Exploring Pathways to Fathers' Well‐Being: The Mediating Role of Work‐Life Balance in Perceived Stress, Marital Satisfaction, and Parenting Self‐Efficacy

This study explored the role of perceived parental self-efficacy, perceived coping, perceived distress, and marital satisfaction in fathers' well-being. Furthermore, we explored whether work-life balance mediates the relationship between these variables. A total of 770 married fathers (86% with two or more children) from Türkiye, aged between 19 and 60 years, participated in this study. This study utilized partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to explore fathers' well-being. The first step was to examine the relationships between the exogenous variables and work-life balance. All of these associations were significant, but marital satisfaction was the most significant predictor of work-life balance. The associations between these exogenous variables, well-being, and work-life balance were further investigated. While all variables were predictive of fathers' well-being, the most crucial variable for well-being was work-life balance. The study confirmed the mediating role of work-life balance, showing that it mediates the relationship between fathers' perceived parental self-efficacy, stress, marital satisfaction, and well-being. Multiple group analysis found that the child's education level did not significantly affect the path coefficients between the variables.