Methods: The study examined 1997 data from the Families & Work Institute’s longitudinal National Study of the Changing Workforce, a representative sample of 3,552 U.S. workers. It analyzed and compared two outcome variables for shift workers and people who worked standard hours: 1) level of family satisfaction and 2) negative work-to-family spillover. A Likert scale measured degree of satisfaction with one’s family. A continuous composite variable based on responses to questions on effects of jobs on participants’ mood, time, and energy at home measured negative spillover.
Results: Logistic regressions demonstrated that working a non-standard, non-flexible shift was significantly associated with a lower likelihood of reporting a high degree of family satisfaction. Linear regressions found a significant association between shift work and higher levels of negative work-to-family spillover. Evening and night shifts were associated with lower odds of reporting family satisfaction. Night, rotating, and split shifts increased negative work-to-family spillover.
Implications for Policy and Practice: The principal policy implications were the acknowledgment of a social responsibility to diminish the negative impact of shift work on the family relationships of shift workers and the need for shorter shifts. Practice implications include a focus on clients as workers in addition to perspectives that emphasize only membership in families or social networks. Social workers should consider their potential roles as advocates in attempting to enact legislation that limits or modifies shift work appropriately.