Marisa Matias | Universidade do Porto (original) (raw)

Papers by Marisa Matias

Purpose The prevalence of parental burnout, a condition that has severe consequences for both par... more Purpose The prevalence of parental burnout, a condition that has severe consequences for both parents and children, varies dramatically across countries and is highest in Western countries characterized by high individualism. Method In this study, we examined the mediators of the relationship between individualism measured at the country level and parental burnout measured at the individual level in 36 countries (16,059 parents). Results The results revealed three mediating mechanisms, that is, self-discrepancies between socially prescribed and actual parental selves, high agency and self-directed socialization goals, and low parental task sharing, by which individualism leads to an increased risk of burnout among parents. Conclusion The results con rm that the three mediators under consideration are all involved, and that mediation was higher for self-discrepancies between socially prescribed and actual parental selves, then parental task sharing, and lastly self-directed socialization goals. The results provide some important indications of how to prevent parental burnout at the societal level in Western countries.

Working time arrangements may be a source of strain and entail negative consequences for workers,... more Working time arrangements may be a source of strain and entail negative consequences for workers, one of which can be exhaustion. Based on the Job Demands-Resources and the Conservation of Resources theories, this study explores recovery experiences from work and satisfaction with the work schedule as possible resources that may prevent or minimize such negative consequences. With a sample of 386 workers (n = 287 women; 99 men) and using a Cluster analysis, we identified five working time arrangements: Fixed Standardized, Part-Time, Irregular Standardized, Flexible Standardized, and Nonstandard Work Schedule (NWS). A One-Way ANOVA found that workers in the Irregular Standardized schedule report higher exhaustion compared to the Fixed Standardized and the Part-Time. Exhaustion of workers in NWS is higher compared to the Part-Time workers. A Multiple Linear Regression analysis found that the link between recovery experiences and exhaustion varies according to the working time arrangem...

Frontiers in Sociology

Higher Education Institutions' (HEI) workers were highly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, w... more Higher Education Institutions' (HEI) workers were highly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which magnified gender differences in terms of management of work and personal life. Most studies published so far have primarily focused on a group of HEI workers' (i.e., teachers and researchers), but not on staff members, despite their crucial role for HEI functioning. Following the Job Demands-Resources theory, we aimed to: (i) characterize work-life conflict (WLC) among men and women workers from an HEI (staff and teachers/researchers) during the COVID-19 pandemic; and (ii) explore the major predictors of WLC for both staff and teachers/researchers. This study includes a sample of 262 workers from one Portuguese HEI (n = 128 staff members; n = 134 teachers/researchers) who answered an online survey. An Independent Samples T-Test showed that the reported current WLC was significantly higher for teachers/researchers compared to staff. Moreover, women teachers/researchers showed hig...

Journal of Child and Family Studies, 2022

File describes zero-order Pearson bivariate intercorrelations between children's lability, ch... more File describes zero-order Pearson bivariate intercorrelations between children's lability, children's emotion regulation, parents' work–family conflict, parent's psychological availability, and paired-sample t tests between parent's variables.

Information, Communication & Society, 2021

The widespread use of ICT, namely the use of smartphones, has dramatically altered the way organi... more The widespread use of ICT, namely the use of smartphones, has dramatically altered the way organizations communicate with employees, leading to flexibility in work schedules that frequently encompa...

Journal of Vocational Behavior, 2018

Research on the simultaneous and interactive effects of both conflictual and enriching dimensions... more Research on the simultaneous and interactive effects of both conflictual and enriching dimensions on work-family balance is scarce, and still scarcer are studies using a typological (person-oriented) approach to establish links between couple-level profiles of work-family balance experiences and individual´s work-and family-related satisfaction. To address these gaps, the present study explored whether groups of dual-earner couples could be distinguished with respect to their specific combinations of work-to-family and family-to-work conflict and enrichment dynamics. Using cluster analysis procedures within a sample of 525 dual-earner couples, we identified four couple-level profiles in the work-to-family balance direction (WFB) and four in the family-to-work balance direction (FWB): Harmful WFB and FWB groups (i.e., high conflict, low enrichment), Beneficial WFB and FWB groups (i.e., low conflict, high enrichment), Active WFB group (i.e., high conflict, high enrichment), Passive FWB group (i.e., low conflict, low enrichment) and two other groups, one with men reporting a Harmful WFB and women a Beneficial WFB, and another with men reporting a Beneficial FWB and women a Harmful FWB. A subsequent mixed model ANOVA also found Harmful types were associated with lower individual satisfactions with work, family, and partner participation. Moreover, belonging to profiles where husband and wife have dissimilar WFB experiences seems to imply detrimental effects to both partners.

Development and Psychopathology, 2020

This longitudinal study follows children from dual-earner families in 4 time-points, covering the... more This longitudinal study follows children from dual-earner families in 4 time-points, covering the early childhood period. We examined the influence of work–family conflict (WFC) on maternal relational frustration (RF) towards the child, and investigated the reciprocal relations among maternal RF, children's self-control (SC), and teacher–child (TC) conflict over time. Participants were 214 children (97 girls; M age = 4.00 years), their mothers, and teachers. Mothers reported their own WFC and RF, whereas teachers reported child SC and T-C conflict. Results from a cross-lagged panel model indicated the experience of WFC positively predicted maternal RF. Maternal RF and T-C conflict were negatively related to the child later SC abilities. Conversely, children who displayed SC difficulties were more likely to experience later maternal RF and T-C conflict. There was evidence supporting the bidirectional effects of child SC and T-C conflict across time. Moreover, maternal RF and T-C ...

Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 2022

In Western countries, recent decades have witnessed a revolution toward gender equality. Inequali... more In Western countries, recent decades have witnessed a revolution toward gender equality. Inequalities have been greatly reduced in areas such as education or employment. Because inequalities lead to distress, this development has largely benefited women. One notable exception is the realm of parenting, which has remained rife with inequalities even in the most egalitarian countries. We hypothesized that experiencing inequality in parenting when one holds egalitarian values and raising a child in a country characterized by a high level of gender equality in other areas, increases mothers’ psychological distress in the specific area of parenting. Multilevel modeling analyses computed among 11,538 mothers from 40 countries confirmed this prediction: high egalitarian values at the individual level and high gender equality at the societal level are associated with higher burnout levels in mothers. The associations hold beyond differences in sociodemographic characteristics at the individ...

Estudos de Psicologia (Campinas), 2018

In this study, we evaluated the internal structure of the Portuguese version of the Marital Socia... more In this study, we evaluated the internal structure of the Portuguese version of the Marital Social-Skills Inventory. After adapting the language of the inventory from Brazilian to European Portuguese, it was tested with 540 Portuguese respondents (20 to 70 years of age), who had been in a stable relationship for at least one year. A principal components analysis (n = 310) suggested that the internal structure includes four dimensions: Expressiveness, Self-affirmation, Self-control and Assertive Conversation. This structure was tested using a confirmatory analysis (n = 230), yielding satisfactory indicators of overall adjustment. Cronbach’s alpha values for the first three dimensions indicated good internal consistency. The internal structure of the Portuguese version of the Marital Social-Skills Inventory-Villa & Del-Prette is coherent with the original structure, and psychometrically sound for the evaluation of marital social-skills among Portuguese couples. Thus, this instrument c...

Research on the work-family interface has not consistently addressed how the positive and negativ... more Research on the work-family interface has not consistently addressed how the positive and negative features of work-family dynamics conjointly relate to the experience of parenting, and still fewer studies have explored these interrelationships from a dyadic perspective. The present investigation addressed this gap by examining the extent to which mothers’ and fathers’ reports of work-family conflict and enrichment influenced their own and their spouse’s parenting experiences. Each member of 346 dual-earner couples completed measures of work-family conflict (WFC) and work-family enrichment (WFE), along with measures of parenting attitudes and competencies. A dyadic analysis revealed that WFC and WFE differentially affected the quality of parenting attitudes and competencies. In addition, a differential pattern of crossover effects between partners was found, particularly with respect to the effect of mothers’ work-family dynamics on fathers’ parenting experience. More specifically, ...

Women’s professional role has brought new demands for the family life. The balance of family and ... more Women’s professional role has brought new demands for the family life. The balance of family and professional roles is a salient field revealing what is acceptable or desired for each role. For this, the couples take into account social values and their influence in the distribution of roles and in the share of family tasks. The present study aims to analyse the values shared by young couples with toddlers by comparing the adherence to cultural values in 9 different countries: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland. The country comparison showed differences according to the dominant styles - egalitarian or conservatism - as well as in the homogeneity of the adherence to the cultural values by the couples. Most of the Swiss, German and Dutch couples hold egalitarian values while most of the Italian and Portuguese couples hold conservative values. The cultural values shared by the couples in these countries are more homogeneous tha...

Family Relations, 2021

This work aimed to analyze parental burnout (PB) and establish a comparison between the times bef... more This work aimed to analyze parental burnout (PB) and establish a comparison between the times before (Wave 1) and during (Wave 2) the COVID-19 pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic brought additional stress to families. The pandemic could be particularly difficult for parents experiencing parental burnout, a condition that involves four dimensions: an overwhelming sense of exhaustion, emotional distancing from the child, saturation or a loss of fulfillment with the parental role, and a sharp contrast between how parents used to be and how they see themselves now.

New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2020

This study aimed to examine the validity of the Brazilian-Portuguese version of the Parental Burn... more This study aimed to examine the validity of the Brazilian-Portuguese version of the Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA), the current goldstandard measure of parental burnout (PB). We surveyed parents in Portugal (N = 407) and Brazil (N = 301). We (a) compared the factor structure of the Brazilian-Portuguese version with the original structure of the PBA, (b) tested the adequacy of a second-order factor structure, (c) evaluated invariance across gender and countries, (d) examined reliability, and (e) evaluated whether PB levels are related to gender, satisfaction with life, and parental self-efficacy (PSE). Results provided evidence for the validity of the Brazilian-Portuguese PBA and its four facets. Factor models supported the use of both individual facet scores and a global PB score. The structures tested were invariant across countries and gender, and all factors had good reliability. Relations with PSE, life satisfaction, and gender provided initial evidence for validity, and suggested a possible influence of intensive motherhood models.

Attachment & Human Development, 2020

Dependency is a scarcely investigated dimension of teacher-child (T-C) relationships that can ref... more Dependency is a scarcely investigated dimension of teacher-child (T-C) relationships that can reflect a lack of security and obstruct children's autonomous exploration in the school context. We examined the within-and cross-time associations between T-C dependency, closeness, and conflict, and children's effortful control, an ability related to children's self-regulation. Data were collected during the preschool period at two time-points (T1 and T2) 1-year apart. Participants were 199 children (44% girls, M age = 47.47) attending 46 middle-class preschool classrooms. Results from path analyses indicated that, though marginally significant, there was a positive association between T-C dependency and conflict at T1. At T2, dependency was positively related to both conflict and closeness. Dependency at T1 positively predicted children's effortful control at T2. This study clarifies the interconnection between T-C dependency, closeness and conflict, and the unique contribution of dependency onchildren's effortful control. Findings are discussed considering the socio-cultural meaning of dependency.

Family Relations, 2017

This is the author's version of the manuscript accepted for publication in Family Relations. Chan... more This is the author's version of the manuscript accepted for publication in Family Relations. Changes resulting from the publishing process, namely editing, corrections, final formatting for printed or online publication, and other modifications resulting from quality control procedures, may have been subsequently added. The published version can be found in: Matias, M., & Fontaine, A. (2017). Intentions to have a child: a couple-based process.

Journal of Marriage and Family, 2019

This study investigates the mediating role of parent-child relationship quality on the associatio... more This study investigates the mediating role of parent-child relationship quality on the association between parents' work-related exhaustion and children's emotion regulation and lability. The moderating role of parent's emotion suppression is also considered. Background: Work-related exhaustion has a significant impact in family life. However, few studies have investigated its relationship with both parent-child relationships and children's outcomes. Method: Structural equation modeling and path analysis were used on a sample of 120 dual-earner couples living in Portugal with children aged 2 to 6 years. Results: Analysis revealed that (a) the quality of the father-child relationship mediates the link between father's work-related exhaustion and child's emotion regulation and lability and (b) the quality of mother-child relationship mediates the link between mother's work-related exhaustion and children's lability; (c) mother's work-related exhaustion and emotion suppression negatively relate to mother-child as well

Revista Psicologia: Organizações e Trabalho, 2017

Resumo Portugal e Brasil têm apresentado elevadas taxas de desemprego, embora a economia portugue... more Resumo Portugal e Brasil têm apresentado elevadas taxas de desemprego, embora a economia portuguesa esteja a crescer nos últimos anos. Neste estudo, comparamos os níveis de satisfação com a vida e satisfação conjugal entre casais portugueses e brasileiros, em diferentes configurações de desemprego (somente o marido, somente a esposa ou ambos). Participaram no estudo 186 casais portugueses e 159 casais brasileiros, com média de idade de 41 anos e numa relação há 16 anos, em média. Os resultados indicaram efeito significativo da configuração de desemprego sobre a satisfação com a vida, sendo menor quando ambos os cônjuges estão sem emprego. Neste caso, as esposas apresentam menor satisfação com a vida que seus maridos. Relativamente à satisfação conjugal, as esposas tendem a estar menos satisfeitas do que os maridos, em particular no grupo de duplo desemprego. Este estudo contribui para a compreensão da análise do fenómeno do desemprego sob a perspetiva conjugal.