Marisa Matias
Universidade do Porto, Faculty of Psychology and Education, Department Member
Research Interests:
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... 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...
Research Interests:
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... 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...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
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... 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.
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...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
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,... 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 ...
Research Interests:
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... 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...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
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... 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 Interests:
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... 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 professional roles is a salient field revealing what is acceptable or desired for each role. For this, the couples take into account social... 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...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Parental engagement in positive activities with the child may show significant variation across time, assuming a crucial influence on child development. In dual-earner families, work-family conflict can interfere with parental engagement,... more
Parental engagement in positive activities with the child may show significant variation across time, assuming a crucial influence on child development. In dual-earner families, work-family conflict can interfere with parental engagement, with negative consequences for children's behavior. The current study examined the change trajectories of mothers' and fathers' engagement in early childhood, analyzing whether these trajectories are influenced by parents' work-family conflict and whether they predict child behavioral self-control. Data from 156 four-year-old children (67 girls) from dual-earner families were collected annually for 3 consecutive years, through mothers', fathers', and teachers' reports. Results from latent growth curve analysis revealed mothers' engagement remained stable across time while fathers' engagement had a significant increase over time. The negative association between work-family conflict and parental engagement was con...
Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Developmental Psychology, Structural Equation Modeling, Self Control, and 15 moreChild Clinical Psychology, Employment, Medicine, Child Behavior, Humans, Child, Female, Male, School Teachers, Parents, Longitudinal Studies, Adult, Time Factors, Child preschool, and Conflict Psychology
This qualitative study examines the work, family, and study experiences of Portuguese professional women in two different career stages: early career and mid-career. Using semi-structured interviews with a sample of 22 working mothers... more
This qualitative study examines the work, family, and study experiences of Portuguese professional women in two different career stages: early career and mid-career. Using semi-structured interviews with a sample of 22 working mothers enrolled in a master’s degree, this study explores their experiences of combining the roles of mother, worker and student and the role of support for a successful integration of work–family and school. Support from peers was found to be a critical factor for successfully integrating work–family and school responsibilities. Differences in the use of partner and family support were found between early and mid-career women. Lack of or limited support from the workplace was a barrier that emerged in both groups.
Research Interests:
Studies on the impact of work-family dynamics on both parenting and children's outcomes are scarce. The present study addressed this gap by exploring how parents' negative (conflicting) and positive (enriching) experiencing of... more
Studies on the impact of work-family dynamics on both parenting and children's outcomes are scarce. The present study addressed this gap by exploring how parents' negative (conflicting) and positive (enriching) experiencing of work and family roles related to children's internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors through its association with the quality of parent-child relationships. A sample of 317 dual-earner couples with preschool children was used to conduct a dyadic analysis of both within- and cross-dyad influences of parents' work-family experiences on child problem behaviors. Our results indicated that the way parents balance work and family is associated with their parent-child relationships, which in turn is differentially linked with their children's behaviors. We found that mothers' work-family conflict (WFC) contributed to children's externalization difficulties through its detrimental associations with their own and with their partners...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Portugal apresenta uma crescente participação feminina no mercado de trabalho, levando a que o modelo familiar de um único elemento a trabalhar fora de casa tenha perdido expressão. Actualmente, as famílias de duplo‑emprego ultrapassam... more
Portugal apresenta uma crescente participação feminina no mercado de trabalho, levando a que o modelo familiar de um único elemento a trabalhar fora de casa tenha perdido expressão. Actualmente, as famílias de duplo‑emprego ultrapassam em número as famílias com um único emprego, pelo que homens e mulheres debatem‑se com as novas exigências do seu trabalho e da sua família. Assim, as responsabilidades do trabalho profissional, tarefas domésticas e cuidado dos filhos não se confinam mais à divisão tradicional dos papéis de género. Deste modo, uma relação conflitual entre as duas esferas é cada vez mais evidente. Neste estudo evidenciam‑se as vivências de conflito profissional e familiar de homens e mulheres de famílias de duplo‑emprego (n= 492) com filhos em idade pré‑escolar. Os resultados apontam que o conflito trabalho‑família é distinto do conflito família‑trabalho e que este processo é particularmente distinto para homens e mulheres. Os antecedentes de cada tipo de ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Juggling the demands of both work and family has become increasingly difficult, especially for dual-earner households; nevertheless, families have developed strategies to deal with work-family challenges. This paper uses couple level... more
Juggling the demands of both work and family has become increasingly difficult, especially for dual-earner households; nevertheless, families have developed strategies to deal with work-family challenges. This paper uses couple level analyses (APIM models) with 100 dual-earner couples to provide insight about partners' mutual influence on the use of work-family coping strategies. The results show that women's use of coping strategies is more associated with work-family conflict and work-family enrichment than men's coping. In addition, using partner coping, having a positive attitude towards multiple roles, using planning and management skills and avoiding having to cut back on professional responsibilities is associated with better outcomes (more enrichment and less conflict). Surprisingly, the use of childcare facilities is associated with women's conflict and partner effects were only found concerning the use of management and planning skills. These skills, however, have distinct effects for men and women's outcomes: their use by men reduces their own conflict but increases their wives', while their use by women decreases their own conflict and increases their own and their partner's enrichment. These results point to the fact that gender roles continue to be a hallmark of work-family issues. Our design and results point out the need for new interventions that take couple interdependences into account.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Traditionally, research on the work-family interface has focused on the negative and conflicting aspects of this balance. Nevertheless, more recently, the advantages and benefits of multiple role occupation have been addressed. This paper... more
Traditionally, research on the work-family interface has focused on the negative and conflicting aspects of this balance. Nevertheless, more recently, the advantages and benefits of multiple role occupation have been addressed. This paper analyses the main psychological mechanism of the work-family interface: the spillover effect. Spillover dimensions (positive and negative), directions, as well as variables associated to each type of spillover are discussed. We argue that a multidimensional approach to this issue will allow for a more complete understanding of the work-family relationship, which in turn will enable the creation of family-friendly measures directed at reducing negative interferences between work and family as well as directed at enhancing positive linkages.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Marisa Matias & Anne Marie Fontaine s many authors have observed, the work-family literature has been dominated by a conflict perspective (Barnett, 1998; Hanson, Hammer & Colton, 2006). Recently, however, there has been a... more
Marisa Matias & Anne Marie Fontaine s many authors have observed, the work-family literature has been dominated by a conflict perspective (Barnett, 1998; Hanson, Hammer & Colton, 2006). Recently, however, there has been a growing awareness and focus on the ...
Abstract Despite the difficulties faced, many dual-earner families seem to develop the necessary skills to deal with the challenge of managing family and work responsibilities. The present study uses a person-oriented approach to identify... more
Abstract Despite the difficulties faced, many dual-earner families seem to develop the necessary skills to deal with the challenge of managing family and work responsibilities. The present study uses a person-oriented approach to identify how four types of conciliation ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The number of women in the labour market has increased during recent decades. However, an equal division of housework has not accompanied this movement. This situation causes overload for many working women and it may reflect difficulties... more
The number of women in the labour market has increased during recent decades. However, an equal division of housework has not accompanied this movement. This situation causes overload for many working women and it may reflect difficulties in changing gender ...
Research Interests:
Gender mainstreaming was established as a major global strategy for the promotion of gender equality in the Beijing Platform for Action from the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Also Europe has been... more
Gender mainstreaming was established as a major global strategy for the promotion of gender equality in the Beijing Platform for Action from the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Also Europe has been focusing increasing ...