From burden to thriving: Challenge appraisals as a buffer between family eldercare burden and employee thriving at...

Providing care for older family members (e.g., parents or relatives) and fulfilling one's work responsibilities, known as family eldercare, is becoming increasingly common due to the growing population of older adults in many societies. A burgeoning literature has begun investigating the negative spillover effects of eldercare burden on employees' experiences and performance at work. In particular, scholars have called for more attention to identifying effective strategies for coping with eldercare burden and mitigating its negative impact. The present research examined whether challenge appraisals of eldercare could mitigate the effect of eldercare burden on employees' positive affect, which, in turn, was related to their sense of thriving at work. In two studies-an experiment and a 2-week experience sampling study-we found that challenge appraisals weakened the relationship between eldercare burden and employees' positive affect. Employees' challenge appraisals also weakened the indirect relationship between eldercare burden and thriving at work through positive affect. This research demonstrates that employees' eldercare burden negatively spills over into the work domain. However, challenge appraisals of eldercare can buffer this spillover process. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).