Explaining the links between workload, distress, and work-family conflict among school employees: physical, cognitive, and emotional fatigue

This study examined the intraindividual relationships among workload and affective distress; cognitive, physical, and emotional fatigue; and work-family conflict among school employees. Using a repeatedmeasure, within-person research design, the authors found that work demands and affective distress, as well as cognitive, emotional, and physical fatigue, were associated with experienced work-family conflict. However, the effects of work demands and affective distress on work-family conflict were mediated mostly by participant reports of emotional fatigue when the three types of fatigue were considered together. Importantly, emotional fatigue was associated with both self-reported and spousereported work-family conflict. Overall, the results support a resource depletion framework for how workload and job distress in an educational setting can affect work-family conflict.