Problem-Focused Coping: Mediating the Link Between Personality and Work-Family Conflict

Past work-family research has focused on the general antecedents and outcomes associated with work-family conflict. Recent research has demonstrated that certain individual differences predispose some to experience more work-family conflict. In addition, there is a growing recognition that research needs to move beyond explaining only the causes and effects of work-family conflict and should consider strategies for coping with conflict. The proposed research addressed these gaps in the work-family literature by examining the relationships between the Big Five factors of personality, proactive personality, problem-focused coping, and work-family conflict. This study analyzed a sample of 178 employees from a mid-sized financial service organization. A structural equation model examined the mediational effects of problem-focused coping on the relationships between personality factors and work-family conflict. Results indicated that problem-focused coping does not partially mediate the relationship between personality and work-family conflict. Further research is needed to develop a more reliable measure of problem-focused coping as well as to replicate these findings.