Reducing Work-Life Conflict: What Works? What Doesn't?

6.2 Coping with Work-Life Conflict: What Can Canadian Employees Do?

This section is divided into three main parts. The first part examines the strategies individual employees use to cope with work-life conflict. The second part looks at the impact of gender, job type and dependent care status on the use of the various individual coping strategies. The third part of this chapter answers research question 3 by examining to what extent the different individual coping strategies examined in this study actually help employees balance competing work and family demands. Such information is critical to employees who are wondering how to cope with work-life conflict.

6.2.1 Benchmark Data on the Use of Personal Coping Strategies in Canada

Canadian employees use a myriad of strategies to cope with stress

Canadian employees use four kinds of personal strategies to cope with stress, anxiety and depression: social support (i.e. talk to colleagues and/or family, seek help from colleagues and family), active coping techniques aimed at the reduction or elimination of the sources of conflict (i.e. prioritize, schedule, organize and plan, delegate), avoidance (try to forget about it, find another activity to take one's mind off things), and reactive coping techniques, which focus on alleviating the symptoms of stress (i.e. have an alcoholic drink, take prescription drugs, work harder, reduce the quality of things one does).

The majority of Canadians use active coping strategies to cope with stress

Only one coping strategy, prioritize, was frequently used by a majority (69%) of the respondents. The second most common coping technique, used frequently by 47% of the sample, was to schedule, organize and plan their time more carefully. These data indicate that many employed Canadians use active coping strategies to cope with work-life conflict. Unfortunately, these findings are not as positive as they appear on the surface, for the following reasons. First, employees who try to cope by prioritizing and scheduling, organizing and planning, typically rank order their different role activities to focus on the most important ones. Unfortunately, most of those who implement these strategies give a higher priority to work than to family, a strategy that is not sustainable in the long term. Second, the third coping strategy within this grouping, delegation, is not widely used (i.e. only 27% of the sample frequently delegate work to others, which is half the number of employees who rarely use this strategy). While it is hard to determine why the use of delegation is low, it may be that they have no one to delegate to in the time-crunched workplace.

The majority of employed Canadians do not rely on social support networks for help

Our results indicate that the majority of employed Canadians try to deal with stress on their own -- they do not rely on social support networks for help. The following can be used to illustrate this observation. First, two thirds of the respondents indicated that they rarely turned to colleagues at work for help as a way to cope with stress, anxiety and depression. While a third of the sample said that they talked to colleagues at work as a way to alleviate their stress, only half this number (16%) asked their colleagues for help. Similarly, while 45% of respondents indicated that they attempted to cope with stress by talking with family and friends (half did not), only one in four actually sought help from friends. Compare this with the fact that just over half of the sample said that they never coped with stress by seeking help from family and friends.

These findings are unfortunate, as the use of social support has been found to be an effective way of coping with stress and work-life conflict. Why are Canadian employees reluctant to seek support from others? Again, we can only surmise why the use of these coping techniques is not widespread. On the work front, these findings may reflect the fact that people are just too busy at work to build the relationships necessary for social support. Alternatively, the culture of hours that dominates many organizations may mean that employees do not ask for help because they fear that it will affect their image and their career advancement. On the family side of the equation, these results may be because all of the employee's friends and family are in the same situation as they are and have little time or energy to support others. Regardless of the root cause, these findings are unfortunate as many employees find the same types of things (i.e. heavy workloads, non-supportive managers, non-supportive work cultures) stressful. It is also unfortunate as this limits the sharing of effective coping strategies between employees and friends.

A substantive number of Canadian employees rely on escapist coping strategies

On a positive note, the majority of the respondents rarely use emotion-focused avoidance strategies to cope with stress, such as trying to forget about things and finding another activity to take one's mind off things. The numbers who frequently use these escapist strategies to cope with stress is, however, still substantial. For example, one in three frequently seeks out other activities to try to take their mind off the stressor while one in five frequently "just tries to forget about it." Such strategies are typically less effective at reducing stress as the stressor typically remains unchanged and hence problematic.

One in ten Canadian employees uses reactive coping strategies

Just over one in ten of the respondents cope with stress by using reactive coping strategies such as having an alcoholic drink (12%), using prescription, over-the-counter or illegal drugs (11%), and reducing the quality of the things they do (10%) several times a week or daily. An additional one in four respondents has a drink on a weekly basis while one in five reduces the quality of the things they do weekly and 4% use drugs as a way to cope with stress, anxiety and depression. These strategies are reactive ways of dealing with the emotions aroused by stress and problematic both socially (linked to greater physical illness and costs to the health care system as well as family dysfunction) and economically (related to reduced productivity and increased absenteeism). While the fact that most employed Canadians rarely use such strategies is good news, the number who regularly rely on reactive coping techniques is still cause for concern. Of particular concern is that approximately half of the respondents to this survey (43%) frequently used the fourth reactive strategy included in this study and tried to cope by "just trying to do it all/working harder." This finding is consistent with the fact that few Canadians ask for help and reinforces our contention that the active coping strategies discussed earlier are directed toward getting more things done rather than eliminating an activity or role.

Employed Canadians cope by limiting their family size

The study data imply that the decline in Canada's birth rate over the past several decades can be linked to higher levels of work-life conflict. This claim can be substantiated by the fact that one in four of the respondents indicated that they had had fewer children because of demands at work. A further 28% indicated that they had delayed starting a family/decided not to have a family because they could not balance the demands of their career with a family.⁵¹ In others words, just over half of the employed Canadians who participated in this research initiative had used family-planning strategies to cope with work-life conflict. These findings need to be put into the appropriate context. All of the respondents to this study were employed and the majority (70%) lived in families with incomes of $40,000 per year or more. In other words, most of the individuals who used these coping strategies were economically well positioned with respect to having children but had chosen to limit their family size in an attempt to cope with work-life conflict. These findings imply that governments that wish to increase birth rates need to deal with the issue of work-life conflict.

One in three employed Canadians copes by working different hours than their spouse

Almost one third of the survey respondents (31%) indicated that they off-shifted with their partner to better manage work and family responsibilities. In other words, they worked different hours than their partner to reduce their reliance on (or need for) formal child care.

6.2.2 How Do Gender, Job Type and Dependent Care Status Affect the Use of Personal Coping Strategies?

The use of three of the individual coping strategies examined in this analysis, seek help from colleagues at work, just try to forget about it and reduce the quality of things done, is not associated with gender, job type or dependent care status. In all three cases, relatively few employees use these strategies. The use of the other ten coping strategies, however, does vary depending on gender, job type and/or dependent care status. Key differences are summarized below.

Women are more likely to cope by seeking social support and using reactive coping strategies

It appears that how an employee chooses to cope with stress, anxiety and depression depends very much on the gender of the worker. Women, regardless of job type or dependent care status, were more likely than men to use the following coping strategies:

• seek social support
• work harder
• use prescription, over-the-counter or illegal drugs

Men are more likely to cope by delegating work to others and having an alcoholic drink

Men, on the other hand, were more likely than women to use the following coping strategies regardless of dependent care or job type:

• delegate work to others
• engage in other activities such as sports as a way to take their mind off things
• off-shift their work hours with their partner
• have an alcoholic drink

While both men and women use reactive strategies, men were more likely to cope by having a drink while women were more likely to cope by using medication. The gender difference in the use of prescription medicine as a means of coping with stress is largely because women in other positions in the organization are more likely than any other group to use this coping strategy (15% of the women in this group use prescription drugs several times a week or daily to cope with stress). The gender difference in the use of alcohol to cope with stress, on the other hand, can be attributed to the fact that male managers and professionals are more likely than any other group in the sample to use alcohol to cope with stress (20% of the men in this group have a drink several times a week or daily to cope with stress).

Women, especially those in managerial and professional positions, cope by limiting family size

Women, regardless of job type, were significantly more likely than men to say that they had fewer children because of the demands of work and that they had delayed having children/decided not to have a family because they could not balance family and career.

Women in managerial and professional positions were more likely than women in other positions in the organization to say that they have had fewer children because of the demands of work (29% versus 23%) and that they had delayed having children/decided not to have a family because of their career (37% of the female managers and professionals in the sample gave this response versus 24% of the females in other positions). No such job type difference was observed for the men in the sample. This finding is consistent with other research showing that birth rate is negatively associated with socio-economic status.

Managers and professionals are more likely to use active coping strategies

When gender is taken into consideration, managers and professionals were more likely than those in other jobs to:

• delegate work to others
• schedule, organize and plan their time

It is likely that employees in this group use these strategies because they can (i.e. more likely to be in positions of authority within the organization) and because they have learned these skills at work and are transferring them to other domains.

Men in managerial and professional positions in particular use active coping strategies such as delegating and prioritizing (45% delegate and 75% prioritize several times a week or daily) to cope.

Managers and professionals are more likely to cope by working different hours than their spouse

Male and female managers and professionals are also more likely than their counterparts in other jobs to cope with child care or elder care responsibilities by off-shifting their work hours with their partner. Male managers and professionals, in particular, make heavy use of this strategy (i.e. 45% of the male managers and professionals in our sample and 37% of the female managers and professionals used off-shifting versus 29% of male and 16% of females in other jobs).

Use of the different coping strategies is not associated with dependent care status

The use of the various coping strategies considered in this study was not associated with dependent care status. Compared with their counterparts without caring responsibilities, those with child and/or elder care commitments were not more or less likely to seek help from others, rely on their families and friends, reduce the quality of their work, have a drink or take prescription drugs. Nor were they more or less likely to prioritize, schedule and plan or just work harder. These findings are interesting as they do not support either the positive or negative preconceptions many hold of working parents or caregivers. That being said, there are a number of interesting differences in the use of coping strategies that can be observed by comparing men with dependent care responsibilities to their female counterparts. Female caregivers use different coping strategies than men. For example, females with dependent care responsibilities were significantly more likely than their female counterparts without dependent care to cope by seeking help from family or friends and working harder. No such difference was observed for the men in the sample.

Males with dependent care responsibilities, on the other hand, were significantly more likely than their counterparts without dependent care to cope with stress by delegating work to others, by having an alcoholic drink, and by working different hours than their partner. The likelihood of using any of these strategies was not associated with dependent care status for females.

6.2.3 Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Various Individual Coping Strategies

Data quantifying the effectiveness of the various individual coping strategies at reducing the four forms of work-life conflict are summarized below.

6.2.3.1 Coping with Role Overload

Most individual coping strategies examined in this study do little to help employees cope with role overload. There was no association in either the gender by job type or gender by dependent care analysis between role overload and the use of just over half of the coping strategies. These findings suggest the following conclusions. First, social support does not help individuals deal with role overload, nor does trying to find another activity to take one's mind off things, scheduling, planning, and organizing, having an alcoholic drink or off-shifting work with a partner. Finally, there is no relationship between role overload and attempts to cope by prioritizing, delegating, just trying to forget about things and using prescription medicine, when job type is taken into account in the analysis.

So what does appear to make a difference? Working harder, reducing the quality of things one does, having fewer children and delaying starting a family/deciding not to have a family are all significantly associated with levels of role overload for all employees. The fact that the association is positive indicates that employees use these strategies in response to higher role overload. Unfortunately, it would appear that these strategies do not help employees cope with overload -- they may in fact exacerbate the situation.

Trying to forget about things, prioritizing, delegating and taking prescription medicine makes a difference to those with dependent care. Details on these relationships are given below.

Employees with higher levels of role overload cope by working harder

About 43% of the sample copes with stress by just working harder. Unfortunately, the results from this study attest to the futility of such an approach as levels of role overload increase concomitant with the use of this strategy. The relationship between working harder and role overload is very strong and does not depend on the gender, job type or dependent care status of the individual. Furthermore, the difference in role overload between someone who rarely uses this strategy and someone who uses it frequently is worthy of note (D = +.7). The cross-sectional nature of the data makes it difficult to determine the direction of causality of these findings. The results may reflect the fact that people who are overloaded cope by working harder to get things done. Alternatively, they may mean that people who attempt to cope by working harder experience diminishing returns in productivity at higher hours of work (i.e. make more mistakes, work less effectively and efficiently) -- which increases rather than decreases their levels of overload -- resulting in the need to continue to work harder. In either case, working harder is associated with higher, rather than lower, levels of role overload -- suggesting that this strategy does not alleviate overload.

Employees with higher levels of role overload cope by reducing the quality of their work

Just over one in four (28%) of the respondents say that they cope with stress by reducing the quality of the things they do. The importance of the relationship between reducing the quality of work and role overload can be ascertained by looking at the amount of variation in role overload explained by the use of this strategy and the difference in overload at high and low use of this strategy (increase of +.7 when job type is taken into account). While the causality of this finding is difficult to ascertain (i.e. people who are overloaded may reduce quality in an attempt to cope and/or people who cope by reducing quality experience an increase in role overload as they have to re-do some tasks), the conclusion one arrives at in either case is the same: this strategy does not help employees deal with role overload. It also implies that organizations that overload their employees in an attempt to "do more with less" will not realize significant productivity gains.

Finally, we should point out that it is important that the relationship between the use of this strategy and role overload varies with dependent care status. Reducing the quality of things that employees do does help employees with dependent care cope to some extent with role overload. No such impact is, however, noticed for employees without dependent care responsibilities. These findings suggest, unfortunately, that individuals with child and/or elder care cope with role overload by lowering their standards at home. This interpretation is consistent with the fact that employed Canadians are more likely to let work interfere with family than vice versa (Duxbury & Higgins, 2003).

Employees with higher levels of overload cope by deciding not to have children

This study implies that some of the decline in Canada's birth rate may be attributed to the increases in role overload and workloads we have seen over the past several decades. Consider the following.

• There is a strong, positive association between role overload and the decision to have fewer children because of work demands.
• There is a strong, positive association between the decision to delay having children/decide not to have children because of career demands and role overload.

In other words, it would appear that overloaded individuals are less likely to add another set of demands to their already full plate. Children, as we all know, and as the data confirm, increase the number of role demands on their parents.

As noted previously, female managers and professionals are more likely than other employees to try to cope by having fewer children, delaying the start of their family, and deciding to forgo motherhood. This is not surprising given our data that suggest having fewer children helps those in managerial and professional positions in general, and female managers and professionals in particular, cope with role overload. These findings, which seem to validate the decisions of these women, are likely due to the fact that female managers and professionals with children have higher demands at work than their female counterparts in other positions and at home compared to their male counterparts.

One way, perhaps, to address declining fertility is to reduce role overload. This can be done by decreasing expectations at the work end and/or by providing supports within the community that reduce demands at the parenting end. It is important to note that employees who are overloaded by elder care demands are also more likely to elect not to have children. This indicates that it is not just support for parenting that is required to alleviate role overload and increase Canada's birth rate. Employees also need support in the community to help them with elder care demands.

Prioritizing helps women with dependent care responsibilities cope with role overload

The use of three other coping strategies, forgetting about it, prioritizing and using prescription medicine, is associated with role overload when dependent care is taken into account. The following conclusions can be drawn about the effectiveness of these different strategies at reducing role overload:

• There is a substantive positive relationship between the use of escapist coping strategies such as just trying to forget about one's problems and role overload. Employees with higher role overload are more likely to use this strategy than those with lower levels (Δ = +.4). It looks like this strategy is not particularly effective at alleviating overload.
• There is a moderate relationship between the use of prioritizing as a coping strategy and role overload. The effectiveness of this strategy at easing overload depends on both gender and dependent care status. This strategy appears to be very effective for women with child and/or elder care responsibilities. It also seems to help men with dependent care responsibilities cope with role overload, although the impact is not as great as noted for women. Those with dependent care responsibilities appear to be coping with role overload by delegating family rather than work tasks.
• There is a moderate relationship between the use of prescription medicine to cope with stress and role overload. In this case, the data show that prescription medicine is an effective strategy if used on a daily basis (Δ = -.4). Those who use medication moderately often, on the other hand, experience the highest levels of role overload.

6.2.3.2 Coping with Work-to-Family Interference

The findings with respect to the effectiveness of various individual coping strategies at easing work-to-family interference are virtually the same as noted for role overload. Again, we conclude that most individual coping strategies examined in this study do little to help employees cope with work-to-family interference. There was no association in either the gender by job type or gender by dependent care analysis between work-to-family interference and the use of 60% of the coping strategies. Neither social support (talked with family or friends, talked with colleagues at work, sought help from family or friends, sought help from colleagues at work) nor active coping (i.e. prioritize, delegate, schedule, plan and organize) strategies help individuals deal with work-to-family interference. Nor does trying to find another activity to take one's mind off things, having an alcoholic drink or off-shifting work with a partner seem to help. Furthermore, there is no relationship between work-to-family interference and attempts to cope by just trying to forget about things and using prescription medicine, when job type is taken into account.

So what does appear to make a difference? Working harder, reducing the quality of things one does, having fewer children and delaying starting a family/deciding not to have a family -- the same strategies that were significantly linked to role overload. Again, we note that the relationship between the use of each of these strategies and work-to-family interference is strong and positive, which reinforces our idea that these strategies (especially working harder and reducing the quality of things one does) do not help employees cope with work-life conflict, but instead may exacerbate the situation.

Employees with higher levels of work-to-family interference cope by limiting family size

The relationship between work-to-family interference and decision making around having children reinforces our contention that some of the decline in Canada's birth rate may be attributed to increases in work-life conflict. Consider the following:

• There is a strong, positive association between work-to-family interference and the decision to have fewer children because of work demands.
• There is a strong, positive association between the decision to delay having children/decide not to have children because of career demands and work-to-family interference.

Similar to the findings with respect to role overload, having fewer children seems to reduce work-to-family interference somewhat for male and female managers and professionals, probably by reducing their role obligations outside of work. The strategy is less effective for those in other positions.

These findings point to the fact that employees who are having problems reconciling work and family demands are more likely than those who are more able to balance competing expectations to decide that they cannot cope with the additional responsibilities outside of work that come with additional children. As such, they reinforce our contention that one way for Canadian policy makers to address declining fertility is by looking at how they can reduce work-to-family interference.

Employees with higher work-to-family interference cope by working harder

The relationship between working harder and work-to-family interference is very strong. Unlike the situation for role overload, however, the effectiveness of this strategy depends on the gender, job type and dependent care status of the individual. We can make the following conclusions:

• The use of this coping strategy is associated with increased work-to-family interference for men and women in managerial and professional positions and men with dependent care responsibilities. These findings suggest that these employees cope by devoting more effort to their work role, thereby increasing their feelings of interference on the family front.
• The use of this coping strategy does provide for some degree of relief from work-to-family interference for those in other positions within the organization -- especially men. It may be that by working harder these individuals are more able to focus their efforts on meeting demands outside of work -- thereby reducing the extent to which work interferes with family.

Employees with higher work-to-family interference cope by reducing the quality of their work

The relationship between the use of this coping strategy and work-to-family interference is similar in many ways to what was reported in conjunction with role overload. First, the relationship between reducing the quality of work and work-to-family interference is substantive. Second, the difference in interference at high and low use of this strategy, when job type is taken into account, is the same magnitude as determined in the role overload analysis (increase of +.7). Third, the relationship between the use of this strategy and work-to-family interference varies with dependent care status, with employees with dependent care responsibilities benefiting slightly more than their counterparts without such responsibilities. These findings are, therefore, consistent with our contention that individuals with child and/or elder care cope with work-to-family interference by lowering their standards at home. These results also support our view that organizations that make it difficult for employees to reconcile work and non-work demands by expecting employees to give priority to work at the expense of their life will not realize significant productivity gains.

Daily use of prescription drugs helps employees cope with work-to-family interference

Similar to what was observed for role overload, there is a moderate relationship between the use of prescription medicine to cope with stress and work-to-family interference. In this case, however, the relationship is only significant when job type, rather than dependent care status, is taken into account. Furthermore, the data verify the relationship between prescription drug use and work-life conflict observed with role overload: prescription medicine helps employees cope with conflict if used on a daily basis (Δ = -.2). Moderate use, however, is associated with higher levels of work-to-family interference.

6.2.3.3 Coping with Family-to-Work Interference

Individual coping strategies are not effective at helping employed Canadians deal with family-to-work interference for several reasons. First, none of the individual coping strategies examined in this study (including decision making around deciding to have children) is substantively associated with family-to-work interference in the gender by job type analysis. Second, 60% of the individual coping strategies were not associated with family-to-work interference when dependent care status was taken into account. This means that employees cannot reduce this form of work-life conflict through the use of social support, off-shifting work with their spouse or active coping (prioritize, and schedule, plan and organize). Nor can they reduce family-to-work interference by the use of alcohol, prescription drugs or finding another activity to take their mind off things. Third, with one exception (reduce quality of things one does) the relationship between family-to-work interference and individual coping is moderate at best. In other words, only about 5% of the variation in family-to-work interference can be explained by the coping strategy.

Six individual coping strategies are associated with family-to-work interference when gender and dependent care status are taken into account:

• reducing the quality of things one does
• have fewer children
• just working harder
• just trying to forget about things
• delaying starting a family/deciding not to have a family
• delegating work to others

In all cases, the relationship between the use of the strategy and family-to-work interference depends on both gender and dependent care status. The following observations on coping with family-to-work interference can be made by looking at these relationships.

Reducing the quality of work does not help men and women with dependent care cope with family-to-work interference

There is no relationship between the tendency to reduce the quality of things one does and family-to-work interference for those without dependent care. There is, on the other hand, a positive relationship between reducing the quality of things one does and family-to-work interference for the parents/elder-caregivers (Δ = +.4). These findings suggest that men and women with dependent care cope with stress at home by lowering their standards at work (i.e. let family interfere with work). The implication of this is that employers interested in quality of work need to implement strategies to reduce family-to-work interference and enhance work-life balance.

Working harder seems to help those without dependents cope with family-to-work interference

Working harder seems to help men and women without dependent care responsibilities cope with family-to-work interference. The same cannot be said for men and women with dependent care responsibilities, who report a strong positive relationship between use of this strategy and family-to-work interference. It may be that those without child care and/or elder care are able to reduce this form of interference by increasing their efforts at home -- a strategy that becomes less effective as demands outside of work increase.

Delegating work to others does not help women cope with family-to-work interference

Delegating appears to be a more effective coping strategy for men than for women. There is no association between the frequency with which one delegates work to others and family-to-work interference for women, regardless of their dependent care status. For men, on the other hand, family-to-work interference decreases as delegation increases. Men with dependent care (Δ = -.3) experience slightly more benefits from the use of delegation than their counterparts without dependent care (Δ = -.2). Gender-role theory suggests that these findings may be because women have difficulty giving up responsibility for the family role (i.e. child care, elder care, home chores). While the tasks themselves might be delegated to others, the responsibility for the task remains with the women. Men have no such problems.

Just trying to forget about it can help those without dependents cope with family-to-work interference

The results with respect to trying to forget about problems and family-to-work interference is interesting. For those with dependent care responsibilities, the findings are quite clear -- interference increases concomitantly with the use of this strategy. For men and women without such caregiving responsibilities, higher use of this strategy is associated with a plateau effect of family-to-work interference. The strategy appears to be particularly effective for women without dependents. It is easier for those without caregiving responsibilities to successfully separate family from work and "forget about" challenges outside of work.

The decision to delay or not have children reduces family-to-work interference for women

The findings with respect to the relationship between deciding to delay or not have children and family-to-work interference reinforces our contention that women who do not have caregiving responsibilities are more able to separate family from work. The women who have made the decision not to have children because of their work report significantly lower levels of family-to-work interference (Δ = -.3) than counterparts who have not made such a decision. This finding is not surprising since this group of women have fewer constraints to deal with at home. While the findings from this study validate the decision (it is easier to focus on your career if you do not have children), the use of this coping strategy is not good for Canada. Again, these data point to the need for Canadian policy makers and organizations to address the issue of work-life balance.

6.2.3.4 Coping with Caregiver Strain

The relationships between the use of the various personal coping strategies and caregiver strain are very similar to those observed for family-to-work interference. In both cases, individual coping strategies do little to help employed Canadians deal with the form of work-life conflict under consideration. None of the individual coping strategies (including the decision to have children) was associated with either family-to-work interference or caregiver strain in the gender by job type analysis. We also note that individual strategies such as the use of social support, off-shifting work with one's spouse and active coping strategies (prioritize, schedule, plan and organize, delegate) do not help employees cope with either caregiver strain or family-to-work interference. Nor can employees reduce caregiver strain by drinking alcohol or finding another activity to take their mind off things. Finally, the relationship between caregiver strain and individual coping is also moderate at best.

Six individual coping strategies are associated with caregiver strain when gender and dependent care status are taken into account:

• delay starting a family/decide not to have a family
• have fewer children
• just work harder
• reduce the quality of things one does
• just try to forget about things
• use prescription medicine

With two exceptions (decision to not have children, use of prescription medicine), the relationship between the use of the strategy and caregiver strain is straightforward -- higher use of the strategy is associated with higher levels of strain (increases in strain ranging from +.3 to +.5), regardless of the employee's gender or dependent care status. The data with respect to the decision to have children are similar to those observed with the other forms of work-life conflict: women with high levels of caregiver strain are more likely to decide not to have children than counterparts with lower levels of strain. This suggests that the solution to increasing Canada's birth rate is to help employees deal with caregiver strain, perhaps by providing elder care support mechanisms within the community.

Daily use of prescription drugs helps employees cope with caregiver strain

There is a moderate relationship between the use of prescription medicine to cope with stress and caregiver strain. The relationship between prescription drug use and caregiver strain is similar to that observed with both role overload and work-to-family interference: prescription medicine helps employees cope with strain if used on a daily basis (D = -.2). Moderate use, however, is associated with higher levels of caregiver strain (D = +.5). These findings suggest that employees resort to prescription drugs as a last resort (i.e. when their stress levels are higher).