Astronauts' Views of Work-Family Interactions: Supportive, Conflicting Roles

摘要

The astronaut career involves periodic absences during training and missions, potential danger and risk of life, and considerable time demands, all of which potentially affect the lives of their families, and in turn, may affect their own satisfaction with marriage, family and work life. Competing demands for time and attention from work and family create the potential for conflicts between their work and family roles. Support from their families may enhance work-family interactions, or at least reduce conflicts between the roles. This paper reports data from 14 astronauts who answered a questionnaire prior to their mission on the International Space Station. Measures include the astronaut's assessment of family as a psychosocial resource, i.e., a source of support, satisfaction with the spouse's and children's support of their career, and level of conflict between their work and family roles. The last measure includes positive effects of work (and of family) on the other role. These data provide a baseline for later assessing the effects of an ISS mission on work-family interactions.