Demographic Determinants of Work-Family Conflict among Female Factory Workers in South Africa

Abstract

 Abstract—The study examines the relationship between work-family conflict and selected demographic variables among female factory workers in East London, South Africa. The independent variables for the study were selected demographic variables, while work-family conflict is the dependent variable. The demographic variables concerned are age, marital status, number of children and age of the youngest child. The measuring instruments were a self-designed questionnaire to measure the demographic variables and a questionnaire developed to measure work-family conflict (Cronbach's alpha = 0.90). A sample of 100 female factory workers who are employed by companies in East London, South Africa was used. Age, number of children and age of the youngest child were all found to be positively correlated to work-family conflict (r = 0.38, p = 0.001; r = 0.31, p =0.002; r = 0.27, p = 0.01 respectively). For marital status the findings were contrary to previous research findings, as the researcher found that marital status is not significantly positively related to work-family conflict (r=-0.08, p = 0.42).