Examining trait mindfulness as a buffer between work-family conflict and health/well-being outcomes

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: Balancing work and family responsibilities gained much interest in the recent past, especially among working adults and families. Working families have become the most affected by the issue of worklife balance since they have to play multiple roles, making it difficult for them to strike a reasonable balance between work and family domains (Kiburz et. al, 2017). All in all, if there is difficulty in completing tasks in one domain (e.g. work) due to participating in the other domain (e.g., family), this may cause an interrole conflict, formally known as work-family conflict (Kiburz et. al, 2017) According to Allen & Paddock (2015) and Kiburz et. al (2017), work-family conflict is a mutually incompatible relationship due to role pressures/stressors (i.e. situational/external factors) from the work and family domains. Furthermore, this conflict is also bidirectional, meaning that it can occur as family interfering with work (FIW) and work interfering with family (WIF). This has led to research on possible factors that may help individuals manage this conflict/interface. One of the approaches is to observe individual difference characteristics, such as mindfulness. The purpose of this study is to examine trait mindfulness as a potential buffer to the relationship between work-family conflict and health/ well-being outcomes in a population of low-income workers. Low-income workers were chosen specifically because low-wage positions typically lack certain tools, like flexibility and control, which would allow employees to manage their work-family interface. Consequently, the present study is a way to explore other possible tools, such as trait mindfulness.