The differential impact of increasing and decreasing maternal work-family conflict on children's executive function...

Although recent studies have examined the impacts of maternal work-family conflict (WFC) on child development, the cognitive domain remains underexplored. This study investigates the longitudinal relationship between maternal WFC and children's executive function (EF) difficulties in South Korea, with an emphasis on the asymmetric effects and potential heterogeneity by the child's sex. Utilizing four waves from the Panel Study on Korean Children, this study focused on employed mothers and their school-age children (N = 1,054). Asymmetric fixed effects (FE) models were used to estimate the differential impacts of increasing versus decreasing maternal WFC while controlling for unobserved individual-level confounders. Moreover, sex-stratified analyses were performed to examine the differential patterns based on the child's sex. Asymmetric FE models revealed that the estimated effects of increasing maternal WFC on EF difficulties (β = 0.050, p < 0.001) are statistically significant and larger in magnitude than those of decreasing WFC. These differential impacts were more pronounced among boys than girls. Stratified by child's sex, the effects of increasing maternal WFC on EF difficulties were statistically significant in boys (β = 0.090, p < 0.001) but not in girls. The findings of this study suggest that the detrimental influences of increasing WFC on children's EF difficulties may not be counterbalanced by the benefits of decreasing WFC. These insights should guide policymakers to consider strategies aimed at reducing work demands and providing targeted support to families, thereby alleviating the negative consequences of maternal WFC on children's cognitive development.