Do High-Control Jobs Hurt Working Parents? Extending Preston’s Nonlinear Demands-Control Model Using Human Service Casemmanagers

Background/Purpose. Human service case managers face consistently heavy workloads. Social science research demonstrates that effectively managing these organizational demands can enhance their overall well-being. In line with this evidence, the classic demand-control (DC) model posits that high-control jobs buffer the adverse effects of high workloads on affective well-being. However, meta-analytic findings reveal a negative association between high-control jobs and affective well-being in majority-female samples (e.g., human service agencies). To address this discrepancy, the present study uses theoretical insights from the family-to-work literature to extend Preston’s nonlinear classic DC model. Two hypotheses are tested using a sample of county-based human service case managers from New York.

H1. In high-control jobs, workload demands will have a positive nonlinear association

on affective well-being for human service case managers without children.

H2. In high-control jobs, workload demands will have a negative nonlinear association

on affective well-being for human service case managers with children.

Methods. Data were collected using a cross-sectional field survey research design. The sample consisted of 810 human service case managers across 12 counties in the State of New York (75% response rate). Tests confirmed that OLS regression assumptions were satisfied and common method variance did not bias results. An unconditional model verified that the individual (i.e., case manager) level of analysis as appropriate for hypothesis testing. Convergent and discriminant validity, along with measurement invariance, were established using structural equation modelling software AMOS 29.0. All measures demonstrated acceptable reliabilities (.70 and above) and factor loadings (.40 and above). Measurement invariance tests confirmed comparable factor structures between both parental-status groups. Hypotheses were tested in SPSS 29.0.

Results. Results supported this new nonlinear extension of the classic DC (nonlinear demands x control x parental status) model (b-weight = -1.157; p <.05). As predicted, for human service case managers without children, the slope for affective well-being followed an upward concave trajectory (H1); whereas for those with children, it followed a downward concave trajectory (H2).

Implications/Conclusion. This cross-sectional field survey study provides the first empirical support for a nonlinear interaction between workload demands, job control, and parental status. These results help explain decades of inconsistent classic DC model findings associated with majority-female samples. One theory-driven explanation is that family-to-work interference may limit the extent human service case managers with children benefit from high-control jobs’ energy-conserving and energy-replenishing attributes. Findings also indirectly suggest that flexible work arrangement, may not help human service case managers equally. Such policies may confer greater well-being benefits to human service case managers without children than those with children. Future research should not only seek to replicate these findings using samples of nonprofit and private sector human service case managers, but also explore additional underlying mechanisms and workplace policy implications.