Successful Return to Work After Maternity Leave: Self-Regulatory and Contextual Influences

Abstract

Women's return to work after maternity leave represents an important developmental transition. Intentional self-regulation can help women successfully master this transition. In a longitudinal study with three waves of measurement waves (5, 11, and 24 weeks after re-entry; N = 267), self-efficacy beliefs and self-regulatory strategies (selection, optimization, compensation; SOC) predicted better work adjustment over time. Most importantly, contextual characteristics interacted with intentional self-regulation: for mothers who worked only a very small number of hours, who had many family obligations and who reported high levels of stress at work, it was particularly adaptive to make use of self-regulatory strategies.