waves of in-depth interviews with 50 workers earning low-wages, we document the demands and resources (at work and at home) that are most salient as they make subjective appraisals of work-family fit and the strategies they use to reduce perceived misfit. Our results highlight workers' agency amidst a series of constrained choices. Workers in our sample were exceptionally skilled at making precarity work for their families but not without considerable labor and additional sacrifices.</p>","PeriodicalId":47218,"journal":{"name":"Community Work & Family","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-06-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12662430/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145649553","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jennifer Jiwon Lee, Kristin Kelley, Cassie Mead, Youngjoo Cha
{"title":"‘It’s just my personality.' How employees make sense of their long work hours in a supportive workplace","authors":"Jennifer Jiwon Lee, Kristin Kelley, Cassie Mead, Youngjoo Cha","doi":"10.1080/13668803.2024.2396600","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2024.2396600","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines how employees make sense of their long work hours. We use a case study of an administrative unit at a public university in the United States, where expectations of working long ...","PeriodicalId":47218,"journal":{"name":"Community Work & Family","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142269692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Does the marital pay gap matter? Women’s family-work experiences by earning pattern and ethnic community","authors":"Liat Kulik","doi":"10.1080/13668803.2024.2398584","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2024.2398584","url":null,"abstract":"This study explored variations in women’s experiences within the family-work system by different earning patterns: where men outearn women, both spouses earn equally, or women outearn men. This exa...","PeriodicalId":47218,"journal":{"name":"Community Work & Family","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142208511","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Rational or emotional decisions? Parents’ nonstandard work hours and the justifications for using informal childcare","authors":"Kaisu Peltoperä, Sanna Moilanen","doi":"10.1080/13668803.2024.2398589","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2024.2398589","url":null,"abstract":"This study examined whether the number of weekly childcare arrangements for under-school-aged children is associated with parental nonstandard hours (e.g. evenings, nights, or irregular schedules) ...","PeriodicalId":47218,"journal":{"name":"Community Work & Family","volume":"71 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142208515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘I walk around with a list in my head’: qualitative research on perceived causes and consequences of the unequal gender division of mental labor in Croatian households","authors":"Ksenija Klasnić, Đurđica Degač","doi":"10.1080/13668803.2024.2390928","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2024.2390928","url":null,"abstract":"The mental labor is the combination of cognitive and emotional labor, which is performed predominantly by women. It consists of anticipating needs, identifying options, making decisions, and monito...","PeriodicalId":47218,"journal":{"name":"Community Work & Family","volume":"51 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142208512","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Home and away: personal autonomy limitation in the liminal work context of fly-in-fly-out camps and psychological distress","authors":"Laura S. Fruhen, Sharon K. Parker","doi":"10.1080/13668803.2024.2379833","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2024.2379833","url":null,"abstract":"Fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) camps are liminal work environments in which work and personal life are blended. In such context, an important characteristic is the limitation to one’s freedom to carry out a...","PeriodicalId":47218,"journal":{"name":"Community Work & Family","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141946076","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gendering digital labor: work and family digital communication across 29 countries","authors":"Yang Hu, Yue Qian","doi":"10.1080/13668803.2024.2373852","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2024.2373852","url":null,"abstract":"With rapid digitalization, people increasingly use information and communication technologies (ICTs). Analyzing European Social Survey data across 29 countries, we address an under-researched quest...","PeriodicalId":47218,"journal":{"name":"Community Work & Family","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141779658","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sophie Meunier, Francine de Montigny, Dominique Lalande, Jici Lord-Gauthier, Martin Lauzier
{"title":"Exploring the experience of presenteeism among fathers returning to work following a perinatal death","authors":"Sophie Meunier, Francine de Montigny, Dominique Lalande, Jici Lord-Gauthier, Martin Lauzier","doi":"10.1080/13668803.2024.2345889","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2024.2345889","url":null,"abstract":"Perinatal death is a frequent event that affects one in five pregnancies in western countries. It disrupts parents’ different life spheres, including their work. Fathers, more specifically, usually...","PeriodicalId":47218,"journal":{"name":"Community Work & Family","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141152282","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Asma Zulfiqar, Ella Kuskoff, Jenny Povey, Janeen Baxter
{"title":"Homemaker or breadwinner: labour force participation of Pakistani women","authors":"Asma Zulfiqar, Ella Kuskoff, Jenny Povey, Janeen Baxter","doi":"10.1080/13668803.2024.2336031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2024.2336031","url":null,"abstract":"In recent years, Pakistan has seen an increase in policy efforts to encourage women's participation in the workforce. However, existing research suggests that these policies have not resulted in a ...","PeriodicalId":47218,"journal":{"name":"Community Work & Family","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140617616","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The leave gap: actual versus optimal maternity leave in a sample of US breastfeeding women","authors":"Katherine M. Johnson, Christina McCarthy","doi":"10.1080/13668803.2024.2339318","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2024.2339318","url":null,"abstract":"Access to quality parental leave is a prominent US work-family issue and crucial for supporting maternal and child health, including breastfeeding outcomes. This is even more salient given the rece...","PeriodicalId":47218,"journal":{"name":"Community Work & Family","volume":"214 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140596758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}