Sex and Gender Role Orientation on the Work-Family Interface: Testing Three-Way Interactions

From the perspective of gender role orientation, we examined the joint interactive effects of gender role orientation and biological sex on the work and family interface. We conducted a two-wave survey involving 276 employees working in different organizations of diverse industries across Taiwan. After controlling for traditional gender role values, we found significant three-way interactions (sex x gender role orientation x family responsibility) in predicting the bidirectional work and family conflict. Specifically, for men, high femininity strengthened the positive relationships between family responsibility and work-to-family conflict as well as between family responsibility and family-to-work conflict. For women, however, it was low femininity that strengthened the same sets of relationships. Our findings suggest that certain types of non- traditional gender identities (e.g. men endorsing high femininity traits and women endorsing low femininity traits) increase the adjustment challenges for both sexes, especially in a transitional society. Researchers should recognize the differences between the individual's socially prescribed gender role and his/her psychological gender identity, so as to have a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of men's and women's lived experiences on the work and family interface.