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Work-family conflict (WFC) is a stressor that can cause negative consequences, including deleterious effects on an individual's health and well-being. This study examined this relationship through the lens of the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Model. This study expanded on two recent applicable studies to examine role quality as a moderator of the WFC-well-being relationship. Well-being was operationalized by three constructs: overall health, depression, and life satisfaction. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses that a negative relationship existed between WFC and the three well-being outcomes over time, and that this negative relationship between WFC and well-being could be reduced when role quality is high, compared to when role quality is low. These hypotheses were tested using a sample of 234 working, married individuals caring for both children and parents. The use of this sample allowed examination of four types of role quality as potential moderators: job, spousal, child-care and parent-care. Results showed that WFC had a significant and positive relationship with depression over time. Two of the proposed moderators, spousal role quality and child-care role quality, significantly buffered the effects of work-to-family conflict on life satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

A career with Extension can be very rewarding, but also very demanding, as employees have to balance job stress and time demands with family goals and demands. The very nature of Extension work brings some tension between the job and family, and employees need to be equipped to make decisions about personal and work time. If the Extension System is to be a leader of positive change for individuals, families and communities, its employees must be able to find that balance. Previous research with 4-H agents has identified 23 job responsibilities that were stressors, with some studies showing a direct relationship between Extension work and family problems. To build on these studies and establish the current situation among Extension agents with 4-H responsibilities in the Southern Region, this correlational study examined the relationships and differences between job characteristics and marital satisfaction, how agent characteristics directed those relationships, and what coping mechanisms agents used to ameliorate negative workamily interactions. The study instrument utilized the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test (LWMAT) to arrive at a global score that represented the distress level of the relationship for each agent. Demographic information and work-related information was also gathered from the agent responses to the instrument, and then used to develop relationships among variables. The findings of the study were that agents experience the stressors in similar ways and amounts, but their perceptions of those stressors and how they affect marital satisfaction differ. The group experiencing the stressors to the most detrimental level was the members of the “Sandwich Generation,” which include employees aged 35-54, and who find their careers sandwiched between raising children and caring for aging parents. They, along with other agents, need to employ numerous strategies to cope with the stresses they experience, including prioritizing, planning, and building a strong social support system as the top strategies.

The thesis deals with the modern phenomenon of the sandwich generation focusing on managers. First part focuses on knowledge related to demographic pressures. It also defines the role of children and senior carers in the context of social policy in the Czech Republic. Based on the initial findings of role conflict of carers and staff my research was realized and it deals with the identification of impacts of experienced situation on the individual, who simultaneously finds himself in the role of a manager and children or senior carer, in his personal and professional life. The participants of the qualitative research underwent semi- structured interviews in which thematic areas related to the causes and circumstances of their role as caregivers and chief executive were included. Data analysis showed the impacts of factors influencing harmonization on personal and professional lifes of executives in the sandwich generation. Key words: sandwich generation, carer, harmonization, senior, child, manager, personal life, work

Series: Forschungsberichte des Forschungsinstituts für Altersökonomie