A key to recovery for working mothers? Psychological detachment and the roles of relaxation, mastery and control on boundary violations

• Date: 24 August 2023
• Pages: 132-152
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-11-2022-0305
• Published date: 24 August 2023
• Author: Tiffany Trzebiatowski

A key to recovery for working

mothers? Psychological

detachment and the roles

of relaxation, mastery and control

on boundary violations

Tiffany Trzebiatowski

Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

Abstract

Purpose –This study aims to incorporate theory on effort-recovery and stressor-detachment models to

examine the roles of relaxation, mastery and types of control on the relationship between psychological

detachment from work and boundary violations at home.

Design/methodology/approach –This study analyzes data from two time points using a sample of 348

working mothers recruited from Prolific.

Findings –Working moms who psychologically detach from work have less work boundary violations at

home. There are mixed findings on whether and when the other types of recovery experiences moderate the

relationship between psychological detachment and boundary violations at home. Relaxation, control after

work and job autonomy do not moderate the effect while mastery and boundary control do. Specifically,

psychological detachment is more effective as reducing boundary violations at home for working moms who

have (1) low levels of mastery and (2) high levels of boundary control.

Practical implications –Working mothers juggle multiple roles and often have increased stress and less

time to manage the two domains. The findings of this study illustrate whether and when psychological

detachment from work acts as a key to recovery from work-based stressors.

Originality/value –Much of the research on recovery experiences is based on employees without

consideration of motherhood status. Further, scholars have not examined the combinative potential of recovery

experiences. Finally, examining control over both domains (vs. one domain) adds precision to the literature.

Keywords Motherhoodat work, Boundary violations at home, Psychological detachment at work, Relaxation,

Mastery, Control

Paper type Research paper

We expect women to work like they don’t have children, and raise children as if they don’t work.

(Westervelt, 2018)

Competing expectations, displayed in the opening quote, are fueled by cultural ideologies in

the USA of what it means to be a good working mother, which encompasses being an ideal

worker who can never do enough at work and must always be on call (Wieland, 2011), a true

domestic woman who manages household responsibilities and an intensive mother who

places their kids’needs above all else (Kirby et al., 2016). Considering the multiple roles and

societal expectations placed upon them, it comes as no surprise that working mothers in the

U.S., particularly those with children under 18, “often struggle with work-life balance and feel

like there aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish all that they must at work and at

home”(Brenan, 2020, para. 9). Indeed, research suggests that working mothers are

overextended and experience a “second shift,”leading to heightened time scarcity and

overload (Dugan and Barnes-Farrell, 2018;Hochschild and Machung, 2012). As a result, they

are more susceptible to increased stress and work-family conflict compared to working

fathers (Hill, 2005;Kmec, 2011).

EDI

43,1

132

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-7149.htm

Received 3 November 2022

Revised 20 April 2023

30 June 2023

Accepted 4 August 2023

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 43 No. 1, 2024

pp. 132-152

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-11-2022-0305

While much of the research on working mothers has examined stressors at work,

including stigma, bias, discrimination and unreasonable demands (Arena et al., 2021;Gabriel

et al., 2023;Grandey et al., 2020), some work has focused on ways working mothers can

strategically manage stress that arises from competing identities of worker and mother. For

example, working mothers can prioritize one identity over the other by focusing on one

identity at a time (Johnston and Swanson, 2007;Turner and Norwood, 2013). Alternatively,

they can establish clear role boundaries to demarcate preferences over how the two roles

interact (Brody, 2018). While some working mothers may prefer integrating the two

identities, other working mothers may find segmenting (keeping the two identities separate)

more productive (Brody, 2018). Indeed, a large line of literature on recovery experiences has

touted the benefits of one segmentation strategy –psychological detachment from work

(Sonnentag and Fritz, 2007).

Psychological detachment from work (or psychological detachment) refers to a process

wherein individuals mentally disengage from work-related thoughts during their non-work

hours, with the intent to cease the mental demands associated with their work role

(Sonnentag and Fritz, 2007). The ability to detach from work plays a vital role in preserving a

healthy work-life balance (Belkin et al., 2020;Dettmers, 2017;Sonnentag et al., 2010). Without

this ability, individuals are susceptible to boundary violations, where matters from one

domain permeate into the other against their own preferences (Hunter et al., 2019). Boundary

violations, in turn, are associated with lower satisfaction, higher negative affect, unfinished

tasks and higher family-to-work and work-to-family conflict (Ford et al., 2007;Hunter et al.,

2019;Kerman et al., 2022).

Given the importance of psychological detachment and the negative consequences of

boundary violations, it is crucial to understand this relationship for working mothers. Indeed,

the majorityof studies exploring psychological detachment havefocused on employeeswithout

considering their motherhood status (e.g. Karabinski et al., 2021;Sonnentag and Fritz, 2015).

However, it is crucial to specifically studyworking mothers as a distinct sample, as they face

unique challenges due to gendered expectations that impose greater pressures on them to

navigatethe boundaries betweenwork and family life(Ashman et al., 2022;Cahusac andKanji,

2014). The costsof imbalance between family and work,in turn, can result in greater penalties

(e.g. lower perceptions ofcareer advancement) formothers than fathers (King et al., 2009).

The current research considers working mothers use of psychological detachment as a

recovery strategy to address gendered pressures to manage boundaries between motherhood

and employee roles. First, the focus is on whether working mothers who report using

psychological detachment from work experience decreased boundary violations at home.

This relationship is theoretically explained by the effort-recovery model (ERM) and stressor

detachment model (SDM). ERM posits that recovery is essential for managing work stressors,

preserving self-regulatory efforts and protecting well-being (Meijman and Mulder, 1998)

while the SDM positions psychological detachment from work as a recovery experience,

reducing demands on functional systems (Sonnentag and Fritz, 2007,2015).

Second, this paper examines the roles of three additional recovery experiences –control,

relaxation, mastery –which were part of the initial conceptualization on recovery experiences

by Sonnentag and Fritz (2007). These three recovery experiences are examined as moderators

on the relationship between psychological detachment and boundary violations at home.

Examining the interplay between recovery experiences answers a call to “explore how

multiple recovery experiences may be used in combination to provide beneficial outcomes”

(Bennett et al., 2018, p. 271) and builds on research that has often focused on only one recovery

experience at a time, mainly psychological detachment (Sonnentag et al., 2008b). Further,

understanding recovery experiences in a sample of working mothers and how they can

successfully detach also adds a positive lens to the literature on working mothers that has

largely focused on bias and discrimination (e.g. Arena et al., 2022).

A key to

recovery for

working

mothers?

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