Work-family interface and children's mental health: a systematic review

The COVID-19 pandemic and the public health measures adopted to contain it have highlighted the centrality of the work-family interface in the etiology of mental health among the employed population. However, while the impact on the mental health of workers has been well documented, the relationship with the mental health of children of those workers remains to be clarified. A systematic review was conducted through the identification of peer-reviewed studies on the association between parental work-family interface (e.g. work-family conflict and/or work-family enrichment) and children’s mental health. This method is based on the consultation of 7 databases (MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, SocIndex, Embase, and Scopus), considering all studies published through June 2022 (PROSPERO: CRD42022336058). Methodology and findings are reported according to the PRISMA guidelines. 25 of the 4146 identified studies met our inclusion criteria. Quality appraisal was performed using a modified Newcastle–Ottawa scale. Most studies investigated only work-family conflict, ignoring work-family enrichment. Child mental health outcomes evaluated included internalizing behaviours (n = 11), externalizing behaviours (n = 10), overall mental health (n = 13), and problematic Internet usage (n = 1). Results of the review are summarized qualitatively. Our analysis shows equivocal evidence for the direct relationships between the work-family interface and children’s mental health, as a large proportion of associations did not reach statistical significance. We can, however, posit that work-family conflict seems to be more associated with children’s mental health problems while work-family enrichment was more related to children’s positive mental health. A greater proportion of significant associations are observed for internalizing behaviors compared to externalizing behaviors. Almost all the studies that test for a mediating effect found that parental characteristics and parental mental health are significant mediators. Our research provides insight into the complex association between work-family interface and child mental health, showing both beneficial and detrimental consequences that may even occur simultaneously. This highlights the far-reaching effects of contexts affecting the work-family interface, including the COVID-19 pandemic. We conclude with the need for research adopting more standardized and nuanced measures of the work-family interface to further validate these conclusions. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13034-023-00596-w.