Unemployed spouse can adversely affect employed partner’s job

The study, published in last month's edition of the 'Journal of Applied Psychology,' examined the daily stress experienced by the married couple where one partner was employed and the other was jobless, and how it affected their relationship.

"If you feel bad at home there is going to be spill over at work where you will also feel lousy. Going into the study we thought that marital support might help alleviate the stress of unemployment on the family unit, but it didn't turn out to be the case," the TOI quoted lead researcher Maw-Der Foo as saying.

Study details and findings
In order to determine whether the stress of a jobless partner affected performance of the other partner, Maw-Der Foo, associate professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, who studies employee workplace issues and interpersonal relationships, and lead author Professor Zhaoli Song of the National University of Singapore conducted a study.

In the study titled 'Unraveling the Stress Crossover Between the Unemployed and Their Spouses,' the researchers examined married couples from Shenyang, China, where one partner was employed and the other was not, daily for two weeks.

For the study, the researchers assessed daily stress felt by each partner, and the interaction between their marital and professional lives.

Since both the partners were involved in the experiment, the researchers compared their responses to draw conclusion at the end of the study.

"For example, the spouse experiencing job stress may reduce his or her marital support to their spouse, which then leads to more stress for the unemployed spouse, who then returns the favor and adds even more stress," Foo said.

They also looked at the "crossover effect," a situation when each spouse transmits and catches the stresses of the other.

"We looked at the unemployed person's activities and their distress, but we also looked at the work experience of the employed person and how that also spills over to the family relationship," he said.

Researchers found that the couples were better at sharing the burden rather than alleviating it.

Having family-friendly policies in organizations can help
According to the researchers, workplaces should be more sensitive and supportive to employees having a jobless spouse.

"Organizations can implement family-friendly policies to help their employees fulfil their family roles, which in turn may increase the employee's productivity," Foo said.

Researchers feel that examining the stress and coping mechanisms among couples facing the unemployment might provide some practical insight to psychotherapists and family counselors who develop family-focused interventions to prevent a marriage from breaking up.

"Our findings call for more attention on the family as an integrated system in responding to the unemployment situation," Foo added.